New song and ‘A New Beginning’ for new year
If you’ve never heard of bandcamp.com, now’s the perfect time to make introductions — a new beginning, so to speak.
It’s a site where artists can introduce new music and be compensated directly for their work. For the new year, though, there’s a free download there of note, by former “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” musical director Michael Moricz, who took over for Johnny Costa in 1997. He collaborated with artists from Pittsburgh to Chicago and Broadway to produce his new song “A New Beginning,” which features the voices of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” TV actors Chuck “Neighbor” Aber and David “Mr. McFeely” Newell, as well as Pittsburgh singer-actor-musician
David Toole, among others. You’ll hear a little Fred Rogers in there, too.
According to the site, “The musicians, plus Chuck, David, Michael and Dave, were recorded at AUDIBLE IMAGES, Pittsburgh [by] Jay Dudt, engineer, and allaround miracle man Benjamin Nicholson, assisting engineer.”
Pittsburghers know Moricz’s work with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Pittsburgh Festival Opera and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, among others, and as the composer of “Eyes on the Goal,” the theme for Pittsburgh CLO’s Gene Kelly Awards. The native Pittsburgher, whose studies include Duquesne University, currently is a composer and pianist for the Joffrey Ballet. He also has been the music director for the National High School Musical Theatre Awards (the Jimmys), and has composed for TV productions and companies nationwide.
Moricz writes that his new song was inspired by thoughts of Fred Rogers, in these days when “America feels more divided than ever . ... So I gathered together a group of very dear friends to help me bring the song to life as 2019 came to a close. Some were from Broadway or theater, some were singer-songwriters, some were students I only just met, others were trusted recording engineers and colleagues of many years ... and all of the musicians were people with whom I’ve been privileged to make music for a very long time. It was truly a labor of love.”