Michl Feinstein Sings the Great American Songbook

Michael Feinstein Sings The Great American Songbook Part of the RT Concert Orchestra Signature Series Thursday 24 September 2015, 8pm, National Concert Hall RT Concert Orchestra John Wilson, conductor

The RT Concert Orchestra is proud to present Michael Feinstein in his first appearance as a solo artist in Ireland. Prot g and friend of Ira Gershwin, Feinstein has been dubbed keeper of the flame, a national treasure and The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook'. Irish audiences have the chance to discover why when he joins the RT CO and conductor John Wilson for an evening of classics. He will perform a centenary tribute to Frank Sinatra as well as songs by Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers and other masters of the craft, including Night and Day, I Have Dreamed and Witchcraft.

A multi-platinum-selling, two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy Award-nominated entertainer, Feinstein 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. He has also received national recognition for his commitment to preserving the legacy of America's popular song. His book The Gershwins and Me (2012) was a Los Angeles Times best-seller.

Recent releases include collaborations with Glee and 30 Rock star Cheyenne Jackson, Broadway legend Barbara Cook and Maya Angelou. He has performed on hit television series including Melrose Place, Cybil and Devious Maids. His Manhattan nightclub, Feinstein's at Loews Regency, presented the top talents of pop and jazz from 1999 to 2012, including Rosemary Clooney, Glen Campbell, Barbara Cook, Jane Krakowski, Cyndi Lauper and Alan Cumming.

A prodigy who began playing piano by ear at age five, Feinstein moved from Ohio to Los Angeles aged 20 and took a job as a piano salesman. One day in a Hollywood record store he found a rare cache of private recordings that had belonged to legendary concert pianist-actor Oscar Levant. Levant's widow was impressed with Feinstein's knowledge and through her, in 1977, he met then 80-year-old Ira Gershwin and his wife, Leonore. He became Gershwin's assistant for six years, earning him access to numerous unpublished Gershwin songs, many of which he has since performed and recorded.

Feinstein's contribution proved to be personal as well as professional, as he recalls: Ira was in a deep depression and here comes this 20-year-old kid who knows all about his work and he suddenly started to come back to life. Leonore took me aside after a couple of weeks and said, You ve given my husband new life and I want you to stay in this house as long as you can and just keep Ira happy and keep busy. So I did. I spent time talking to him, entertaining him, becoming his eyes and ears to the outside world, and creating a relationship that laid the groundwork for everything to come in my career.'

Feinstein believes tunes from that golden age by the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and so on, are in a class by themselves: It was a ripe moment for American culture and the melting pot of this country to integrate into the European traditions of popular song and musical theatre. So it was the cultural contribution, the melding of so many different immigrants and the energy and vitality of New York and America and the belief in the American Dream, that anything's possible, that ignited these creators in a way that was extraordinary.'

Keeper of the flame, and an all-star force in American music, Michael Feinstein is the latest world-class artist to feature in the prestigious RT Concert Orchestra Signature Series.

Tickets: 20? 45 (conc. 18? 40.50)

Booking: 01 417 0000, nch.ie or rte.ie/co

No booking fees apply. 10% discount for groups of 10 or more.

LINK:	http://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2015/0814/72124...
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