Ragtime pianist Foley to play America 250 concert in Medina

The Medina County District Library, in partnership with Ohio Regional Music Arts and Cultural Outreach (ORMACO), will present Cleveland-based musician George Foley.

The concert will take place Thursday, May 7, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Medina Library, 210 S. Broadway St.

Foley, a pianist specializing in ragtime and stride piano, will share the evolution of jazz in the early 20th century while performing this uniquely American art form as part of the America 250 celebration.

No registration is required for this free event.

George Foley began playing ragtime at age 13. He received much of his musical education at the Cleveland Music School Settlement, where he studied piano, theory, composition and jazz improvisation. He attended the College of Wooster, where he hosted a weekly ragtime radio show and performed with the Wooster Jazz Ensemble.

Foley was awarded the Charles V. Rychlik Composition Award by the Cleveland Music School Settlement for his “Chinatown Rag” in 1974. He released his first album, “Cleveland Rag,” on Century-Advent Records in 1977; it was reissued on the Jazzology label in 1980.