The 2016-17 Players Concert Series will conclude Sunday, April 23, with Tappahannock teen musician Andrew Magruder. The concert will begin at 3 p.m. at the Westmoreland Players Theatre, 16217 Richmond Road, Callao.
Tickets are $15 per person, at the door or online. For reservations, visit westmorelandplayers.org, or call 529-9345.
Magruder will be joined by similarly talented young folks from around the Commonwealth playing a mix of classical, folk, musical theater, bluegrass, old-time gospel and oldies.
They are an amazingly talented group of young people who sing, play piano, guitar and cello, reported his mother Jenifer Magruder.
Andrew Magruder, 18, is a senior at the Chesapeake Bay Governor’s School for Marine and Environmental Science in Warsaw.
He was four years old when he picked up his cousin’s ¼ size violin and played a song on it, said Jenifer Magruder. Since then, the music in his head has never stopped. At his request, he started violin lessons the next year and has had several great mentors teach him classical, blues, rock, bluegrass, and old-time fiddle.
He has played with many groups over the years including Fredericksburg Youth Symphony, Forte Youth Symphony, FAYM Orchestra, and the Rock for Strings Orchestra. He is also a part of several bluegrass and contemporary music bands including The Doghouse Ramblers, The Local Edge, and he plays every Sunday night with The Wellions at The Sunken Well Tavern in Fredericksburg.
At the age of 11, Andrew began to show an interest in singing, said Jenifer Magruder. He began singing and acting classes with Christian Youth Theater in Fredericksburg. He made great friends there and by seventh grade decided to try out for his first musical, Oliver!. By ninth grade he was hooked and appeared in nine shows in a row during his high school years with CYT. Some of his favorite shows were Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Seussical the Musical and A Christmas Carol.
He sings in choir in Fredericksburg and has been named to the All-Virginia State Chorus. During his high school years he also has mastered the guitar, the mandolin and the piano.
Last summer Andrew Magruder appreciated the opportunity when Essex County Schools sent him to the Summer Regional Governor’s School for the Performing Arts for an entire month at Radford University, said Jenifer Magruder.
