Monday, November 9, 2009, 12 Noon
November 6, 2009, Dix Hills, NY – Five Towns College will be presenting awards to entertainment industry luminaries Aaron Gandy, Tony Walton, Angela Lansbury, John D’Addario, Jr., James D’Addario and Brian Stokes Mitchell.
The ceremony is open to the public and Five Towns College students, faculty and staff, and held in the Dix Hills Performing Arts Center, Monday, November 9, 2009, 12 noon.
Entertainment Industry Awards are conferred to publically honor and give tangible recognition to outstanding individuals who can or have served as visible role models for the College’s student body and who have demonstrated one or more of the following qualities:
Exemplary Leadership ability and vision
Outstanding Artistic Achievement
Significant Professional Achievement
Distinguished Public Service
Achievement of a high level of peer recognition
Humanitarian concern
Intellectual and/or Academic Achievement
Honorees & Presenters
Aaron Gandy, Musical Director and Conductor, including Broadway’s Lion King and Urinetown and specialist in American musical theater and American popular song will receive the President’s Award for Artistic Achievement in Musical Theatre, presented by Tony award-winning producer and theater executive Stewart Lane.
Tony Walton, winner of an Oscar for All That Jazz, an Emmy Award for Death of a Salesman, and Tony Awards for Pippin, House of Blue Leaves and Guys and Dolls, will receive a Doctor of Fine Arts (D.F.A.), introduced by Stewart Lane.
Angela Lansbury, world renowned actress, nominated for numerous industry awards, including eighteen Emmy Awards, winner of five Tony Awards and six Golden Globe Awards, will receive a Doctor of Music (Mus.D.), presented by Tony Walton.
James D’Addario, Chairman and CEO of D’Addario & Company, Inc., designers, manufactures and distributors of innovative musical instrument accessories worldwide, will receive the President’s Award for Exemplary Service to the Music Industry introduced by Gerry Saulter, Associate Professor of Music, Five Towns College.
John D’Addario, President of The D’Addario Music Foundation, will receive the President’s Award for Lifetime Service to the Music Industry, introduced by Gerry Saulter.
Brian Stokes Mitchell, Broadway actor and vocalist extraordinaire and President of the Actor’s Fund, recently performed “The Impossible Dream” at the memorial service for Senator Edward M. Kennedy at the John F. Kennedy Library, will receive a Doctor of Music (Mus.D.), presented by Sam Teicher, Vice President, New York Sheet Music Society.
Biographies
AARON GANDY
A specialist in American musical theater and American popular song, Aaron Gandy’s concerts and recordings embrace the best of Broadway from Kern to Lloyd-Webber, while encompassing Swing, Jazz and the golden age of Hollywood. Recent recordings include the all-star Jule Styne In Hollywood (PS Classics) and the upcoming Busker Alley (Jay Records). In 2004 he conducted the premiere recording of Kay Swift’s Fine & Dandy on PS Classics featuring Broadway’s Carolee Carmello and HBO’s Mario Cantone. Upcoming recordings include Alec Wilder’s Miss Chicken Little (originally broadcast on CBS television in 1953) and a restoration of Walter Donaldson’s jazz-age romp Whoopee! Regarded as a leading authority on composer Vincent Youmans, Aaron restored and conducted the premiere recording of Youmans’ final Broadway score Through the Years starring Metropolitan Opera Soprano Heidi Grant Murphy.
Aaron restored the original film orchestrations for Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. His restoration of the original film orchestrations for Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! was performed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra in 1997.
His association with the Music Division of the Library of Congress began in 1995 with ‘Swonderful! The Library of Congress Salutes the George and Ira Gershwin Collection. For Richard Rodgers’ centenary in 2002, Aaron teamed with soprano Sylvia McNair for a program titled Rodgers Rarities, which highlighted the Library’s Richard Rodgers Collection. Later that year, he conducted Rodgers and Hart’s classic A Connecticut Yankee in Veterans Memorial Hall in San Francisco, starring Davis Gaines.
For New York City’s celebrated Encores series, he coordinated the restoration of Harold Arlen’s St. Louis Woman and Cole Porter’s DuBarry was a Lady. For Carnegie Hall, he coordinated concert presentations of Gershwin’s Tip-Toes and Irving Berlin’s Louisiana Purchase. Aaron has restored and performed Youmans’ Great Day! at the Library of Congress and Rainbow starring Jerry Hadley in New York City.
Aaron’s recording projects include The Boys from Syracuse (DRG), St. Louis Woman (Mercury), Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 (Decca Broadway), Tip-Toes and Tell Me More (New World Records) and Louisiana Purchase (DRG), and Orchids in the Moonlight/The Carioca (Arabesque). Concerts have included Doin’ What Comes Naturally, Broadway Salute to Ethel Merman, and Ira Gershwin at 100: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall (also on PBS). He has worked on solo recordings by Tony® Award-winner Kristin Chenoweth, soprano Tomoko Shibata and soprano Dawn Upshaw.
His Broadway credits include Disney’s The Lion King, Urinetown, and Dora the Explorer Live! at Radio City Music Hall. He has concertized with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Chicago Humanities Festival, 42nd Street Moon, Cami Hall, San Francisco’s 42nd Street Moon, The Museum of Television and Radio, Symphony Space, Tribeca Performing Arts Center and solo appearances with Davis Gaines, Leslie Uggams, Christianne Noll, Jerry Hadley, Jim Dale, Dick Hyman, Lainie Kazan and Glenn Close. A native of North Florida, Aaron is a graduate of Florida State University’s School of Music in Tallahassee.
He received the President’s Award for Artistic Achievement in Musical Theatre from Five Towns College on November 9, 2009.
TONY WALTON
Tony Walton was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England. He is a Director and Designer of sets and costumes, honored with 16 Tony Award Nominations for his Broadway sets and/or costumes. Pippin, House of Blue Leaves, and Guys and Dolls won him Tonys. Among his 20 films, Mary Poppins, The Boy Friend, The Wiz and Murder on the Orient Express earned him 5 Academy Award nominations. All That Jazz won him the Oscar, and Death of a Salesman the Emmy.
During the last 12 years he has directed productions of Wilde, Shaw, Coward, and others for New York’s Irish Rep, San Diego’s Old Globe, Sarasota’s Asolo Rep, East Hampton’s John Drew Theatre, and Bay Street Theatre, Sag Harbor. He both directed and designed the smash hit revival of Where’s Charley? for the Goodspeed Opera House and the U.S. premiere of Noël Coward’s After the Ball, (a musical version of Lady Windermere’s Fan) for the Irish Repertory Theatre for whom he has also directed and designed The Importance of Being Earnest, Major Barbara and the recent The Devil’s Disciple which he restaged for the Asolo Rep earlier this year. Other direction includes Noël Coward’s A Song At Twilight for Bay Street Theatre, Gen LeRoy’s Missing Footage for San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, and Oops! The Big Apple Circus Stage Show for a 60-city U.S. tour. He is currently preparing to direct and design the set for Shaw’s Candida at the Irish Rep early in the new year.
His designs for Broadway include the recent A Tale of Two Cities, Well, and, among many others, the recent revivals of Our Town, I’m Not Rappaport, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Uncle Vanya, Annie Get Your Gun, 1776, A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, She Loves Me, Guys and Dolls, and Anything Goes. Other Broadway designs include Bob Fosse’s original productions of Chicago and Pippin; Pinter’s Moonlight and Ashes to Ashes; Grand Hotel, The Real Thing, The Will Rogers Follies and The House of Blue Leaves. He was the Production Designer for Madison Square Garden’s Christmas Carol for 10 years as well as for Julie Andrews’ recent triumphant revival of The Boy Friend for Bay Street Theatre and for Goodspeed Opera House, followed by a national U.S. tour.
He recently directed and designed a gala performance of Rodgers and Hart’s Spring Is Here for Five Towns College and The Theatre Museum, and a gala performance for the York Theatre of the Sherman Brothers’ Busker Alley starring Jim Dale and Glenn Close.
In film he has designed for directors Bob Fosse, Sidney Lumet, Paul Newman, Mike Nichols, Ken Russell, Volcker Schlondorf, and Francois Truffaut. These 20 films include: Mary Poppins, Murder on the Orient Express, Fahrenheit 451, The Wiz, The Boy Friend, All That Jazz, Death of a Salesman, The Glass Menagerie, Regarding Henry, and Deathtrap. His graphic work includes many book and magazine illustrations, caricatures for Playbill, Theatre Arts, Vogue, etc. and posters for many Broadway and West End shows.
As a producer he has co-presented six productions – plays and musicals – in London, three in association with the legendary Hal Prince. His designs for Opera have been seen at London’s Theatre Royal Covent Garden, The Sadler’s Wells Opera Company and throughout Europe and America. His many ballet designs include St. Louis Woman for Dance Theatre of Harlem at Lincoln Center and Peter and the Wolf and the new Sleeping Beauty for American Ballet Theatre at the Met.
He was elected to the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1991 and received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree, (D.F.A.) from Five Towns College on November 9, 2009.
ANGELA LANSBURY
Angela Brigid Lansbury was born on October 16, 1925 in London (United Kingdom, EU). Her first movie was Gaslight, directed by George Cukor with Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Joseph Cotten, filmed in 1944 (an MGM production). This was the first movie of a great career! With this movie she got her first Oscar nomination. And in 1946 she got her second Oscar nomination for her role in The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Angela’s first theater experience was in Hotel Paradiso, which opened on April 12, 1957 at Henry Miller’s Theatre. This play, written by France’s master of farce Georges Feydeau, was directed by Peter Glenville.
One spring day in 1963, Angela received a small blue air mail letter from Arthur Laurents, where he asked her if she would be interested in a musical on Broadway. She said: “A musical on Broadway! It’s the most exciting thing I can possibly imagine”. The musical was Anyone Can Whistle, subtitled A Wild New Musical, opened in New York on April 4, 1964, at the Majestic Theater. She remembers that letter as “The most exciting letter I have received in years!”
In 1963 she got her third Oscar nomination for her role in The Manchurian Candidate. In 1966 she became a great world-known STAR with Mame, opened on May 24 at Winter Garden Theatre.
In 1984 she began her wonderful “TV adventure”: Murder, She Wrote. On September 30, 1984, CBS broadcasted the two-hour pilot/premiere episode of Murder, She Wrote: it became the weekly appointment for millions of Americans. This “adventure” finished in 1996, after 264 episodes and 12 years of success! Undoubtedly, this show brings Angela more fame: it’s been sold to other networks all over the world, becoming a top ten series everywhere!
While they were filming the last episode, she wasn’t behind the cameras: “I didn’t work on the final day of production. The emotion was too much. The last scene that I actually did on the series was an insert of the actor Gregg Henry putting a key in my pocket… I wept all through it, but the audience will never know.”
She’s not only a great movie and theater actress; she’s got a wonderful voice too! You can agree with me looking for her voice in The Last Unicorn (ITC, 1982), Beauty and the Beast (Walt Disney, Buena Vista, 1991) and Anastasia (20th Century-Fox, 1996). Another example of her talent!
In 1992, Angela was among the special guests who were invited to the Grand Opening of the first Disney Park in Europe (Disneyland Resort Paris), where she impressed her handprints which you can now see at the Walt Disney Studios Europe.
In 1995, Angela officially became a Disney Legend, joining the other personalities who used their talents for great Disney performances.
Angela began the year 2000 with another Disney production: Fantasia 2000. This animation movie is built on several segments which are introduced by celebrity hosts and one of them is our dear Angela.
She was awarded the 2009 Tony Award for Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for her performance in Blithe Spirit on Broadway in New York City.
In 2009, she received an Honorary Doctor of Music Degree (Mus.D.) from Five Towns College.
JAMES D’ADDARIO
Jim D’Addario is Chairman & CEO of D’Addario & Company, Inc., one of the world’s leading designers, manufactures and distributors of innovative musical instrument accessories. In his role as Chairman and CEO, Jim overseas production, research and development, marketing and graphic design for all five D’Addario brand name product lines: D’Addario, Planet Waves, Evans Drumheads, HQ Percussion and Rico.
Jim started in the D’Addario family business soon after graduating from Hofstra University in 1970 with a B.A. in Music. Although Jim toyed with the idea of becoming a professional musician and teacher, he chose instead to work with his father John D’Addario, Sr. and his brother John, Jr. in the Darco Strings Division of C.F. Martin and Company and soon discovered his love for string making. He also discovered that he had a talent for engineering and a knack for custom designing machinery. So, in 1973, along with his father and brother, Jim founded J. D’Addario & Company, Inc. which made and distributed musical strings. Today, D’Addario strings hold the #1 global market position, thanks in part to Jim’s ability to custom-design machinery that is unrivaled in the music instrument business.
Jim is a hands-on manager who enjoys involvement in all aspects of the business from design conception to manufacturing and distribution. For instance, in the early 1980’s when J. D’Addario acquired Kaplan Musical Strings and the company expanded from fretted instrument strings to orchestral strings, Jim’s first act of business was to take apart the Kaplan machinery to see how it was made and how to improve it – which he did. Before long, J. D’Addario’s bowed instrument strings became the top-seller in the market.
Other distinctions include Jim being awarded the Small Business Association’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award and being nominated for the Ernst & Young 1998 Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Jim is very active in philanthropic, industry and community organizations and is a member of the National Association of Music Merchants (and has served on its Board) and is a member of the National Association of School Music Dealers. He is currently President of the Wheatley Hills Golf Club and has been actively involved in the renovation of the golf course and facilities.
On the business side, D’Addario, the Company, funds the D’Addario Foundation that helps support more than 100 music-related programs worldwide from Little Kids Rock to the ASTA String Consortium. On the personal front, Jim and his wife of 37 years, Janet, founded the “James D’Addario Family Foundation” that supports charities such as Providence House, St. Francis Hospital, UCLA Pediatric Kidney Research, and WFUV.
An avid musician and golfer, Jim lives with his wife Janet on Long Island. Together, they raised three children, Julie, Amy and Robert and are now proud grand-parents to Olivia, Louisa, and James. The D’Addario Company is truly a family affair. With nine members of the next (third) generation actively involved in management, the business is alive with the D’Addario spirit for music and excellence. It is a business that began in the tiny farming town of Salle, Italy in 1680 when Donate D’Addario was born to a family of ‘cordaros,’ the Italian word for ‘string makers.’
Jim D’Addario received the President’s Award for Exemplary Service to the Music Industry from Five Towns College on November 9, 2009.
JOHN D’ADDARIO, JR.
John D’Addario, Jr. represents the eighth generation of the D’Addario family involved in the musical instrument string business, the third generation in the United States. John joined the family enterprise in 1961 out of high school working with his father while attending Nassau Community College at night. He served in the United States Army for two years from 1965 – 1967. Returning to the business after military service, he has played an integral part in the company’s market growth, business relationships and leadership for the past 40 years.
The D’Addario Company, Inc. (www.jdaddario.com) designs, manufactures, and markets complete lines of strings for fretted and bowed musical instruments, drumheads, drum practice pads, and guitar and woodwind accessories under the proprietary brand names D’Addario, Evans, Planet Waves, Rico, and HQ Percussion. The company also runs the popular Gbase.com online gear source. D’Addario products are marketed in approximately 120 countries.
The D’Addario Company has been honored with the New York State Environmental Excellence Award, the Certificate of Congressional Recognition, and is a proud member of the Long Island Forum for Technology and the Leadership Initiative Action.
John served the company as President through the 1980s and 1990s where he was instrumental in expanding the activities of the D’Addario firm to include manufacturing and distribution of a number of other musical products. During this time John traveled extensively to establish D’Addario products in the export markets. Today the company’s products are distributed in more than 100 countries around the world. John’s keen business knowledge and leadership skills helped develop the company into what it is today.
In addition to his duties at the D’Addario Company, Inc., John has been active in the music industry serving in a variety of positions to help the expansion and outreach of the industry. He has served on the Boards of The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), The Guitar and Accessory Marketing Association (GAMA), Music Distributors of American (MDA) and the National Association of Band Instrument Manufacturers (NABIM). John also served as President of NABIM as well as the American Music Conference. Currently, he serves on the Research Advisory Board. In September 2008, John received an honorary degree from SUNY-Potsdam’s Crane School of Music.
Besides his industry involvement, he has served on the Board of the Tilles Center for Performing Arts, Nassau Country Club, The Long Island Mentoring Partnership, and The Midori Foundation. He is currently the President of The D’Addario Music Foundation which grants more than $300,000 each year to 100 music education-oriented organizations around the world.
John and his wife, Joan, split their time between their homes in Locust Valley, New York and Scottsdale, Arizona. They have four children all of whom now work for the family business.
John D’Addario received the President’s Award for Lifetime Service to the Music Industry from Five Towns College on November 9, 2009.
BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL
Dubbed “The Last Leading Man” by the New York Times, Brian Stokes Mitchell has enjoyed a rich and varied career on Broadway, on television, in film, and in the great American concert halls.
Brian is in demand by the country’s finest conductors and orchestras. He has performed selections from Porgy and Bess with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony at Carnegie Hall; works by Aaron Copland and at the Hollywood Bowl with the L.A. Philharmonic under the baton of Leonard Slatkin; Broadway tunes at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC under the baton of Marvin Hamlisch; and jazz standards with Maestro John Williams at Disney Hall and with the Boston Pops.
He performed at Tanglewood in John Williams’ jazz version of My Fair Lady at Disney Hall singing with Dianne Reeves. In 2005, he made his cabaret debut as both singer and musical arranger in New York at Feinstein’s at the Regency in his critically acclaimed one-man show Love/Life, which then moved to the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center. He received both the New York Bistro and Nightlife awards for his cabaret debut. He returned there in November of 2008 with a critically acclaimed concert where he was accompanied by a guitarist, a bassist and a percussionist.
Brian headlined the Carnegie Hall concert presentation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific with Reba McEntire. He reprised his role in 2007 at the Hollywood Bowl.
His Broadway career includes performances in Man of La Mancha (Tony nomination and Helen Hayes Award); Kiss Me Kate (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards); Ragtime (Tony nomination); August Wilson’s Kiss of the Spider Woman; Jelly’s Last Jam; and David Merrick’s Oh, Kay! which earned him a Theatre World award for an outstanding Broadway debut.
At Encores he starred in Do, Re, Mi, Carnival, and Kismet. In 1998, he joined Helen Hayes, Sir John Gielgud, Alec Guinness and James Earl Jones when he became the sole recipient of that year’s Distinguished Performance Award from the Drama League, the nation’s oldest theatrical honor, for his performance in Ragtime.
His television career began with a seven-year stint on Trapper John, MD. Film and TV appearances more recently included One Last Thing which debuted at the Toronto Film Festival, roles on Crossing Jordan and Frasier, PBS’ Great Performances, DreamWorks’ The Prince of Egypt, and his Presidential debut in The Singer and the Song from the White House.
In 2006, he released his self-titled album as the inaugural artist on the newly formed Playbill Records label. In addition to singing, Stokes produced the album and also wrote many of the arrangements and orchestrations.
He continues to perform as a soloist and a guest star at concerts all over the United States. He is performing as the musical guest artist at Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. The concert will be aired on PBS during Christmas of 2009.
Brian Stokes Mitchell was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music Degree (Mus.D.) at a Special Convocation held at Five Towns College on November 9, 2009.
The Dix Hills Performing Arts Center is located at Five Towns College, 305 North Service Road, Dix Hills, New York, 11746-5857. For more information please contact the Dix Hills Performing Arts Center box office at (631) 656-2148.