This concert will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of WW1. It will be a collaborative effort between the Genesee Valley Orchestra & Chorus and Michael Lasser of WXXI.

GVOC collaborates with Michael Lasser (WXXI) to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of WW1. Our special guest, Michael Lasser, host of the national radio program Fascinatin’ Rhythm, winner of a Peabody award, and our greatest expert on American popular music, will lead us through a historical journey of songs from the time of WW1.

The songs of the First World War reveal the attitudes and beliefs of their time, especially since what we believed changed so quickly and dramatically. At first we were determined to stay out of Europe’s war. By the time it ended, we had become a different country. The songs trace the changes in American attitudes from “I Didn’t Raise My Boy To Be a Soldier” in 1914, to “Over There” in 1917, to “How Ya’ Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm?” in 1919.