Music professor contributes to Tony Awards show
Released: June 13, 2008
George Ferencz’s work will be seen by everyone who watches the Tony Awards this weekend, but not in the way one would think.
Ferencz, a music professor at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, has dedicated his life to study the life and works of composer Robert Russell Bennett who will be honored at this Sunday’s Tony Awards. Ferencz, internationally recognized as the foremost authority on Bennett’s life and work, is providing otherwise unavailable information on Bennett’s life for the Tony Award broadcast scriptwriters. He will also provide photographs which will both be seen live by those in the audience at the Radio City Music Hall in New York as well as people watching the broadcast on CBS.
“I won’t be there and my name won’t be mentioned,” Ferencz said. “But it’s gratifying all the same when a professor’s research gets a real-world, round-the-world audience.”
This isn’t the first time Ferencz will share his expertise on Bennett. He recently helped the U.S. Army Field Band with its recent all-Bennett album. He also wrote program notes for the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and he prepared unpublished Bennett compositions and arrangements for recording in London by the BBC Concert Orchestra.
The reason why Bennett is being spotlighted this year is because of the recent revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1949 World War II musical “South Pacific.” The production has been nominated for 11 awards and uses Bennett’s opulent arrangement played by an orchestra of 30 musicians, which is far larger than normal.
No stranger to musical theater himself, Ferencz has been playing piano at The Fireside Theater in Fort Atkinson since 1992. His free-lance arrangements for Milwaukee music publisher Hal Leonard have included piano-vocal selections for recent hits “Wicked,” “Avenue Q” and “Urinetown.”
Ferencz recently realized he’s been researching Bennett for longer than some of his students have been alive, but that’s not going to stop him from continuing his research. “There’s plenty of his story left to be told,” Ferencz said. “And lots of neglected music worthy of a hearing.”
- Tom Applegarth,applegartg17@uww.edu
