
NEWS
THE GAZETTE, Ed Condran
Jim McDonough taking holiday music around Iowa: Steinway Artist Staging 20th Anniversary Christmas Tour
11.17.2022
The Andy Williams and Bob Hope Christmas specials from the 1970s had an indelible impact on pianist Jim McDonough. While growing up in Monticello, he was transfixed as he experienced the traditional holiday songs.
“That was a golden era of holiday entertainment,” McDonough said by phone from his Cedar Rapids office. “I never forgot how I felt when I watched that holiday magic. It was inspiring.”
McDonough, now 48, is doing his best to recreate what he experienced as a child by embarking on a seven-city Christmas tour between Nov. 25 and Dec. 11. The International Steinway Artist will be flanked by a 15-piece orchestra and an array of singers and dancers.
If you go
What: Christmas with Jim McDonough: 20th Anniversary Tour
DeWitt: 7 p.m. Nov. 25, Central DeWitt Performing Arts Center, 519 E. 11th St., DeWitt; $42, pianofavorites.com/shows
Ottumwa: 2:30 p.m. Nov. 26, Bridge View Center, 102 Church St.; $58, pianofavorites.com/shows
Coralville: 2:30 p.m. Nov. 27, Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, 1301 Fifth St., Coralville; $58, coralvillearts.org/27/Events
Des Moines: 2:30 p.m. Dec. 3, Hoyt Sherman Place, 1501 Woodland Ave.; $58 to $68, hoytsherman.org/calendar/events/#all
Cedar Falls: 2:30 p.m. Dec. 4, Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center, 8201 Dakota St., Cedar Falls; $59.75, gbpac.com/upcoming-events
Cedar Rapids: 2:30 p.m. Dec. 10, Paramount Theatre, 123 Third Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids; $58 to $68. creventslive.com/events/2022/jim-mcdonoughs-2022-holiday-tour
Dubuque: 2:30 p.m. Dec. 11, Five Flags Theater, 405 Main St.; $58 to $68, fiveflagscenter.com/location/five-flags-theater
Details: pianofavorites.com/shows
McDonough is staging an ornate production for his 20th anniversary tour, but it will be centered on the music. Such classics as “Silent Night,” “What Child Is This,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland” and “Joy to the World” will be delivered.
“I focused on the arrangements, which are spectacular,” he said. “It’s about the songs, but you’ll experience a show, as well. The show is big — but it also will be intimate. It’s me playing piano in my living room and I invite an audience to witness it. This show is nostalgic. It brings people back to a certain time.”
Christmas is an unusual time, since music fans of all ages listen to the same style of tunes.
“It’s so true — and when else will a grandfather and grandson enjoy the same material,” McDonough said. “That only happens during Christmas, which is such a special time of year.”
McDonough started playing piano when he was 7 and graduated with an education and piano performance degree from Wartburg College in Waverly.
“It was all about music for me when I was a student," he said.
However, the pragmatic musician secured a steady and lucrative job out of college as an air traffic controller.
“That occupation lives up to its reputation,” he said. “It really is one of the most stressful jobs anyone can have. I tried it since I was trying to find my path.”
He decided to focus on music in 2002, and never looked back.
“It all worked out for me, because Iowans identify the talents of young people and foster and nurture it. Cedar Rapids was one of the first cities to embrace me. I’ve lived in Chicago and around Phoenix, but there's no place like Cedar Rapids. There was once a belief that living in Iowa would be a liability for a musician. I’ve proved that to be incorrect.”
McDonough is indebted to his Iowa educators from elementary school through college.
“I received such great instruction — not just in music but in every subject,” he said. “It all happened for me in Iowa. I had a college professor who nailed it. He said there are two types of music. There is music served on a paper plate and there is music served on good china.
“If you were to go in my car right now, you would hear music that is served on a paper plate. There's nothing wrong with that. There's a place for that type of music, which is enjoyable. However, the music served on good china will be with us for generations. That’s the type of music I’m playing on this tour.
“I’m playing music that stands the test of time, and I enjoy it because I love beautiful melodies. I also like looking out at an audience that is filled with people from a number of generations. The audience will be experiencing what I love, which is beautiful melodies. It doesn't get any better than that.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
HOLIDAY TRADITION RETURNS
International Steinway Artist Jim McDonough Announces Holiday Concert Tour and Celebrated 20 Years in Show Business
19.1.2022
CEDAR RAPIDS, IA — An Iowa holiday staple is set to return later this year, following a pandemic-related hiatus since 2019, with a statewide concert series, “Christmas with Jim McDonough and His Orchestra & Singers: The 20th Anniversary Tour.” Tickets for the seven-city tour are on sale now.
The holiday stage production – new for 2022 – features International Steinway Artist Jim McDonough on the concert grand piano, joined by his professional orchestra and singers.
The tour will deliver the message of Christmas in a production suited for all generations. “I’m absolutely thrilled to resume this special holiday tradition, and to do so as I celebrate my twentieth year in show business is extra meaningful,” McDonough said. “We’re pulling out all the stops to make sure this year’s show is fitting of this milestone anniversary,” he continued. “With a new stage set and the most spectacular musical arrangements we’ve ever brought to the stage, it’s sure to be the grandest event of the season!”
“Christmas with Jim McDonough and His Orchestra & Singers: The 20th Anniversary Tour” will make performance stops at seven Iowa theatrical venues:
DeWitt – Friday, November 25, at 7:00 p.m. at the Central DeWitt Performing Arts Center
Ottumwa – Saturday, November 26, at 2:30 p.m. at the Bridge View Theatre
Coralville – Sunday, November 27, at 2:30 p.m. at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts
Des Moines – Saturday, December 3, at 2:30 p.m. at Hoyt Sherman Place
Cedar Falls – Sunday, December 4, at 2:30 p.m. at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Ctr.
Cedar Rapids – Saturday, December 10, at 2:30 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre
Dubuque – Sunday, December 11, at 2:30 p.m. at the Five Flags Theater
Tickets for all venues are on sale now. For more information, visit www.PianoFavorites.com.
THE GAZETTE, Diana Nollen
A look back at creating new experiences and lending a hand in 2020
12.29.2020
Normally, this is the week when I would rank my 10 favorite entertainment events of the year. But as my cousin in New Mexico asked at the end of his Christmas letter, “What does an entertainment editor do when there’s no entertainment?”
I had that same question, as one by one, every event story I was editing and/or writing for the March 19 Hoopla section was being canceled. By March 15, we decided to suspend Hoopla for the near future, never dreaming we’d still be in a holding pattern nine months later, with no landing in sight.
Thankfully, I was reassigned to filling our Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Community pages, tasked with reporting on ways people and organizations are trying to stay connected to their communities during this pandemic.
My first Community profile, published March 23, turned the spotlight on a local musician who also has performed far and wide: Steinway piano artist Jim McDonough. This Monticello native, now based in Cedar Rapids, began streaming free 30-minute concerts from his Cedar Rapids home via Facebook Live at noon on Tuesdays and Fridays.
“We look to the arts for so many things — the distraction or release, whether it’s at a theater or a movie — we can just get lost in it, and I think we could use that maybe more now than ever,” he said during our interview.
Listeners obviously agreed. His St. Patrick’s Day concert went viral, racking up nearly 14,000 views.
“That’s a virus that we want,” he told those who tuned in for his concert the following Friday.
The concerts continued through the end of April, then he took a break. In July, he posted a mini-concert on his YouTube page; on Oct. 1 he participated in the star-studded “Iowa Concert of Hope” to raise funds for derecho relief; and on Dec. 15, Iowa Public Television aired his special, “Home for Christmas with Jim McDonough.” Folks outside of Iowa could watch it online and join in a live conversation on Facebook. The concert was rebroadcast Christmas Eve, and can be seen any time at Youtube.com/watch?v=1fXNeLnSpV0.
Being a good sport, McDonough even posted some outtakes from that Christmas show on his Facebook page, Facebook.com/jimmcdonoughmusic.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Iowa PBS Presents "Home For Christmas With Jim McDonough"
11.20.2020
JOHNSTON, IOWA — Iowa PBS is bringing holiday cheer from Jim McDonough’s home to yours. The Iowan and International Steinway Artist performs beloved Christmas songs during Home for Christmas With Jim McDonough. This Christmas concert premieres on-air and online Tuesday, December 15 at 8 p.m. and repeats Thursday, December 24 at 7 p.m.
In this Christmas concert, taped on location at McDonough’s home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the charismatic performer connects people to each other, and through holiday music favorites, to their fond recollections of holidays past. In addition to Iowa PBS’s statewide broadcast, Home For Christmas With Jim McDonough will be available to stream on iowapbs.org, Facebook, YouTube and the PBS Video app.
“We are so proud to bring this holiday special to Iowans and beyond,” said Iowa PBS Executive Producer Deb Herbold. “Working with a brilliant musician like Jim has been amazing. We can’t wait to connect Iowans with a world-renowned artist born and raised in their own backyard!”
A live audience was on location for the taping in January 2020. Their joyful experience jumps through the camera lens to bring viewers along on a holiday trip down memory lane. Home for Christmas With Jim McDonough will bring excitement and warm feelings to young and old alike.
“The holidays have always been my favorite time of year, and sharing Christmas cheer is more important this year than ever before,” said McDonough. “I hope this concert provides some warmth and joy to everyone that watches.”
In addition to its statewide broadcast, Iowa PBS .1 is available to livestream on iowapbs.org/watch, pbs.org/livestream, the PBS Video App for Roku and YouTube TV. Iowa PBS programs, behind-the-scenes extras and more can be enjoyed on iowapbs.org, Facebook and YouTube. Viewers can also stream their favorite shows on demand using the PBS Video App, available on iOS, Android and many streaming devices.
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For more information about Iowa PBS, please contact Susan Ramsey at 515.725.9703 or susan.ramsey@iowapbs.org.
THE GAZETTE, Diana Nollen
Pianist Jim McDonough is bringing music to the masses in trying times
3.23.2020
Jim McDonough is building a community, one note at a time.
The notes come from all over the country — Texas, Georgia and South Carolina to Oklahoma, Nevada and California, as well as Canada and across the Midwest. Listeners are watching his virtual concerts, to hear the notes that fly off McDonough’s fingers and onto the Steinway grand piano in his southeast Cedar Rapids home.
His St. Patrick’s Day noon concert went viral, racking up nearly 14,000 views.
“That’s a virus that we want,” he told those who tuned in for his concert the following Friday. As long as the demand remains, he’ll continue to do these 30-minute Facebook Live concerts on Tuesdays and Fridays. Tune in by “liking” and “following” his Jim McDonough Music page on the Facebook social media platform.
“This time together is about building a community, it’s about positivity,” he told Friday’s listeners.
Unlike the St. Patrick’s Day concert that featured Irish-themed music, he asked those listeners to send him a favorite song they would like to hear next time. They responded with more than 60 titles, many of which he “swirled” into a medley nearly half an hour long for Friday’s listeners.
Audience-request medleys grew out his early career years playing on cruise ships, and have become a standard feature of his concerts ever since.
On Friday, he added his flourish to favorite hymns like “How Great thou Art,” “In The Garden,” “It is Well with My Soul” and “A Mighty Fortress is our God”; such Broadway and movie hits as “Unchained Melody,” “Sunrise, Sunset,” “Memory,” “Music of the Night,” “As Time Goes By” and “Over the Rainbow”; pop and patriotic standards like “Wind Beneath My Wings,” “Hallelujah,” “What a Wonderful World” and “God Bless the U.S.A.”; and nostalgic pieces like “Satin Doll” and “You Are My Sunshine.”
He even tossed in touches of whimsy with “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,” “Bumble Boogie,” “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” and a spirited “Chopsticks,” as well as a couple of classical favorites, including “Moonlight Sonata” and Pachelbel’s Canon in D.
He told viewers he hasn’t memorized every single song, but hears them in his mind, and while he’s playing one from the request list, he’s singing the next one in his head.
“I just have (a list of) song titles,” he said. “So if I can sing a song in my mind, if I know how the tune goes — especially if I don’t overthink it — I can just turn my brain off and let myself play it. The piano knows all these songs. ... I just kind of live in them for a moment, and let my fingers tell the story.”
Musical odyssey
Now 45, McDonough’s story begins at age 7 in Monticello, when he began taking piano lessons. As a high school freshman, he “marched” into his hometown bank, and asked for a loan to buy a used Steinway medium-sized grand piano from Carma Lou’s House of Music in Cedar Rapids.
“He was stunned,” McDonough said of the loan officer.
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The teen traded in the family upright piano, his parents co-signed the loan, and he made payments “for years” on the balance of just under $13,000. He still has that piano in his home studio, and still practices on it, although it’s a larger Steinway he plays when he gives his holiday home concerts and the current noontime series.
That first piano also was a lifesaver. In eighth grade, he accompanied the junior high choir. And while he was helping to move a piano across an elementary gym floor to prepare for a concert, it tipped over, crushing two fingers in his right hand.
As he recovered, he began taking left-hand piano lessons.
“I couldn’t use my right hand for a long time,” he said, and was in physical therapy for about a year and a half.
“I was really determined to get back to the piano. It was the thing that defined me,” he said. “I think like a lot of people in the arts, I was not going to be an athlete, I was not going to be an astronaut. This was the one thing I was really pretty good at, and it was bringing me a lot of satisfaction and positive reinforcement. What kid doesn’t like to have that? The piano and music gave me that, and then it was going to be taken away.”
Buying his first Steinway that following year gave him the motivation to continue and strive to play again. At one point, his doctor told him he had lost 25 percent of the movement in those injured fingers, and it’s still not back to 100 percent.
“Using my hands helped get back the range of motion, the dexterity,” he said. “Who knows — maybe I’ve compensated. But that is how music has helped me through a time like that — to be motivating and distracting.
“We look to the arts for so many things — the distraction or release, whether it’s at a theater or a movie — we can just get lost in it, and I think we could use that maybe more now than ever.”
Career moves
He studied music education at Wartburg College in Waverly, then taught high school band for two years before feeling the need to change course. Completely.
He followed in his sister’s footsteps and became an air traffic controller at the second-busiest center in the world, located in Chicago. But after a couple of years, he felt the siren song of music. During a monthlong vacation from the control center in the summer of 2000, he got the chance to fill in for a pianist on a cruise ship. He jumped aboard, launching his professional piano career.
“It’s like I had died and gone to heaven,” he said. “I went from one of the most stressful jobs in the world to taking requests playing songs that make people’s eyes light up.”
Dry land beckoned, and in 2002, he moved his base of operations back to Monticello, renting commercial space and living quarters. But by 2017, he was ready to put everything under one roof, and landed in Cedar Rapids.
Along with giving concerts, recording albums and conducting a holiday tour around the state, in 2010, he became a certified Steinway Artist. There, he joined the ranks of Emanuel Ax, Harry Connick Jr., Billy Joel, Ellis Marsalis and others, as well as the “Immortals” including Van Cliburn, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, Edvard Grieg, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and John Philip Sousa.
“It’s like a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval,” McDonough said. But don’t let that fool you. He had to be nominated, fill out a lengthy form, submit examples of his artistry, then have it all put to the vote of a selection committee.
“It was such a great day when I found out,” he said. “It’s a wonderful thing.”
The designation doesn’t have a paycheck attached. The only obligation is to perform as often as possible on a Steinway piano.
Seeing the joy on people’s faces and hearing their kind comments are their own special reward. And that’s what he’s feeling from his noontime concerts.
“So many of our artistic outlets are suffering right now. As a population, we need those things, and we have less access to them in a traditional way,” he said. “This is not traditional, but it’s a way that we can still provide that.
“I find it as satisfying — maybe more than the people on the other side of the computer — because it gives me a project that’s very positive, and yet I’m enjoying sitting here and seeing all these songs that people are requesting. On a human level, it’s been great for me, as well. ...
“If I can play a few songs and make someone’s day better, mission accomplished. And if that person becomes an ongoing member of my online community, mission accomplished. If they end up in a concert seat someday, great. If they buy my music, great,” he said.
“But this is about community — this is not about income.”
MONTICELLO EXPRESS, Kim Brooks
McDonough uses musical talent to soothe during COVID-19
4.28.2020
So many people around the country and around the world are cooped up, secluded to their homes as COVID-19 remains at a high risk. Now, more than ever, people need a break from this new “normal,” something to take their minds off of what has been a hectic and unpredictable lifestyle.
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Monticello’s own Jim McDonough, professional pianist, had intentions of doing a Facebook Live performance from his home in Cedar Rapids on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, something he planned for a couple of months.
“With a name like ‘McDonough,’ I thought it would be a fun time to connect with the people who follow the ‘Jim McDonough Music’ Facebook page and play some Irish songs,” recalled McDonough.
However, as Tuesday, March 17 arrived, McDonough was hearing about more and more people staying home due to social distancing and coronavirus. That was the date Gov. Kim Reynolds made her first social distancing and business closure announcement.
“It became clear that the more important objective for that first broadcast would be to lift spirits and provide a respite from the news of the day.”
That began McDonough’s semi-weekly live performances.
He takes to Facebook Live every Tuesday and Friday at noon (Central time). Of his first performance, McDonough said, “The response was so overwhelming, and the session was so gratefully received, I decided to broadcast again that Friday.”
If you follow McDonough’s music or have had the privilege to see him perform live, you know he enjoys taking requests from his audiences and can perform those requests on cue. So that’s how he manages his live shows, too.
“People love to hear their favorite songs,” he said. “The ones that make their eyes light up or remind them of a memorable time in their life.”
So many of those public requests have made it to McDonough’s many CDs such as “Broadway Dreams,” “Country Roads,” and “Projections.” His first CD was appropriately titled “Requests.”
As McDonough goes live on Facebook, viewers can see the hundreds of comments viewers send his way, thanking him for taking the time to provide some respite.
“The comments that people share – especially as they deal with such a disruption in their lives – have been so personal and touching,” he said.
Each performance garners 500-plus comments, and McDonough personally reads each one following his performance. His first Facebook Live on March 17 brought together close to 8,300 viewers!
Each time McDonough completes one of his live streams, they remain on his Facebook page for people to watch again and again at their leisure.
“My second broadcast has been viewed more than 18,000 times,” he said.
McDonough said reading the kind words from his fans “recharges his battery.”
“It makes me feel really good to be able to do what I can to help during this time,” he said.
McDonough said he sees what so many others in his hometown of Monticello are doing to lend a hand: making facemasks, delivering groceries, running errands for people who shouldn’t be out and about, and checking in on their neighbors.
Throughout his performances, he’ll give shout-outs to those tuning in, asking people to share where they’re watching from.
“I get a kick out of reading all of the locations from coast-to-coast in the U.S., and even overseas.”
Like any other business owner in Iowa, or even those across the country, McDonough said COVID-19 has certainly impacted his life and business. The retail shops that sell his CDs have been forced to close their doors. Any public concert events have been cancelled or postponed through April 30, for now.
McDonough is using this down time to work on “longer-range projects, launch a new website, and lay the groundwork for new ways people can find my music,” he shared. He hopes to look back on this time as having spent it in a productive way.
McDonough also teased some exciting news and upcoming projects his fans can look forward too… He’s planning for a brand new, hour-long television special, as well as “Home Concert Series” events.
“I hope to have a new album ready for release this fall,” he added.
For now, McDonough is taking it week by week, as everyone else is doing. He said as long as people tune into his Facebook Live performances he’ll continue to offer them, especially during this hard time in everyone’s lives.
“Like” and “Follow” Jim McDonough Music on Facebook to watch his live performances, as well as his archived shows.