A Pops Premiere

Star power launches area’s first orchestra of its kind

By Janet Rems

Anthony Maiello (left) and Brian Stokes Mitchell (right) will take to the stage Sept. 26 for the first ARTS by George! Benefit that supports student scholarships. Courtesy of Center for the Arts (Mitchell); Courtesy of self (Maiello)

Star power is hard to quantify. But there won’t be any difficulty spotting it on the stage of the Center for the Arts at George Mason University on Sept. 26. Headlining the Center’s annual ARTS by George! Benefit, for a second year, will be charismatic stage, film and television actor Brian Stokes Mitchell, whom The New York Times dubbed Broadway’s “last leading man” and Variety described as a “consummate” performer and musician.

Joining Mitchell at the benefit, which supports student scholarships, will be Mason’s own high-wattage musical star, professor Anthony Maiello. Having taught generations of young musicians for more than four decades (including opera diva Renée Fleming at the State University of New York at Potsdam), Maiello—at Mason since 1986—is an internationally recognized conductor.

By the end of the evening, both men will bear witness to the birth of a new star—Northern Virginia’s first professional pops orchestra, whose nucleus will be made up of Mason faculty members.

Maiello, 66, who describes himself as a total “softy” for Broadway, movie and the other classics of popular music, says piecing together the new American Festival Pops Orchestra has been a true labor of love. The group also fills a major gap, he says, in an area rich in all other types of musical ensembles.

Moreover, the new orchestra taps into Maiello’s desire to always be “in places that are building and growing.”

Like Maiello, Mitchell, speaking by phone from his New York City apartment, says he finds “doing things for the first time” energizing. The inaugural performance of a new orchestra is of particular significance, he says, when so many others are closing down.

Mitchell, who turns 52 this month, regards the Washington, D.C., area as his second home. “I do so much down there.” It’s a place with “a lot of culture” and “sophisticated, well-rounded people” who “understand,” he says.

A frequent performer at the Kennedy Center, Mitchell, famed for his powerful baritone, most recently performed at the star-studded celebration of Sen. Ted Kennedy’s 77th birthday in March and at D.C.’s annual Memorial Day Concert.

His specific ARTS by George! program will be decided upon after speaking with people at the venue, in this case Maiello, Mason’s director of instrumental studies, to find out “what their audience wants.” Mitchell says he is fairly certain the Mason program will consist primarily of “straight Broadway.”

In the process of designing his own Broadway show and putting together a book and CD, as well as introducing the history and music of Broadway to middle school students, Mitchell, president of the Actors Fund, says he relishes the “risky … primal … singular spontaneity that happens in theater.”

“This area is filled to the brim with outstanding musicians,” Mitchell says. “I feel like I’m on the top of Mount Everest.”

For additional information about the Sept. 26 ARTS by George! Benefit, visit www.gmu.edu/cfa or call 703-993-2787.

(September 2009)