Enjoy a performance of Paragon Ragtime Orchestra’s Meet Me At The Fair: Sights & Sounds From the Great World’s Fairs.
The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra is the world’s only year-round professional ensemble dedicated to recreating “America’s Original Music” — the syncopated sounds of early musical theater, silent cinema and vintage dance. The orchestra was founded after Rick Benjamin, adjunct professor of music at Susquehanna, discovered thousands of early 20th-century orchestra scores belonging to Victrola recording star Arthur Pryor in 1985. More information about Rick Benjamin can be found at rickbenjamin.com.
The orchestra made its formal debut in 1988 at Alice Tully Hall, marking the first Lincoln Center concert by such an ensemble. Since then, the group has performed at hundreds of prominent arts venues worldwide and gained a loyal following through radio broadcasts on WQXR, NPR programs such as All Things Considered and Performance Today, and international networks including the BBC and Voice of America.
Paragon Ragtime Orchestra’s performance is presented as part of Susquehanna University’s inaugural Symposium on Historic American Music. Learn more about the symposium here.