Joey DeFrancesco, a third-generation jazz musician, has been perfecting his unique blend of jazz, soul and blues for more than 40 years. Born in Philadelphia, DeFrancesco got his start on the organ at age four and began playing shows at five when his dad, “Papa” John DeFrancesco, invited him to sit in on sets.

Under the baton of Anne Harrigan, the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra will take the audience at W.K. Kellogg Auditorium to Bald Mountain, the Pines of Rome and beyond with the Walt Disney classic Fantasia. 

For Jake and Pete Twitchell, it’s the 10-year anniversary of their father’s tragic death in a 1952 mining accident. The Pickaway Coal Company’s South Mountain in rural West Virginia — locally nicknamed “The Burnt Part” — is where the death of those four miners occurred, three of whom left behind children.

It’s four songs into Anastasia before audiences are really introduced to Anya (Lila Coogan) the show’s female lead. Up until that point, a lot of years go by, and quickly too, jumping from 1906 to 1917 to our final destination, 1927.