About The Festival | Central PA Ragtime Festival

2021 Performers

Brian Holland, Artistic Director

Brian Holland is an internationally renowned pianist, composer, recording artist, and entertainer who has enjoyed a music career spanning more than 40 years. Brian spent his formative youth playing in pizza parlors and clubs throughout Indiana and the Midwest. In 1999, he won his third consecutive title in the World Old-Time Piano Playing Championships, and was retired from competition. Brian has performed with some of the hottest jazz bands in the US - Holland-Coots Jazz Quintet, Big B.A.D. Rhythm, GROOVUS, Holland-Coots Swingin' West, and others - and has traveled all over the world performing his creative styles of jazz, ragtime, stride, swing, boogie, and blues. Brian has multiple solo and ensemble recordings to his credit (available at www.shanesmohawk.com), and earned a Grammy nomination for his performance with Bud Dresser on their 2006 album, Ragtime-Goodtime-Jazz. From 2015-2020, Brian served as the Artistic Director for the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival (Sedalia, MO). He is currently Co-Creative Consultant for the Monterey Jazz Bash by the Bay (Monterey, CA), as well as Artistic Director for the Central Pennsylvania Ragtime and American Music Festival (Orbisonia, PA).

Andrew Greene, Festival Coordinator

Andrew Greene is a leading authority on orchestral ragtime and silent film accompaniment in the United States. He is the Founder, Conductor, and Director of the Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra, "the premier American Ragtime ensemble" as hailed by the Washington Post, dedicated to preserving and performing America's original popular music: Ragtime. He has appeared such prestigious venues as the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Institution, The American Film Institute, and the Library of Congress, and frequently lectures and performs with his orchestra and in solo piano concerts across the United States. Most recently, he has appeared at the West Coast Ragtime Festival, The Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival, and at other events. Mr. Greene appeared as guest conductor for the South Dakota Symphony Chamber Orchestra in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in September of 2013, and the Fremont Symphony Orchestra in March of 2017.

Frederick Hodges

Hailed in the press as one of the top concert pianists in the world, Frederick Hodges has established a reputation specializing in late romantic music as well as Ragtime, Broadway, and Hollywood musicals of the first half of the twentieth century by America’s best composers, such as George Gershwin and Cole Porter. He maintains a busy concert schedule of stage, television, radio, and film appearances around the globe. He regularly performs as guest soloist with the California Pops Orchestra and the Pasadena Pops Orchestra, under the baton of Michael Feinstein. Additionally, he is a much sought-after silent film accompanist for both live performances and DVD. He performs regularly at the Hollywood Heritage Museum, the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in California, the Cinecon Film Festival in Hollywood, The TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, The San Francisco Silent Film Festival, and at silent film festivals around the country. He also performs at music festivals around the country, such as the Sacramento Music Festival, the West Coast Ragtime Festival, and the Sedalia Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival. His website is: www.frederickhodges.com.

Bryan Wright

Bryan S. Wright is a pianist and Grammy-nominated musicologist specializing in ragtime and early jazz piano styles. With his wife, Yuko, he has performed and lectured on ragtime across the United States and abroad, including featured appearances at the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival, the West Coast Ragtime Festival, the JVC Jazz Festival, the Buenos Aires Ragtime Festival, and the Tokyo Ragtime Festival. He has also released two full-length solo CDs, Syncopated Musings and Breakin’ Notes. He is founder and executive producer of Rivermont Records, an internationally-distributed label specializing in ragtime and early jazz. Bryan is also an avid collector of 78rpm records, and he hosts the acclaimed weekly podcast “The Shellac Stack.” Bryan holds degrees in historical musicology from the College of William and Mary and the University of Pittsburgh.

Richard Dowling

Hailed by The New York Times as “an especially impressive fine pianist,” Steinway Artist RICHARD DOWLINGappears regularly throughout America in solo recitals, at music festivals, and as guest soloist with orchestras. Works of Chopin, Debussy, Joplin, Gershwin, Gottschalk, Ravel, ragtime, and early jazz figure prominently in his repertoire. He has received reviews that praise him as “a master of creating beautiful sounds with impeccable control of colors and textures,” as “a musician with something to say, the skill to say it and the magnetic power to make you want to listen,” and for giving “a superb recital that left the audience craving for more at the end.” He is a versatile recording artist with over a dozen CDs of classical, chamber, ragtime, jazz, and popular music. On April 1, 2017 Mr. Dowling performed the complete piano works of Scott Joplin in historic twin sold-out recitals at Carnegie Hall, exactly 100 years to the day Joplin died in New York. He is the first pianist in the world to perform the Joplin cycle – 53 rags, waltzes, marches and cakewalks – nearly four hours of music, all from memory. His 3-CD set, The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2018. Veteran ragtime pianist Max Morath says, “Richard Dowling’s mastery of the Joplin rags invokes a tenderness that charms us and a technical command that inspires our admiration.” Dowling resides in New York City. Visit his website at www.richard-dowling.com for information about his upcoming performances and to read about, listen, and purchase his many critically-acclaimed CD recordings.

Adam Swanson

Adam Swanson is one of the world’s foremost performers of vintage American popular music, including ragtime, early jazz, the Great American Songbook, and more. He holds a bachelor’s in classical piano and a master’s in musicology from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. Adam has been a featured performer and lecturer at ragtime and jazz festivals across the United States and abroad, and he is the only four-time winner of the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest. He made his New York debut in Carnegie Hall at the age of nineteen, where he performed with Michael Feinstein. Adam has performed at the Cinecon Classic Film Festival in Hollywood and the Kennedy Center, as well as in Hungary, Switzerland, and Australia. He has worked with such musicians as Toronto’s John Arpin, former rock star Ian Whitcomb, and legendary 1950s recording artist Johnny Maddox, who was one of Adam’s greatest influences. Adam frequently performs at the Historic Strater Hotel where he makes his home in Durango, Colorado. Visit Adam online: www.adamgswanson.com.

Domingo Mancuello

Domingo Mancuello is one of the up-and-coming artists in the Ragtime world. Domingo first appeared at our festival back in 2014 and has quickly become an audience favorite, performing the music of both the ragtime era and the 20-30s. Domingo has appeared at the World Championship Old Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival, as well as at ragtime concerts across the United States.

Joey Antico

Joey Antico has quickly become a sought after drummer to share the stage in the greater DMV area. Although his roots are in jazz, Antico strives to bridge the gap of old and new music, staying true to the traditions of jazz music while incorporating new ideas and electronics where they appropriately fit. As a gigging and touring musician, Antico has had the opportunity of sharing the stage with acts including BØRNS, Logan Smith, Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra, Chuck Redd, and Chris Vadala. In addition to his live performances, Antico works heavily as a studio musician and can be found on various albums listed in the discography below.

Currently, Antico is a drummer, educator and composer living in Silver Spring, Maryland. He received a degree in Jazz Performance, under the instruction of Chuck Redd and Grammy-Award winning saxophonist Chris Vadala, and a degree in Music Education from The University of Maryland as well. During this time, he has had a few honorable achievements including the Steve Marcus Jazz Scholarship, a spot as a 2016-2017 Artist in Residence for Strathmore, and a position in the 2017 Mid Atlantic Collegiate Jazz Orchestra under direction of Delfeayo Marsalis. While the drum set is Antico’s primary instrument, he also works a considerable amount with hand, mallet and auxiliary percussion, under the instruction and collaborations of Bob Novak.