80 Fingers of Praise

"80 Fingers of Praise" - a concert featuring eight piano players and four pianos - will be presented at 7 p.m. April 20 in the sanctuary of St. Andrew's United Methodist Church, 120 W. Sandusky St. The concert will feature ragtime, classical, patriotic, hymn tunes and original music written and arranged for multiple pianos. The featured pianists include Julie Baughman, Ann Cramer, Susan Kayser, Shirley Nebergall, Bev Roby, Jim Scothorn, Sharon Vaas and Mark Willeke. The majority of the pianists have played together for over 19 years. Returning to Findlay from Texas for a guest appearance will be Kelly Lewis, who was one of the original players. The first such concert was presented in 2005 and was conceived by Roby when she was director of music at the church. Taking notice of all of the talented pianists in the congregation, she came up with the idea to have them all play at once. Finding arrangements for duets was easy, but finding music for multiple pianos proved more difficult. Since that concert, this unique pairing of musicians and pianos has occurred six times, with this concert being the seventh - and final one. The concert is free and open to the public, with a freewill offering accepted. The church is handicapped accessible at the West Crawford Street entrance.