Twelve-year-old Jason Zgonc would take his trumpet each evening and serenade the health care workers at Emory Decatur Hospital as they changed shifts.
“It feels good to make people happy with something I feel like I’m good at,” Jason told the AJC’s Helena Oliviero last May.
On Wednesday, Jason will have a bigger audience. He was selected to be part of Parade Across America, which will follow the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States.
The virtual Parade Across America “will feature diverse, dynamic performances in communities in all 56 states and territories, celebrate America’s heroes, and highlight the diversity, heritage, and resilience of the country,” according to a press release by the Presidential Inauguration Committee.
Jason is Georgia’s representative in the parade and is one of four “heroes in communities” to be highlighted, according to a press release.
“Jason Zgonc is a 12-year old trumpeter from Atlanta, Georgia who played all summer during hospital workers’ break times to cheer them up. Jason’s piece ends with him in a virtual duet with Ethan Bensdorf, the New York Philharmonic trumpeter who inspired him to do this.,” the release reads.
Jason is a member of the Georgia All-State Middle School Band and a semifinalist in a national trumpet competition for middle schoolers. His father, Nathan Zgonc, joined the trombone section of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 2011. His mother, Karen Zgonc, owns ZTunes Music, a music school, in Atlanta. And his younger brother, Tristan, who is 7, plays the French horn.
The parade will be hosted by actor, director and producer Tony Goldwyn and feature:
Jon Stewart
New Radicals, who will reunite for the first time in 22 years
DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic, featuring Earth Wind & Fire, Nile Rodgers, Kathy Sledge, The Trans Chorus of Los Angeles, The Washington Chorus, The Triumph Baptist Church Choir and everyday Americans
Andra Day, featuring inspirational figure skater Kaitlyn Saunders, also known as The Skate Kid
Olympic athletes, including Nathan Chen, Allyson Felix, and Katie Ledecky
Viral sensation and feel-good skateboarder Nathan Apodaca, also known as DoggFace
The parade will include the United States Coast Guard Band and the U.S. Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon. It will also feature a Dance Across America, led by director and choreographer Kenny Ortega. The segment will include 275 participants in 30 states and two territories. Additionally, the Ryan Martin Foundation, a wheelchair basketball program, will join the parade.
The event will be livestreamed at https://BidenInaugural.org/watch starting at 3:15 p.m. on Jan.20 and on the PIC’s social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Twitch. The PIC’s streaming partners, including Amazon Prime Video, Microsoft Bing, NewsNOW from Fox, and AT&T U-verse and DIRECTV, will also carry the program live.
