The Ironton Council for the Arts 2024-2025 concert series kicks off Sunday with ragtime pianist extraordinaire, Peter Bergin, a software developer turned musician.
His love for America’s original popular music reaches back to his formative years in Michigan and his mission is to make people happy with the rhythms and infectious melodies of early American music, especially ragtime, vintage American songs and music of the 1920s.
Following a twenty-four-year career in software development at many of the brightest companies in Silicon Valley, Bergin took a leap of faith and embarked on a full-time career in music.
Today, Bergin is a regular at concert halls, community centers and festivals around the country, including the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival, West Coast Ragtime Festival, and Zehnder’s Ragtime Festival, and is a Michigan Humanities Touring Artist.
He has collaborated with celebrated musicians Jeff Barnhart, Bob Milne and Grammy award-winning percussionist Danny Coots. Peter is a recording artist with a variety of CDs available at www.berginmusic.com.
His latest release, Ragtime Collage, is a diverse collection of classic rags and novelties.
The concert will be 3 p.m. Sunday in the Ohio University Southern Riffe Rotunda.
Tickets are $15, a season ticket for all six subscription concerts is $50, and both are available at the performance.
The concert is free for students of all ages and children. OUs is handicap-accessible.
The Ironton Council for the Arts received ArtSTART and Ohio Artists on Tour grants from the Ohio Arts Council for the 2024-25 subscription concert season which will help defray performance costs and thanks the Ohio Arts Council for these awards.