​Richard Dowling will perform a special showcase solo concert on Wednesday, May 31st to kick off the 36th Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Missouri.

Mr. Dowling’s Great Scott! Festival program will be a full-length solo recital featuring all six Joplin works used in the 1973 Oscar-winning movie The Sting, all five Joplin waltzes, all six Joplin marches, all eight of Joplin’s works written in collaboration with other composers, plus many rarely-heard Joplin works. The program will also feature two Audience Choice selections.  Mr. Dowling will conclude his program with a magnificent solo piano transcription of A Real Slow Drag, the final number from Joplin’s opera Treemonisha.
 
Mr. Dowling will be the first pianist in history to perform the complete cycle of Scott Joplin’s 53 piano works in public at New York City’s Carnegie Hall On April 1, 2017 –– exactly 100 years to the day after Joplin’s passing.   Mr. Dowling’s 3-CD set of The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin, recorded on a Steinway grand piano will be available for purchase in The Ragtime Store located in Liberty Center during the festival.

Thanks to donations by Larry Karp and David Almquist, the City of Sedalia and Missouri Dept of Transportation will unveil and dedicate commemorative street signs honoring Scott Joplin on Saturday, November 5 at 10AM in Sedalia's Liberty Center.
The following Monday, the signs will be installed at the intersection of US 50 and 65 (west end) as well as at Air Center Drive (east end).  This post will be edited to include photos of the 'Scott Joplin Memorial Highway' signs once they're up.

​2017 will be the Centennial of Scott Joplin’s death.  Ragtime fans are encouraged to donate to the purchase and placement of a memorial bench at the site of his grave in St. Michael’s Cemetery, East Elmhurst, NY.   Installation is planeed for May 27, 2017.
 
Please make checks to St. Michael’s Cemetery (a non-profit, charitable organization) with “Scott Joplin Memorial” written in the memo space on the check.

Mail checks to:
Ed Berlin
46 Meadow Ponds Circle
Miller Place, NY  11764
 
PayPal donations are also welcome.  Use the “Friends and Family” option to avoid PayPal fees and direct to Ed’s email, edberlin36@gmail.com
 
Ed will then submit the appropriate check to the Cemetery, listing donor names unless anonymity is preferred.