By Lila Meeks
Special to The Island News
Andrew Armstrong is a brilliant pianist whose talents are in great demand by major concert halls in the world’s grand cities, will once again be coming to Port Royal.
During the last and upcoming seasons, you could and will find him at the keyboard in Glasgow, Geneva, Dresden, Halifax, London, Paris, Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong, and others, but the really good news for the South Carolina Lowcountry is that he will be at it seven times this season right here in our community.
As the Artistic Director of USC Beaufort Chamber Music, Armstrong brings his exuberant personality, his vast knowledge of and passion for the world’s great classical repertoire, and his extremely talented fingers and friends to the USCB Center for the Arts for five Sunday evening concerts from November through April.
Because he loves Beaufort and feels a missionary zeal to bring Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Gershwin to everyone, not just to those who are already their ardent fans, last August he offered to give a free pre-season concert, and St. Marks’ Episcopal Church in Port Royal took him up on the offer.
It was standing room only as Armstrong sat down and played hit, after hit, after hit. Rector Roy Tripp was blown away by the response of the audience to the music and has been working to garner just such a response on Sundays ever since.
Again and again, the clapping was loud and prolonged; again and again, the audience was on its feet demanding more. It was clear that they loved Armstrong and the music he brought.
The feeling was mutual, and he is coming back for Round 2 at 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 29 for more commentary and music. And it’s free.
If you have someone you truly care about, bring them with you because you will never find a better spot for falling in love with the music of the masters. Of course, you could catch him in Hong Kong, but Port Royal is so close, and the price of a ticket is so right.
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church (www.stmarksc.org) is located at 1004 11th Street in Port Royal.
