FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Chris Lewis, Director, Songbook Academy 917-334-7160 /
[email protected]
CONTACT: Jessica Patterson, The Center for the Performing Arts 317-660-3377 /
[email protected]
broll: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEMDwagJ4Jw Photos: www.flickr.com/photos/feinste
ininitiative
Songbook Academy attracts largest group ever
40 students from 16 states coming to Carmel
CARMEL, IN – High school vocalists representing 16 states will come to Carmel July 18
for a week of intense musical education, workshops and competition that will culminate
on Saturday, July 25 at the Great American Songbook Academy Finals at the Center for
the Performing Arts in Carmel on the Palladium stage.
Now in its sixth year, the Songbook Academy provides high school singers in grades 912 with the life-changing opportunity to work with music industry professionals and
educators from top college arts programs to experience firsthand the uniquely American
and culturally significant music known as the Great American Songbook. This year, fivetime Grammy nominee Michael Feinstein is joined by Tony-nominee Laura Osnes and
Grammy-winner Sylvia McNair as Mentors for the Academy.
“I’m so pleased to see a new generation performing the music of the Great American
Songbook. This program is a celebration of the golden age of American popular music
and we hope this competition will inspire our youth to continue to embrace music from
Broadway, Hollywood musicals and the Tin Pan Alley era of the early to mid-twentieth
century,” said Michael Feinstein, founder of the Great American Songbook Foundation
and noted American Songbook ambassador.
Students from across the country submitted online applications and were selected by a
panel of music educators and industry professionals. Indiana and California lead the
way by sending 8 students each to the week-long academy; New York will send 4; Iowa
and Illinois are sending 3 each; Missouri, Massachusetts and Louisiana are sending 2
each; and the remaining students will come from Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Connecticut,
Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. The first place winner will receive the chance of a lifetime: the opportunity to perform
with two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy Award nominated entertainer and founder of
the Songbook Foundation, Michael Feinstein. The first place winner will serve as the
Great American Songbook Youth Ambassador for one year and will have opportunities
to perform throughout the year. The group of 40 singers will be in Carmel for a week leading up to the Finals on July 25.
The Songbook Academy will take place at the Songbook Foundation’s headquarters,
where students will participate in the unique seven-day academy on interpreting and
performing the music of the Great American Songbook. Feinstein, and other top music
industry professionals and educators will conduct workshops and master classes
throughout the week. The final competition performance will be held in the 1,600-seat
Palladium Concert Hall at the Center for the Performing Arts. Click here for an overview
of the week’s schedule, as well as events open to the public. “The Songbook Academy is one of the highlights of my year. The young people that
participate are so full of talent and passion. I love having the opportunity to work with
each of them and to see their growth over the course of the week. Not only do they
learn a lot, but they build relationships with other talented singers and mentors from
coast to coast. They make memories bursting with music and, in the process, develop
character, confidence, and an appreciation for our musical history,” said Feinstein,
founder of the Songbook Foundation and Songbook Academy. The 2015 finalists are listed below: Caitlin Aloia, Doylestown, PA, Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School Kristin Barnes, Carmel, IN, Carmel High School Tracey Beresford, Dubuque, IA, Hempstead High School Lucas DeBard, Lebanon, IN, Lebanon High School Elizabeth DeVoto, St. Louis, MO, Nerinx Hall High School Avery Eliason, Lawrenceburg, IN, Lawrenceburg High School Joseph Farr, Oklahoma City, OK, Mustang High School Erika Gill, Darien, CT, Darien High School Trenton Gunsolley, Colorado Springs, CO, The Classical Academy Cate Hayman, Mill Valley, CA, Tamalpais High School Matt Hoffman, Stony Brook, NY, Ward Melville High School Kendra Housel, Winona Lake, IN, Warsaw Community High School Leah Huber, Haughton, LA, Airline High School Olivia Hytha, Berkeley, CA, Berkeley High School DeMar Jackson, Decatur, IL, Eisenhower High School Katriona Kennedy, Crestline, CA, Stathmore Academy Adam Kruschwitz, Rochester, NY, Brighton High School Drew Mabusth, Dubuque, IA, Stephen Hempstead High School Sophia Manternach, Dubuque, IA, Stephen Hempstead High School Rebecca Martin, Syracuse, NY, Marcellus High School Michaela Marymor, Novato, CA, Novato High School Jonathan Mitzenmacher, Miami, FL, Coral Reef Senior High School Taylor Moran, Aurora, IL, Metea Valley High School Kathleen Muloma, Carmel, IN, Carmel High School Claire Nordstrom, Pacific Palisades, CA, Harvard-Westlake School Deirdre Pedersen, Westborough, MA, Westborough High School Logan Rains, San Ramon, CA, California High School Joshua Reinier, San Francisco, CA, The Nueva Upper School Elizabeth Ross, Shreveport, LA, Caddo Parish Magnet High School Geon Ruffin, Lisle, IL, Homeschooled Sharada Shashidhar, Painted Post, NY, Corning Painted Post High School Gwendolyn Sierra, Long Beach, CA, Millikan High School Sydney Sorrell, Carmel, IN, Carmel High School Madelyn Steurer, Jeffersonville, IN, Assumption High School Matthew Straw, Columbia, MO, Hickman High School Katie Swaney, Greenwood, IN, Center Grove High School April Varner, Toledo, OH, Notre Dame Academy Noah Virgile, Lexington, MA, Lexington High School Hannah Vogelsang, Haslett, MI, Haslett High School Cole Winston, Hartland, WI, Arrowhead High School Click here for brief photos and future plans of each finalist. Academy Mentors >>> Michael Feinstein, the multi-platinum-selling, five-time Grammy-nominated
entertainer dubbed “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook,” is considered
one of the premier interpreters of American standards. His 200-plus shows a year have
included performances at Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House and the Hollywood Bowl
as well as the White House and Buckingham Palace. >>> Laura Osnes was most recently seen on Broadway as the title role in Rogers +
Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Drama Desk Award; Tony, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama
League Award nominations). Osnes also starred in Bonnie and Clyde (Tony Award
nomination), creating the role at Asolo Repertory Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse (San
Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award). She appeared as Hope Harcourt in the Tonywinning revival of Anything Goes (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Astaire Award
nominations), Nellie Forbush in Lincoln Center’s production of South Pacific, and her
Broadway debut as Sandy in the most recent revival of Grease. >>> Sylvia McNair is a two-time Grammy Award winner and regional Emmy Award
winner. Her journey has taken her from the Metropolitan Opera to the Salzburg Festival,
from the New York Philharmonic to the Rainbow Room, from the Ravinia Festival to The
Plaza, from the pages of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal to the
London Times and the cover of Cabaret Scenes. She has appeared as a soloist
multiple times with nearly every major opera company and symphony orchestra in the
world. Clinicians >>> Jerry DePuit has appeared nationwide with cabaret artists, and on both the Today
and Tomorrow shows telecasts. His work as an arranger has been heard on recordings,
in numerous pops concerts, at the Metropolitan Opera House, and Radio City Music
Hall. He has orchestrated three original musicals, including A WONDERFUL LIFE by
Joe Raposo and Sheldon Harnick, arranged and orchestrated several full-scale revues
and many smaller ones, helped reconstruct the original score of LOVE LIFE (a 1948
musical by Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner), and has written many new arrangements of
extant works, both choral and instrumental. He is a Professor Emeritus at the University
of Michigan where he taught for thirty years in the musical theatre department. >>> Catherine A. Walker, assistant professor of music at University of Michigan, has
worked extensively as a musical director, most recently on productions of Next To
Normal, The Great American Trailer Park Musical, Parade, Blood Brothers, Urinetown,
The Light in the Piazza, An Evening With Lauren Kennedy, An Evening with Scott
Coulter and Shenandoah, starring Robert Newman, formerly of T.V.'s Guiding Light. >>> Naz Edwards is a singer/actor in the best and highest sense of both terms. Credits
include THE BAKER'S WIFE (Denise, with Scott Bakula) and CARNIVAL (Rosalie, with
Judith Blazer), and on Broadway as the Leader in ZORBA, with Anthony Quinn and the
great Lila Kedrova. Each year, world class performers serve as coaches and mentors for the Songbook
Academy. These talented individuals have shared a wealth of encouragement,
inspiration, and performance techniques with students, for an amazing once in a lifetime
experience. Past Songbook Academy mentors have included two-time Emmy and fivetime Grammy Award nominee, Michael Feinstein; Two-time Grammy nominee, Jane
Monheit; Two-time Grammy winner and Emmy winner, Sylvia McNair; multiple Grammy
winner and member of Manhattan Transfer, Cheryl Bentyne; Catherine Adams Walker,
University of Michigan, Musical Theatre Department; Kathleen Hacker, University of
Indianapolis, Music Department. The Great American Songbook Foundation Michael Feinstein founded the Great American Songbook Foundation in 2007 in order
to preserve, promote, and perpetuate the music of the Great American Songbook. The
mission of the Foundation is to bring the music of the Great American Songbook to
young people today and to preserve it for future generations. The work of the Songbook
Foundation includes: * High School Vocal Competition * Educational programming * Library, Archive, and Gallery * Great American Songbook Hall of Fame About Michael Feinstein Michael Feinstein, the multi-platinum-selling, two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy
Award-nominated entertainer dubbed “The Ambassador of the Great American
Songbook,” is considered one of the premier interpreters of American standards. His
200-plus shows a year have included performances at Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera
House and the Hollywood Bowl as well as the White House and Buckingham Palace. More than simply a performer, Feinstein has received national recognition for his
commitment to celebrating America’s popular song and preserving its legacy for the
next generation. In 2007, he founded the Great American Songbook Foundation,
dedicated to celebrating the art form and preserving it through educational programs,
Master Classes, and the annual High School Songbook Academy, which awards prizes
to students across the country. Michael serves on the Library of Congress’ National
Recording Preservation Board; an organization dedicated to ensuring the survival,
conservation and increased public availability of America’s sound recording heritage. Feinstein serves as Artistic Director of the Palladium Center for the Performing Arts, a
$170 million, three-theatre venue in Carmel, Indiana, which opened in January 2011.
The Center is home to the Great American Songbook Foundation Archive and museum.
Starting in 2010, he became the director of the Jazz and Popular Song Series at New
York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center. In 2013, he replaced the late Marvin Hamlisch as the
lead conductor of the Pasadena Pops. Feinstein can be seen on PBS in his award winning series, Michael Feinstein’s
American Songbook. He can also be heard on NPR in his current show, Song Travels
with Michael Feinstein. His latest book, The Gershwins and Me, which is combined with
a new CD of Gershwin standards performed with Cyrus Chestnut at the piano, was
released by Simon & Schuster in October 2012. Story Angles: * This is the first year the Songbook Academy is fully national. * This is the largest group of finalists participating in the Academy’s educational program. * There is great local economic impact thanks to the national finalists and their visiting families
. * Past participants in the Songbook Academy have continued to gain career exposure and
have been featured on “America’s Got Talent” and “The Voice.” * The Academy’s mentors feature Broadway star Laura Osnes, Grammy-winner Sylvia McNair
and Grammy-nominated Michael Feinstein. * New Ella Fitzgerald Memorial Scholarship will benefit Songbook Academy students. Media links Watch highlight reel of Songbook Academy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jkUZ8xwgBU&list=UU2-QryLNaFKRO-oiM0ab8dA Watch video of 2014 Winner, Madelyn Baillio, Perform at the Competition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecFn213NKQ8&list=UU2-QryLNaFKRO-oiM0ab8dA Watch video of 2013 Winner, Julia Goodwin, Perform at the Competition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QJpSe-_EHk&feature=c4-overview&list=UU2QryLNaFKRO-oiM0ab8dA Watch video of 2012 Winner, Nick Ziobro, Perform at the Competition: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GwySr0qums Read feature of 2014 Final Competition performance: http://www.examiner.com/article/lonestar-state-native-is-american-songbook-vocal-competition-winner Read ‘Saving the Songbook’ – Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203806504577180851919293834.html More information: www.TheSongbook.org
The mission of the Great American Songbook Foundation is to inspire and educate by
celebrating the Great American Songbook.
The Great American Songbook Foundation One Center Green - Palladium | Carmel,
IN 317.844.9446 | [email protected]