New England Entertainment Digest - Online
Brought to you by JAC Publishing & Promotions - Serving New England Since 1979!

Electric Youth Returns Home After Month-Long European Tour

FRAMKLIN, MA: Following a successful one-month concert tour, the 18 members of Electric Youth, eight-piece band, tech crew, staff and entourage of fans and families have returned home from Europe. Trained at the Franklin School for the Performing Arts (FSPA), Electric Youth performed 12 shows at a variety of venues in Austria, Slovenia and Italy from June 18 – July 12.

Electric Youth returned to familiar stages and fans at the Danube Park, Oberwart and St. Pölten and found a new enthusiastic audience at a music festival in Gerersdorf in Austria. “The experience of playing to audiences with the feel of a rock concert is something we can’t replicate here at home,” notes director Raye Lynn Mercer. The group added to an already impressive resume with a benefit performance at the Vienna Kammer Oper. Past tours have included shows at Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Musikverein, Theater Akzent, and Schonbrunn Palace, and at Italy’s Villa Manin and world-famous Ariston Theater in San Remo. The 2010 tour included open-air venues in the ancient Italian town of Todi in Umbria, at a private party at the Practurte Winery, for thousands in the squre of the Adriatic resort town of Bibione, and at the Beach Village in Lignano. “Every venue, large or small, inside or open air, with a great stage or providing spatial challenges, gives our young performers unique and powerful experiences,” comments Vocal Director Hallie Wetzell. Mercer adds, “Their extensive repertoire of Pop, Rock and Broadway music allows us to customize the program to accommodate each venue and audience. The group is given the set lists to memorize on the way to each show.” The 2010 European tour closed with an outdoor concert at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo on Lake Como. A closing dinner and celebration was held at Hotel Tremezzo on July 11 before Electric Youth traveled home on July 12.

During their time away from the stage, Electric Youth and the entourage, which numbered from 30 – 65 people during the tour, enjoyed sightseeing in Vienna, St. Pölten, Baden, and Hallstatt in Austria and Florence, Todi, Sirmione, and Lake Como in Italy. “In addition to the professional level at which Electric Youth performs, I am proud of the way the members of this group serve as great ambassadors of America’s youth,” Mercer explains.

The members of Electric Youth 2010 are: Meghan Dean, Matt Duhamel, Ali Funkhouser, Jill Gleason, Galen Hancock, Kerryn Reeve, and Catherine Weiss of Franklin, Michael Egan of Hopkinton, Jacquie Hurley of North Attleboro, Callie Liljeberg and Corinne Falotico of Wrentham, Ali McCurdy and Erica McLaughlin of Medfield, Katie Ryan and Daniel Harcourt of Millville, Samantha Vita of Mansfield, Emily Harrington of Norfolk, and Samantha Terranova of Medway. The musicians touring with Electric Youth this year were Kenny Hadley on percussion, Mark White on guitar, Mark Poniatowski on bass, Raye Lynn Mercer on piano, Jeff Hoyer on trombone, Walter Platt on trumpet, Ken Reid on tenor sax, and Ben Whiting on baritone sax. The tour staff from FSPA included Nick Paone, Kellie Stamp and Hallie Wetzell.

Electric Youth will appear at Concerts on the Common in Franklin on Wednesday, July 21 and in Norfolk on Thursday, July 22. Both concerts begin at 6:30pm.

Further information regarding Electric Youth and all programs at the Franklin School for the Performing Arts are available by contacting the school at 38 Main Street at (508)-528-8668 or by visiting www.fspaonline.com.