The deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star.

This performance of The Phantom of the Opera will include improvised guitar and bass by local musicians Brian Vaccaro and Marc Torlina, blended with newly composed and pre-recorded music.

Brian Vaccaro

Brian Vaccaro graduated from Webster University in St. Louis in 1996 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music with an emphasis in Jazz Studies. He continued his education at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville where he earned a Master’s Degree in Music in Guitar Performance in 2000. Since completing his studies, Brian has been active as an educator as well as a performer. He has taught a variety of jazz and general music courses including Jazz History, Jazz Ensemble, Guitar Ensemble, Rock History, Private Guitar Study and numerous others at Lindenwood University, Southwestern Illinois College, St. Louis Community College, Grand Center Arts Academy and St. Charles Community College.

In 2010, Brian received the Outstanding Adjunct Faculty award from St. Louis Community College at Meramec. Brian is now Executive Director of the 501c3 organization “St. Louis Classical Guitar”. He has also performed and recorded with many of the top musicians in the St. Louis area. “Going Through the Motions”, the debut album by the Brian Vaccaro Trio, was honored to be included in the “Notable Releases of 2011” list by noted critic and author W. Royal Stokes. Brian currently performs in and around the St. Louis area.

Marc Torlina

Marc Torlina played his first professional music gig at age 11. Throughout his life he has traveled the world performing in some of the finest venues around. Marc is currently a member of The Peter Mayer Group (Jimmy Buffett’s lead guitarist for the last 25 years) and he also enjoys a successful freelance career that keeps him quite busy performing with other various artist around the country. Marc also is a songwriter and has recorded his own CD’s. He has also recorded on dozens of other artists recorded in some of the best studios in New York, LA, Nashville and St. Louis. He graduated Cum Laude with a degree in music from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, but feels his best musical education has been his real world experience in the music industry. Marc has lived in Hollywood and Amsterdam at various points in his life and was able to easily make new contacts and assimilate into the music scene successfully in those new turfs, continuing to cultivate his own career in music. By being proficient in many instruments (electric and acoustic bass, guitar, piano, drums, voice and ukulele), and being able to perform a wide range of musical styles, Marc has enriched his vocabulary in the language of music. This experience and knowledge transfers over to Marc’s teaching style and allows him to transfer that knowledge back to his students for a more fulfilling learning experience. He has developed a high retention rate of pupils, with some of his finer students moving on to Berklee School of Music and Belmont University or forming successful bands of their own, thus allowing them to continue their own musical journey.Here are a few of some of the artist Marc has shared the stage with; Sheryl Crow, The Temptations, Bonnie Raitt, Chuck Berry, Michael McDonald, members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Evita at The Fox Theatre, Little Richard, Rage Against The Machine, The Everly Brothers, Mac McAnally, Neil Sedaka and most of St, Louis’ finest musicians.