ArtsQuest’s Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas to Host a FREE Special Screening of Left Alone Rhapsody

Bethlehem, Lehigh Valley, PA., March 4, 2025 – ArtsQuest is excited to announce a special, free screening of Left Alone Rhapsody at the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas on Sunday, March 16at 12 p.m. The event, featuring a live performance by John Bayless and a Q&A with Bayless and director Stewart M. Shulman, is made possible by ArtsQuest Performing Arts Board Member Lou Fromm and is sponsored by St. Luke’s University Health Network, The Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley and Moravian University.

This is a FREE 13+ event, but you must reserve your spot for this event here! All patrons 13 to 17 years old must be accompanied with a parent or guardian.

At age 25, John Bayless, a Leonard Bernstein protégé, debuted at Carnegie Hall, performing “Rhapsody in Blue” with a full orchestra. His technical brilliance led to a 30-year career as a solo pianist, composer and improviser, performing worldwide. At 54, a stroke ended his career, paralyzing his dominant right side. Soon after, his husband Bruce died of cancer. The music stopped and John’s ‘first act’ ended. Left Alone Rhapsody tells his remarkable journey from a child prodigy in Texas to his inspiring comeback after stroke paralysis.

As neurologists discuss his brain, rabbis his Jewish conversion and Yamaha’s representatives their amazing life-changing, state-of-the-art Disklavier piano technology – which might just allow John to play again with ‘two hands’ – John Bayless learns to become not just a one-handed pianist sounding like he’s using two, but also a storyteller. His determination for more life and more art begins a journey to share his music and his story through a brand-new one-man show about his life.

Stay after the screening for a live, in-person Q&A with John Bayless and director/writer/producer Stewart M. Schulman, followed by a live performance.

About ArtsQuest
ArtsQuest’s mission is to provide access to exceptional artistic, cultural and educational experiences using arts and culture as key elements of economic development for our urban communities. ArtsQuest™ supports this mission via the presentation of performing and visual arts, film, arts education classes and outreach, youth programming and cultural events. Through festivals such as its flagship event, Musikfest; the ArtsQuest Creative Factory powered by PPL; and the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks arts and cultural campus, ArtsQuest’s programming reaches more than 1.9 million people annually. The organization’s programs and events, of which nearly 50 percent are free to attend, have a combined economic impact of more than $136 million annually in the region.