The Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) is hosting Pizza Parlor Classics on the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ Concerts on Nov. 16 and 17, as part of the 2018 Organ Concert Series.
The November concerts will feature Brett Valliant playing classic “pizza parlor” organ music including Maple Leaf Rag, In the Mood, Phantom of the Opera and Rock Around the Clock.
The November concerts will be taking the Wurlitzer Organ back to its roots. The Mighty Wurlitzer Organ spent two decades entertaining customers at the Roaring 20’s Pizza Parlor on 28th Street in Grand Rapids, before it was moved to its current location at the Grand Rapids Public Museum.
Brett Valliant is an American organist who is in high demand for his ability to perform many different genres of music on the instrument he loves. At fifteen, he played his first Wurlitzer and exhibited a natural talent for the popular music loved by fans of the theatre organ. He plays annually for several film festivals including the International Film Festival hosted by the American Film Institute, and has been a featured performer at national conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the American Theatre Organ Society. He has toured extensively as a solo artist, featured soloist with orchestras, and film accompanist abroad and throughout the United States. Critics have defined his performances as “exciting,” “refreshing,” “unorthodox” and “astonishing.”
Shows will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 16, and at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 17, in the Meijer Theater at the GRPM.
Tickets for individual concerts are $8 for Museum member adults, $4 for Museum member children, $10 for non-member adults and $5 for non-member children. Tickets are available by visiting www.grpm.org/Organ or by calling 616-929-1700.
The third and final concert of the series will feature Lance Luce performing holiday songs, which includes favorites such as White Christmas, Silver Bells, and Let it Snow, on Friday, Dec. 21, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 22, at 2 p.m.
