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June 8, 2013 at 7:30pm
Century High School, Hillsboro
2000 SE Century Blvd
Hillsboro, OR
June 9, 2013 at 3:00pm
Lewis & Clark College, Portland
615 SW Palatine Hill Road
Portland, OR
“OH, THOSE GERSHWIN BOYS!”
George and Ira Gershwin have a collaborative history that crosses all musical divides, from popular, classical and jazz to film scores. What a perfect pair to build a show around! And my friend Jack Moore, show builder extraordinaire, has created another entertaining show that is a companion piece to last year’s popular revue “A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green!”
I have invited the fabulous Portland singer and actress, Susannah Mars to join me in this Gershwin Revue. The show centers around composer, George Gershwin (born Jacob Gershovitz) and his older brother, lyricist Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz.) I will play the role of Ira and Susannah will play the role of Kay Swift, composer, musicologist and George’s dear friend. Susannah and I will sing and tell the story of George Gershwin’s remarkable life through the eyes of his older brother, Ira, and George's friend and companion, Kay Swift.
We will take the audience through a musical history highlighting their most popular films and musicals. Their first collaborative Broadway show was in 1924, “Lady Be Good” and over the next 13 years the Gershwin brothers wrote 22 shows and movies, plus other songs for additional revues and occasions. Ironically, their last collaborative effort was the Great American Song Book standard, “Love Is Here to Stay.” And how well it speaks to the enduring quality of their music and lyrics. The Gershwin Brothers are definitely here to stay!
Lindsay Deutsch, a brilliant violinist will open our show with her own orchestration of George Gershwin’s American classic, “Rhapsody In Blue.”
Gershwin music and lyrics are so uplifting and add to that the Portland Chamber Orchestra; strings, woodwinds, horns, drums, percussion, all under the spirited direction of Maestro Yaacov Bergman and you are hearing Gershwin at its best!
Susannah and I will sing our hearts out and we hope to make yours sing as well! Please mark your calendar for Saturday or Sunday, June 8th or 9th!
MEET ROCKY BLUMHAGEN
Rocky returns to Portland this year with an all-new Gershwin show. He has spent much of this year pulling together the logistics of repertoire, historical review, arrangements and rehearsals and has invited well known and loved, Portland singer and actress, Susannah Mars to perform this show with him and the Portland Chamber Orchestra. This would not have happened without show creator and director, Jack Moore, and arranger and orchestrator, Charlie Creasy, both from Palm Springs. Susannah and Rocky rehearsed the show in Palm Springs this winter and spring, so the rehearsal locale was a perfect getaway during the rainy winter months!
You may remember Rocky’s “An Afternoon with Cole” in May of 2011, which was the inaugural year raising funds and awareness for the Harold Schnitzer Diabetes Health Center at OHSU and the Portland Chamber Orchestra.
Rocky is a native Oregonian, graduating with a vocal performance degree from Lewis and Clark College. Rocky sang professionally in the US, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada before beginning a 15-year advertising sales and management career in Portland radio. Realizing his first love, he returned to his singing roots, performing for several years in the Palm Springs area including his own cabaret shows, Musical Chairs Concerts, the Coachella Valley Symphony and the Stover All Star Big Band shows at the Annenberg Theatre, plus multiple theatrical roles.
Rocky and Susannah and the Gershwin show will also be featured as part of the “Artist’s Showcase” as the concluding fundraiser for the Siletz Bay Music Festival at Salishan Lodge. Yaki has also invited Rocky to perform his Cole Porter show at the McCall SummerFest this coming August in McCall, Idaho and with the Coachella Valley Symphony in Palm Desert CA this coming November.
You can find out more about Rocky at www.thecrooner.net
Rocky’s Cole Porter CD “Easy to Love” was recorded with members of the Portland Chamber Orchestra and is available for purchase. If you love Cole Porter, these Ron Abel arrangements/orchestrations are sophisticated, lush and elegant. It is romantic and toe tapping and will bring back an age of elegance that was the Cole Porter era!
MEET SUSANNAH MARS
Susannah Mars is known for a wide variety of roles, including her critically acclaimed show Mars On Life; Holiday Edition at Artists Repertory Theatre, in Portland, Oregon. Susannah has been honored with five PortlandDrama Critics awards: four for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical — for her portrayals of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl (Musical Theatre Company), Mabel in Chaps (Artist’s Repertory Theater), Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes (Musical Theatre Company), and Sister Robert Ann in Nunsense (Triangle Productions); the fifth for Dinner With Friends (Artist’s Repertory Theater).
Susannah has soloed with several symphonies, including the Oregon Symphony, Norman Leyden conducting, in A Tribute to Cole Porter, Say It With Music; The Best of Irving Berlin, and the Concerts In the Neighborhood series. She opened the Bullitt Cabaret at ACT in Seattle with a reprise of her show Mars on Life, which premiered in New York City at Don’t Tell Mama and Danny’s Skylight Room. Her debut solo recording, Take Me to the World, was released on the Los Angeles-based label LML Music and was nominated as Best CD of 1998 by the Manhattan Association of Cabaret Artists and Clubs.
Susannah lives in Damascus, Oregon, with her husband, Gary, daughters, Kate and Olivia, two dogs, four chickens, two fish, and a frog.
MEET LINDSAY DEUTSCH
Hailed by the L.A. Times as having “… the technical equipment and temperament for a big career…”, American violinist, Lindsay Deutsch, brings a fresh perspective to classical performances. Taking the listening experience to the next level, she plays with a passion and energy that has thrilled audiences throughout the US and Canada. At 26, critics find that she demonstrates “…fine maturity even during the most physical and demanding passages” (San Francisco Classical Voice), and “…has a stage presence and style far beyond her years and a charisma that enthralled her audience.” (LCF Outlook – La Canada, CA).
She made her debut at the Disney Hall performing John Corigliano’s Red Violin Chaconne with the California Philharmonic. Ms. Deutsch made her solo orchestral debut at the age of 11 with the Clear Lake Symphony in Texas.
She was honored by being invited to perform the theme from “Schindler’s List” for John Williams at a gala dinner in his honor. As chamber musician, Ms. Deutsch has appeared at the La Jolla Summerfest and the Green Music Festival collaborating with artists Gil Shaham, Jeffrey Kahane, Adele Anthony, Cho-Liang Lin, Sheryl Staples, Arnold Steinhardt, Chee-Yun, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, Alisa Weilerstein, Gary Hoffman, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet.
Her movie credits include playing the solo violin sound track for the 2006 movie “The Good Shepherd” starring Robert De Niro. She has also collaborated and is the featured “Pro” on the newly released See-Like-Me, Play Like a Pro DVD violin instruction series. Ms. Deutsch's performance of Astor Piazzolla's "Four Seasons of Buenos Aires" with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra was selected for NPR's Symphony Cast program. Ms. Deutsch has also appeared as a soloist on the national radio program, From the Top in which her performance of Bartok’s Roumanian Folk Dances with Christopher O’Riley was selected for inclusion on the “Best of” CD produced by From the Top. She was featured on Live From WFMT in Chicago and her performance of Vivaldi’s “Summer” with the Colburn Conservatory Orchestra was presented on the Sunday’s Live Series (K-Mozart radio).
Ms. Deutsch feels strongly that the young people of today need to be exposed to the world of classical music. She is actively involved in outreach programs to present classical music in new and exciting ways that will thrill and inspire the young audiences of today. She also has a page on her website specifically aimed at young musicians and their parents which attracts 70,000 hits per month. She has garnered corporate support for this site which encourages young musicians and selects a “Student Musician of the Month” which highlights and recognizes outstanding young musicians from all over the U.S. and Canada.
In 2007, she and her sister, Lauren, co-founded a non-profit organization, Classics Alive (www.ClassicsAlive.org), dedicated to building classical music audiences.
In addition to her music, Lindsay was a formidable racquetball player. She won the gold medal in the World Junior Olympic Racquetball Championships in 1997 and was selected to the 2000 U.S. Junior Olympic Team.
Lindsay Deutsch plays on an 1845 Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume violin.