LEWISTON – Tuesday, March 17, jazz pianist and composer Paul Sullivan will provide Irish music for the Franco-American Heritage Center’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration also featuring food, spirits and fun.

At 6 p.m., revelers will feast on a traditional Irish meal of corn beef, cabbage, turnips, carrots and potatoes. After dinner, Sullivan, known for creating a relaxed and intimate feeling with his audience through his pleasant and quirky observations about music and life, will perform in Heritage Hall.

The Grammy winner has played as a soloist, with his trio and as a member of the Paul Winter Consort on concert tours throughout the United States and Europe, as well as in Croatia, Israel, Costa Rica and Japan. He has performed in the Negev Desert, in Leonard Bernstein’s living room and on the stages of many of the world’s finest concert halls.

He has also performed with legendary orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy, the Boston Pops under both Arthur Fiedler and Keith Lockhardt, and several regional orchestras around the United States.

As a jazz player, he has worked in some of New York’s most prestigious clubs, including Sweet Basil, The Village Vanguard and Bradley’s. He has played with a wide variety of jazz masters from Benny Goodman to Tommy Flanagan, as well as Red Mitchell, Lou Donaldson, George Mraz, Gerry Hemingway, Marc Helias, Gene Bertoncini, Luciana Sousa and many other luminaries. His 13 CDs have sold more than 300 thousand copies and have won three Indie Awards. His music has been broadcast internationally, as well as on all the major American networks.

He received a Grammy for his work on the Paul Winter Consort CD, “Silver Solstice.”

In the theater, Sullivan has worked as a musical director, pianist and conductor for many Off-Broadway and Broadway shows. He played keyboards and shared conducting duties for the original production of the musical “Nine,” which won a Tony for Best Musical.

He has also worked extensively in the dance world, playing piano for Merce Cunningham’s classes and writing music for the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. He has also enjoyed a long friendship with the Pilobolus Dance Theater, for whom he has written more than 15 scores.

Admission – $18, $16 for students and seniors – includes meal and music. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. For tickets, call the box office at 689-2000 or visit www.francoamericanheritage.org. The Franco-American Heritage Center is at 46 Cedar St.

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