Mardi Gras, otherwise known as Fat Tuesday, officially wrapped up for the year this week. In New Orleans, birthplace of the multicultural party-in-the-streets tradition, folks always get a head start by cranking up weeks of parading and jamming in January.
But here in Vancouver, there’s just a little bit more Mardi Gras to be enjoyed Saturday night. That’s when the Thomas Rheingans Ensemble, plus assorted special guests, returns to the Mill Plain United Methodist Church for the latest installment of the church’s charitable Encore Concert Series: a visit to the French Quarter for “Cafe du Monde.”
“I love Dixieland and I love that city,” said pianist Rheingans. “I’m looking forward to being able to get a little creative with the theme of New Orleans.”
And there’s this little bit of extra enjoyment: the Encore Concert Series always benefits Clark County charities that help the hungry and homeless. This Saturday’s concert will benefit Share Vancouver, the leading local provider of homeless shelters, hot meals and much more for the hungry and homeless. Other seasonal Encore Concerts regularly raise money for sister beneficiaries such as food bank Fish of Orchards, downtown day shelter Friends of the Carpenter and the seasonal homeless Winter Hospitality Overflow project.
“The church has connections with those charities. The concert series is a great way to highlight them,” Rheingans said. In addition to cash gifts, used clothing and non-perishable food donations are always welcome, he said.
Rheingans is a versatile Portland pianist who loves to play all sorts of styles, he said — jazz to pop to classical — and he’s also the pianist and music director Mill Plain United Methodist Church in east Vancouver, where he lived and set down roots more than a decade ago. He’s plenty busy in Portland, but Vancouver remains “my creative home,” he said.
You’ll see his creativity and versatility in action during the “Cafe du Monde” concert, he said — which won’t all be about debauchery in the Crescent City. Rheingans said his concert themes are “loose.” In addition to ragtime, swinging blues and the romantic piano works of New Orleans native Louis Moreau Gottschalk — perhaps the most famous composer to emerge from that city — you may well hear some Adele, as well as Rheingans’ own crowd-pleasing piano pyrotechnics, he said.
These Encore Concerts have grown pretty big lately, Rheingans added.
“We’ve had full houses. We’re getting to the point where we may need to offer an afternoon matinee, too.”
The Cafe du Monde concert begins at 7 p.m. Saturday at Mill Plain United Methodist Church, 15804 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd. Admission is free but donations for the needy are the real point of the show.
Visit www.encoreumc.com to learn more.
After “Cafe du Monde,” next up for the Encore Series will be a “Piano Lovers” concert May 7.
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