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Singer’s holiday CD, made with TLC, will help PD
Jerry Dean - Thu, Dec, 7, 2006
A memorial. A labor of love.
That’s how one might best describe an album of traditional Christmas classics, available locally and recorded by a Knoxville harpist and an aspiring young artist with strong West Knoxville ties.
What sets the CD apart, amid holiday musical abundance, is less its content than its purpose. To celebrate the beauty of the season, certainly.
But beyond that, soprano Madison Lyleroehr — alumna of The Webb School of Knoxville — sings as a personal tribute and to raise funds for medical research she hopes will find a treatment and anxiously-awaited cure for dread Parkinson’s Disease.
A sophomore sociology major and honors student at prestigious Brandeis University in Boston, Mass., Lyleroehr dedicates her recorded repertoire of 15 time-honored seasonal classics to the memory of one particular PD victim — her grandmother who helped raise her.
Betty Jane Lyle, a lifelong Knoxville resident, died in May 2006 after struggling with the illness that’s claimed 6 million victims worldwide. So all Lyleroehr’s album proceeds benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, begun by the popular TV and movie actor-director.
“This cause is very near and dear to my heart,” said Lyleroehr, the collegian whose crystalline voice, on her second album — “Heavenly Peace” — is backed by celestial strains of Celtic harpist Anne Houser Jackson, also of Knoxville.
Lyleroehr, a South-Doyle High School graduate, is known locally for performances that included Mayor’s Budget luncheons, the Knoxville Convention Center opening and soulful renditions of The National Anthem sung before Lady Vols soccer games. A singer since age 2, she hopes eventually to perform rock music professionally.
“Classical music can certainly be fun to sing,” said Lyleroehr, a Presidental Scholar at Brandeis. “But rock is more where my heart lies.”
Lyleroehr has set her priorities. She will not graduate until 2009, so her studies come first. She was preparing for finals when she discussed her ambitions with farragutpress.
Increasingly, she is recognized locally as a serious artist whose vocal styles run the gamut from lilting renditions of timeless classics to upbeat rock music.
She comes by her musical roots honestly. Her late grandfather, J. B. Lyle, conducted the Knoxville Choral Society and was music supervisor for the Knox County Schools from 1963 until his death in 1987.
Her mother, Dr. Linda Lyle, a University of Tennessee professor, also was diagnosed with PD four years ago. Lyleroehr said:
“I’ve seen the debilitating effects of (Parkinson’s) up close; so I wanted to do something very personal and meaningful to further the Fox Foundation’s work.”
MJFF, she added, “is funding cutting-edge research to bring about advances in treatments and, ultimately, a cure. I want very much to be part of that effort. The cure is the thing closest to my heart, and by supporting (the Foundation), we know the money will be put to work to help find a cure for P-D.”
Lyleroehr’s album, produced through KLM Media, is available at Borders bookstore in Turkey Creek and the Disc Exchange. Its 15 tracks include such familiar carols such as “The Holly and the Ivy,” “Once in Royal David’s City,” “Away in a Manger” and “What Child Is This?” as well as the beloved Negro spiritual “Sweet Little Jesus Boy” and French classics “Il Est Ne” (He is Born) and “Noel Nouvelet.”
Lyleroehr, a Worcester, Mass. native, is accompanied on the album by Jackson’s Celtic harp. When Jackson accompanied Lyleroehr at her 2004 senior voice and piano recital, the harpist found her voice was a “pure angelic, uncluttered soprano” that blended “magnificently” with harp. Jackson conceded the difficulty of blending harp chords with the human voice.
“I love all kinds of music, even classical and technical,“ Lyleroehr said. “But I wanted this one to be relaxing, something everyone could enjoy.” Its French carols let her use language she is acquiring.
Brandeis University’s student paper said in a Tuesday, Oct. 17, article that the soprano’s “community service list is twice as long” as her list of musical appearances. Lyleroehr is active in organizations such as the Student Peace Alliance.
Lyleroehr recently was in New York City as guest of the Michael J. Fox Foundation whose projects director she met to discuss national distribution of “Heavenly Peace.” As a member now of MJFF’s Team Fox, Lyleroehr hopes to raise $10,000 to boost medical research.
Lyleroehr’s 2003 “Dreams Lost,” a soft-rock CD, benefited homeless people aided by Knoxville’s Volunteer Ministry Center.
Lyleroehr will perform at 2 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 17, at the Borders in Turkey Creek.
The “Heavenly Peace” album may be ordered online at www.cdbaby.com/madisonsings. Orders of 10 or more CDs may be purchased wholesale by calling 865-579-6963 or 865-765-2370. For details, visit www.madisons-ings.com.
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