A 2013 exhibition in the Mollie Donovan Gallery at the Westport Historical Society honored Westport artist Walt Reed, who died March 18 at age 97.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Larry Untermeyer for WestportNow.com

Vocalist Nicole Pasternak performs today with the Hartford Jazz Orchestra led by Donn Trenner (l) in a Westport Arts Center concert at the Pequot Library in Southport. The 15-member group, founded In 1965, has been led by Trenner since 2000. Most of his career has been as a jazz pianist. He has worked as pianist-conductor for such artists as Lena Horne, Nancy Wilson, Vicki Carr, Dick Haymes, Jose Feliciano and Jack Jones. Hartford native Pasternak is featured with a number of jazz orchestras and combos in the area and also is a songwriter and lyricist. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

William O. Harbach (l) of Fairfield talks over old times today with Donn Trenner, leader of the Hartford Jazz Orchestra, which performed at a Westport Arts Center jazz concert at the Pequot Library in Southport. Harbach is an award-winning television producer, director and author who worked with Trenner on the “The Steve Allen Show,” a spinoff from “The Tonight Show” from 1954 to 1960. Harbach, 95, was the producer and Trenner, 88, eventually became band leader. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

Scenes from today’s Hartford Jazz Orchestra concert sponsored by the Westport Arts Center at the Pequot Library in Southport. Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

There was a large turnout today at the Westport Center for Senior Activities to welcome the “Return of Jodi Keogan & Friends.” They performed songs and duets from the Great American and Italian Songbooks. Before the show, there was a pizza party with pizzas supplied by Westport pizza producers. The series is funded by the Friends of the Center for Senior Activities as well as the Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts and funded by the Mortimer and Mimi Levitt Foundation. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

Friends of Music & Arts at Westport’s Christ & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church were treated to a reception and concert tonight with a variety of music performed, from Mozart and Puccini to Charles Ives and Richard Rogers. Section leaders Jason Linden, tenor, Elizabeth James, soprano, Jamilyn Manning-White, soprano, and Matthew Vitti, baritone, sang to an enthusiastic audience. They were accompanied on piano by Michael Burnette, organist-choirmaster. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jane Sherman for WestportNow.com

Two area temples are teaming up to present a unique performance on Sunday, March 29 at Westport Town Hall of one cantor playing another in “Cantor Arik Luck is Moishe Oysher.”

Cantor Arik Luck plays Cantor Moishe Oysher in the one afternoon only performance. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Temple Israel of Westport and Temple Shalom of Norwalk are sponsoring the 3 p.m. performance about the life of Oysher, an unorthodox cantor of the 1930s and ‘40s who played in Yiddish theater and films. He died in 1958 at age 51.

Oysher’s story struck a chord with Cantor Arik Luck (Beth Emet, Evanston, Ill.) who wanted to be a stage actor before he entered cantorial school at Hebrew Union College in New York.

During his studies, Luck discovered Oysher and his interest prompted him to create a full-length musical revue, “Arik Luck Is … Moishe Oysher: The Master Singer of His People!”