An Evening with George Winston

Pianist George Winston will offer up his melodic-folk and New Orleans-style R&B piano in a Lincoln Financial MUSIC for a CHANGE benefit concert on Friday, Dec.16, at 8 p.m. in Millard Auditorium. Tickets are $27.50 in advance and $32.50 the day of the show.

The University of Hartford launched this series in the spring of 2000, with the goal of using music as a means of helping the Hartford community. To date, almost $40,000 has been raised for a number of Greater Hartford nonprofit organizations. Proceeds from the Winston concert will benefit Foodshare of Greater Hartford, the regional food bank that distributes 13 tons of food per day to nearly 350 local programs that feed hungry people in Hartford and Tolland counties.

Each attendee is asked to bring two canned food items to the concert to be donated to Foodshare. In addition, Winston will be donating a portion of his merchandising income from this night directly to Foodshare.

The pianist will be performing songs from his newest CD, Montana–A Love Story, as well as selections from his seasonal favorites Autumn, December, Winter into Spring and Summer, and his Forest and Plains recordings.

Winston is currently working on a hurricane relief benefit CD, tentatively titled Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions–A Hurricane Relief Benefit, which will feature solo piano, solo harmonica, and solo guitar tracks, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to charity. The CD will be released in early 2006. Winston has also made all of his September and October piano concerts as benefits the hurricane relief effort.

This past June, Winston’s Seasons box set was released by Sony Legacy. The set contains the complete George Winston ”Seasons” recordings—Autumn, the 20th Anniversary Edition, Winter Into Spring 20th Anniversary Edition, and Summer Special Edition—as well as a live concert DVD.

For tickets to this concert, call the University box office at 860.768.4228 or 1.800.274.8587, or purchase them online at www.hartford.edu/tickets. For more information about the Lincoln Financial MUSIC for a CHANGE benefit concert series, contact Irwin Nussbaum, director of the series, at nussbaum@hartford.edu, or visit www.musicforachange.com.