PARAGON RAGTIME ORCHESTRA: Meet Me at the Fair!

PARAGON RAGTIME ORCHESTRA: Meet Me at the Fair!

Sunday, May 31, 2026 at 4pm

A FAMILY-FRIENDLY MATINEE EVENT!

The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra is the world’s only year-round, professional ensemble re-creating “America’s Original Music” – the syncopated sounds of early musical theater, silent cinema, and vintage dance. The PRO came into being as the result of Rick Benjamin’s 1985 discovery of thousands of turn-of-the-century orchestra scores once belonging to Victrola recording star Arthur Pryor. In 1988 the Orchestra made its formal debut at Alice Tully Hall – the first concert ever presented at Lincoln Center by such an ensemble. Since then PRO has appeared at hundreds of leading arts venues, including the Ravinia Festival, the Smithsonian Institution, Chautauqua, the Brucknerhaus (Austria), the New York 92nd Street Y, and the American Dance Festival. In 1999 PRO’s music inspired master choreographer Paul Taylor’s new dance Oh You Kid! which was premiered at The Kennedy Center jointly by the Paul Taylor Dance Company and the Orchestra. In June, 2003 the PRO presented the premier of Rick Benjamin’s new reconstruction of at San Francisco’s Stern Grove Festival. In 2005 and again in 2006, Paragon had the honor of being presented in Minneapolis’s Orchestra Hall as guests of the Minnesota Orchestra.

In addition to its worldwide concert hall, university, and festival appearances, the PRO has acquired a considerable following both here and abroad through its radio programs on the New York Times’ WQXR, National Public Radio (All Things Considered, Performance Today and others), the British Broadcasting Corporation, and the Voice of America networks. Since 1989 the Walt Disney Company has relied on the Orchestra’s recordings for the outdoor “area music” heard at Main Street, U.S.A. at Disneyland, Disney World, and Disneyland Paris; the PRO strengthened its international following during its extended engagement as a U.S. Ambassador of Goodwill at the 1992 World’s Universal Exposition in Seville, Spain.

Over the years the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra has been heard on the soundtracks of several motion pictures and television programs. The Orchestra’s albums and videos have been widely praised, and considered instrumental in rekindling interest in America’s rich traditions of theater, cinema, and dance orchestra music.

About Musica Reginae Productions:

Founded in 2000, Musica Reginae Productions (MRP) brings innovative programming and world-renowned artists to concert spaces in Queens, the most ethnically diverse county in the world. MRP’s mission is to be “Your natural choice for fine music in Queens.”

MRP produces affordable, informative, and family friendly concerts featuring music that draws its inspiration from the classical, chamber, opera, jazz and world music literature. Our concerts provide a venue for talented and exciting young and established artists and we have become increasingly devoted to presenting new music by emerging composers, particularly those who have an affiliation with NYC and with our home borough of Queens. MRP fulfills its educational outreach mission with its Community Concerts for Kids, a free interactive, educational series for children and families ages 4 and up, led by teaching artists Beata Moon and MRP Artistic Director Barbara Podgurski. In addition, our artists perform at several public events every year including the 9/11 ceremonies in lower Manhattan and have also performed for Pope Francis during his Papal Visit of 2015. MRP is able to present top-notch performances each season because of the support it receives from individual and corporate sponsors in addition to partial funding from the Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts and NYC & Co.

For more information about our current season and to learn about all the concerts, educational childrens programming and the Musica Reginae Youth Chamber Ensemble (MRYCE) that are part of who we are and what we do in our Queens communities, please visit musicareginae.org and like/follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

Also check out other Music events in Forest Hills, Entertainment events in Forest Hills, Arts events in Forest Hills.