Photo of Barbara Cook event at Barnes and Noble.
Photo by Maryann Lopinto for http://www.corinescorner.com.
MUSIC FOR ALL SEASONS CONVERSATIONS SERIES FEATURES
LEGENDARY SINGER BARBARA COOK
IN CONVERSATION WITH NANCY SHEAR
MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2009, 6:30 to 8:30 P.M.
2009 SEASON ALSO INCLUDES
MARNI NIXON, AND THE JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET
Singer Barbara Cook, whose legendary career transcends all descriptive boundaries, will be the next guest artist on Music For All Seasons’ popular "Conversations" series. She will share her thoughts on life, her art, and her unparalleled career, on Monday, January 26, 2009, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the CFM Gallery, 112 Greene Street in SoHo, New York. The gallery is known for its exquisite collection of symbolist art of all periods.
Music For All Seasons’ popular and acclaimed "Conversations" series is an innovative program that has a devoted and enthusiastic following. Guests who have appeared in past seasons include André Previn, Lorin Maazel, André Watts, Steven Isserlis, Dawn Upshaw, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Richard Stoltzman and Peter Schickele.
The conversations, led by distinguished writer and broadcaster Nancy Shear, provide rare insights into the careers and lives of the guests and offer a behind-the-scenes look into the music world. The interviews benefit Music For All Seasons, an organization that brings the healing power of live musical performances to residential institutions. MFAS has received support from the NEA, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and donations and grants from corporations, foundations and individuals.
of Hollywood," on March 9, 2009, and the renowned Juilliard String Quartet, on April 20, 2009. Each event will be held in an interesting, unusual venue in New York City. Current and past locations include Steinway Hall, the New York Society for Ethical Culture, Bond #9, Bösendorfer New York and BMI.
Each evening’s program includes a question-and-answer session and a Meet-the-Artist reception with drinks and substantial hors d’oeuvres for all members of the audience.
Tickets to the Barbara Cook event are $75 ($30 tax deductible). Discounted tickets are available for two or more events. Seating is limited. For information and reservations, please call MFAS at 908-322-6300, or toll-free at 1-866-524-(MFAS).
Additional Information
BARBARA COOK
Barbara Cook’s silvery soprano, purity of tone, and warm presence have delighted audiences around the world for more than 50 years. Considered "Broadway’s favorite ingénue" during the heyday of the Broadway musical, Ms. Cook then launched a second career as a concert and cabaret artist, soaring from one professional peak to another.
Whether on the stages of major international venues throughout the world or in the intimate setting of New York’s Café Carlyle, Barbara Cook’s popularity continues to thrive—as evidenced by her 1997 birthday concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Albert Hall in London, a succession of triumphant returns to Carnegie Hall where she made a legendary solo concert debut in 1975, and an ever-growing mantle of honors including the Tony, Grammy, Drama Desk and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, her citation as a Living New York Landmark and her induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame.
"Barbara Cook is the greatest singer in the world," wrote the Financial Times’ Alistair Macauley in 1994 after her performance at the Sadlers Wells Theatre in London. "Ms. Cook is the only popular singer active today who should be taken seriously by lovers of classical music. Has any singer since Callas matched Cook’s sense of musical architecture? I doubt it."
Ms. Cook’s studio recordings include eight original cast albums; two Ben Bagley albums of songs by Jerome Kern and George Gershwin; an album entitled Songs of Perfect Propriety, featuring poems by Dorothy Parker set to music by Seymour Barab; and As Of Today on the Columbia label. Ms. Cook can also be heard as the voice of Thumbelina’s mother in the Warner Brothers animated film Thumbelina, with music by Barry Manilow, now available on videocassette. Her most recent DRG recordings also include Close as Pages in a Book, featuring the lyrics of Dorothy Fields; Barbara Cook: Live from London; Oscar Winners; The Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein; All I Ask of You and The Champion Season: A Salute to Gower Champion and the Grammy-nominated Count Your Blessings, a collection of traditional Christmas songs.
Nancy Shear is well-known as writer, lecturer, producer, broadcaster and director of a performing arts production and public relations company. She has lectured for the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and Caramoor Festival; has hosted broadcasts of the New York Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, Frick Collection series and Naumburg Foundation; had her own interview programs on WNYC; and has been a commentator for the American Public Radio Network. Her articles have appeared in major publications such as Musical America, Ovation, the New York Times, Lincoln Center Stagebill and Symphony Magazine. She wrote entries for the 1992 Encyclopedia of New York (co-published by Yale University Press and the New-York Historical Society.
and has written a book on the cultural phenomenon of The Three Tenors. Ms. Shear has taught at New York University’s School of Continuing Education, NYU’s Vernon Center for Foreign Affairs and The New School, and frequently lectures at educational institutions such as The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music and Mannes College of Music on the business and art of music, and music in an historical context. She has hosted special events including benefits at the Rainbow Room and, with André Previn, co-hosted a gala at the Caramoor Music Festival. Her rich background includes almost two decades as orchestra librarian, for The Philadelphia Orchestra, Curtis Institute, and privately for Leopold Stokowski and other major figures of the current and recent past generations. Ms. Shear has also lectured on the life and work of Eleanor Roosevelt and on various travel subjects.
MUSIC FOR ALL SEASONS
Music For All Seasons, now celebrating its 17th season, is active in five states: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and California. By bringing live musical performances to a wide range of institutions including children’s hospitals, retirement facilities, shelters for victims of domestic violence, juvenile detention centers, nursing homes, medical centers, halfway houses and hospices, MFAS aids the physical, mental and spiritual healing processes. MFAS brings together a wide variety of people and styles of music, provides opportunities for young professional artists to serve special audiences, and creates volunteer opportunities that serve local communities. Past guests for the "Conversations" series have included Steven Isserlis, Lorin Maazel, André Previn, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Peter Schickele, Dawn Upshaw, Richard Stoltzman and André Watts.
CFM GALLERY, 112 Greene Street in SoHo, New York -Exquisite technique coupled with artistic vision defines their user-friendly presentation of figurative fine art paintings, sculptures and original graphics. Contemporary symbolism at its apex in the traditions of Bosch, the Italian Renaissance, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, the Viennese and German Secession and the symbolist movements with an edge of surrealism. Also available are jewelry, perfume factice, porcelain, Lalique, antiques and books.
