Holiday Magic!Mikki Sodergren and Friends

Streamed Saturday, December 19, 2020 s 7:30 p.m.(available for replay until Friday, December 25 s 10 p.m.)

Holiday Magic!Mikki Sodergren and Friends

Saturday, December 19 at 7:30pm - Friday, December 25 at 10:00pm_______________________________________________________________________________

Presented by bank of aMerica and aarPMikki Sodergren, VocalsMichael Maliakel, VocalsNat Zegree, Piano and VocalsLeon Anderson, Drums and BandleaderScotty Barnhart, TrumpetRodney Jordan, BassChristopher Minami, Guitar

White Christmas Irving Berlin

(Everybody’s Waitin’ for) The Man with the Bag Dudley Brooks, Irving Taylor, Harold Stanley, arr. Kim Steiner

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin, arr. Kim Steiner

Believe from The Polar Express Glen Ballard, Alan Silverstri

I’ll Be Home for Christmas Kim Gannon, Walter Kent, arr. Robin Beauchamp

Baby It’s Cold Outside Frank Loesser

Winter Wonderland/Let It Snow Felix Bernard, Richard Smith, Jules Styne, Sammy Cahn, arr. Nat Zegree

Peanuts Medley Vince Guaraldi, arr. Nat Zegree

This Christmas Donny Hathaway, Nadine McKinnor, arr. Nat Zegree

I N T E R M I S S I O N

Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town J. Fred Cootes, Haven Gillespie

Sisters from White Christmas Irving Berlin, arr. Kim Steiner

In the Bleak Midwinter Gustav Holst, arr. Darmon Meader

Imagine this Season Nat Zegree

The Prayer David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager, arr. Kim Steiner

Angels We Have Heard on High from Gloria Edward Shippen, Barnes, arr. Kurt Bestor O Holy Night Adolphe Adams, arr. Jason Weisinger

Silent Night Franz Gruber, arr. Zegree, Sodergren, Maliakel

All I Want for Christmas is You Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff, arr. Kim Steiner

Guest Artists s HolidAy MAGic!

Mikki Sodergren has created a niche for herself as a performer who can ef-fortlessly glide between genres. As the 2014 winner of the American Tradi-tions Vocal Competition in Savannah, Georgia, she took home not only the Gold Medal, but also awards for best Johnny Mercer song interpretation and best jazz performance.

Recently, Mikki starred in Amarillo Opera’s The Man of La Mancha (opposite legend-ary screen and stage star Ron Raines and Broadway veteran Michael Farina), return-ing to Amarillo Opera after playing Eponine (Les Miserables), where she was lauded as having “brought that essential earthiness and longing [to the role]”(Amarillo Globe News). She has performed with the Jack-sonville Symphony, the Tallahassee Sym-phony Orchestra, the Savannah Philhar-monic, the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, the New York Chamber Orchestra, and the Israeli Chamber Orchestra. Concert engagements have ranged from Pops pro-grams, to major oratorio works, and world premieres.

Upcoming performances include a domes-tic and international tour with Clarion Mu-sic Society, and Handel’s Messiah with the Johnstown Symphony (PA). Previously, she performed with the Savannah Philhar-

monic in an outdoor concert for 15,000 people.

Sodergren enjoys giving back to the musical community, and has taken on the role of Artistic Director for the American Traditions Vocal Competi-tion in Savannah, Georgia. She hopes to use this platform to educate future generations not only on the breadth of styles present in American music, but how being a stylistically versatile singer can help young performers craft a re-warding and viable professional career. She is so thrilled to be back in Tallahas-see.

www.mikkisodergren.com @mikkisodergren

Indian-American actor and singer Mi-chael Maliakel enjoys a diverse ca-reer spanning theater, classical music, and television. He is currently touring North America in the 25th Anniversa-ry production of The Phantom of the Opera as the understudy for Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny. Michael made his Off-Broadway debut in Anything Can Happen: The Songs of Maury Yeston at the Triad Theatre, produced by the Tony Award-winning composer him-

self. Other recent performances include Georg in She Loves Me (PlayMakers Rep-ertory Company), Bernstein’s MASS with the Chicago Symphony (Ravinia Festi-val), Britten’s Curlew River with the Mark Morris Dance Group (Brooklyn Academy of Music), and the record-breaking world premiere of Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding (Berkeley Repertory Theatre). Michael re-cently made his network TV debut on FBI, a new CBS crime drama from acclaimed Law & Order producer Dick Wolf.

Michael has performed as a soloist with or-chestras and ensembles across the country including the Savannah Philharmonic, the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, the Or-chestra of St. Luke’s, the Sebastians, the Aeolus String Quartet, the Greenwich Choral Society, and the Long Island Choral Society. He has received top awards from several prestigious organizations includ-ing First Prize in the American Traditions Competition, First Prize in the NATS Na-tional Music Theater Competition, Third Prize in the Lotte Lenya Competition,

and a grant from the Gerda Lissner Foundation. An avid ensemble singer, Michael performs regularly with New York City’s top vocal ensembles includ-ing the Choir of Trinity Church - Wall Street, the St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, Musica Viva of NY, Voices of Ascension, and Musica Sacra.

A native of New Jersey, Michael re-ceived his earliest musical training at the American Boychoir School and did his undergraduate studies at George-town University and the Peabody In-stitute of Music. Michael lives in Man-hattan with his wife and their beloved, spunky betta fish, Buzz. www.michaelmaliakel.com @michaelmaliakel

Nat Zegree is a born entertainer. Gift-ed with an unbelievably precise musical ear, and trained with superior musician-ship and an iconic sense of style, Nat can probably play and sing anything you would like to hear. Coming from a family of musicians, Nat was trained classically on the piano from the age of three un-til eighteen. Training his voice along the way, he discovered every other genre there was to offer. His father, Steve Ze-gree, gave him the gift of Jazz, Funk, and Classical orchestrations, while his moth-

er, Kellee Love Haselton, introduced him to Pop, Rock, and Musical Theatre. Both of them together offered an endless en-cyclopedia of musical knowledge. Since moving to New York in 2014, Nat has been nominated for several awards, largely for his performances as the quirky Jerry Lee Lewis in Million Dollar Quartet. Nat has performed the role at Maine’s Ogunquit Playhouse, the Regional TONY®-winning Paper Mill Playhouse (NJ), Flat Rock Playhouse (NC), and Riverside Theatre (FL). In 2017, he returned to Flat Rock Playhouse to perform as W.A. Mozart in the mu-sical, Amadeus. Of his performance as the great composer, the Tribune Papers wrote: “Zany Zegree is again hilarious on the FRP stage — to the Nth (nor Nat) degree. He reminded this writer of Hulce’s falsetto-giggling Amadeus when stealing scenes as another goofy show-off new talent — Jerry Lee Lewis — in FRP’s The Million Dollar Quartet last year. He spoke in a slow drawl as Cajun ‘Wild Child’ Lewis, now often at

uber-speed as maniacal hyena-laughing Mozart…A special treat is once more Zegree’s rapid-fire yet crisp piano licks. The bundle of energy again plays be-hind his back while chatting, and even when leaning upside down.”

He has also been heard in Pasek and Paul’s new musical, Dear Evan Hansen, winner of six TONY® awards, a GRAM-MY® award, and a Daytime EMMY® award. Other credits include: Henry (Next to Normal), Moritz (Spring Awak-ening), Scarecrow (The Wizard of Oz), Rocky (The Rocky Horror Show), Fes-te (12th Night), Flute (A Midsummer Nights Dream), and Ralph (Lord of the Flies.) An avid writer and composer, Nat has written several musicals that are cur-rently in development, both for stage and film, and he has also released a de-but album, entitled Fly More Than You Fall.

www.natzegree.com

Thank you for joining us!Wishing you and yours a happy and

healthy holiday season!