Spend April in Paris with Aspire Theatre

Aspire Community Theatre will present Matthew Goodrich in "April in Paris: Parisian Piano Masterworks from La Belle Époque" at 2 p.m. April 16 in the Midge and Pepper Smock Family Theatre at the Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Community Center, 1765 W. Golf Course Road, Coeur d'Alene.

Goodrich will take audiences strolling down the Champs Élysées at the turn of the 20th century, taking in the sights and sounds of Paris, arguably the most flourishing arts center in the world. Poets, painters and composers were creating a spectrum of artistic innovation, stimulated by an atmosphere of scientific progress, international exhibitions and cultural transformation.

In association with Aspire’s production of Sunday in the Park with George, pianist Goodrich presents a concert of Parisian piano music from the time of painter Georges Seurat’s stunning masterpiece A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Highlighting Paris-based composers from France and Spain, the program includes works of Ravel, Debussy, Albéniz, Granados and more.

Goodrich, director of music and performance at Music Conservatory of Sandpoint, is a graduate of Oberlin College Conservatory and University of Washington. He is frequently engaged to perform French and Spanish piano repertoire throughout the United States. With the Harrington-Goodrich Piano Duo, he presented the multimedia concert "A Charmed Rendezvous," featuring 20th-century Parisian music and art, in several western states, including a 2020 Colorado Public Television broadcast.

Seattle-based for two decades, Goodrich played keyboards for scores of musicals, including several pre-Broadway premieres. He was pianist-conductor for nine productions at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and spent 2016 on the road with the Broadway national tour of "If/Then." Now, he is serving as music director at Spokane Valley Summer Theatre, Coeur d’Alene Summer Theater and for Aspire’s "Sunday in the Park with George."

Tickets start at $15 and are available online at aspirecda.com, by phone at 208-696-4228 or email to tickets@aspirecda.com.