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Glenn Miller Orchestra presents holiday show at State Theatre

By Diana Lasko dlasko@heraldstandard.Com 4 min read
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A jolly holiday will join forces with the American songbook at the State Theatre Center for the Arts in Uniontown when the Nick Hilscher and the Glenn Miller Orchestra (GMO) bring their holiday show to town on Dec. 18.

As music director, Hilscher easily outlines for examiner.com what makes the music GMO performs so special.

“The music of this generation, this era, what we call the American Songbook, was written in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s for Broadway shows. It was writing a song with an art form. I’m not saying that it isn’t one now, but my take on the art form is that one particular person spent their life writing music, like George Gershwin, or they spent their life writing lyrics, like his brother Ira. Rock and roll bands are writing songs and that’s an art form too, but I really think we’ve lost a little bit of what it was like to write something like ‘I’ll Be Seeing You.’ This music is what it is and it continues on,” Hilscher explained.

Hilscher, native of Atlanta, Georgia, began his professional career in his teens, playing piano and singing in the Atlanta area. His early musical influences were Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Frank Sinatra, Glenn Miller, and Tommy Dorsey. He graduated from Samford University in the spring of 2000 with a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance.

In 1998, Hilscher became the featured male vocalist with GMO, performing an average of 300 shows a year in venues like the Hollywood Bowl and New York City’s Birdland. His touring has taken him to all 50 states and Canada, Mexico, Europe, South America, and Japan. He is featured on several albums with the Glenn Miller Orchestra including “On The Air” (2002) and “Steppin’ Out” (2005).

Hilscher’s solo albums include “Nick Hilscher Sings with the Glenn Miller Orchestra” (2002) and “Young and Foolish” (2010). In addition to his work with GMO, Hilscher has also served as the featured vocalist and music director of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.

As a child, Hilscher said he first fell in love with the swing rhythms and the use of wind instruments by the big bands.

“It was something different for me, and it moved me like no other music. The harmonization and the saxophone, especially with Glenn Miller’s orchestra, he had five sax players and one clarinet and it was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever heard. The use of four trumpets and four trombones and the rhythm section, piano, bass and drums was different from what I’d listened to up to that point. It was an instrumental thing at first. I was playing piano, and the actual music knocked me out. Then I heard Sinatra and I fell in love with singing this kind of music. I worked on singing alone in my bedroom, and the next thing, I was doing it pretty well,” Hilscher recalls.

In concert, Hilscher and GMO perform the tried and true classics and holiday hits that made the orchestra famous including “The White Cliffs of Dover,” “Rainbow Rhapsody,” “Chattanooga Choo-Choo,” “White Christmas,” “Sleigh Ride,” “In the Christmas Mood,” and of course the band’s signature, “Moonlight Seranade.”

State Theatre Executive Director Erica Miller said the big band is back by popular demand and it’s leadership will add to the thrill.

“This year we bring in the GMO at the holidays and get to enjoy not only all of the classic Miller hits but also some great holiday music featuring the Miller Band sound,” commented Miller. “Under the direction of Nick Hilscher, who performed as a featured singer with the band at the State many years ago, we are sure this show will keep you in the Holiday spirit.”

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