Michael Feinstein, “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook,” will bring his interpretations of beloved Frank Sinatra classics and timeless favorites to Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on October 22, 2012 at 8 p.m. Tickets go on sale Friday, August 31 at 1 p.m.
Michael Feinstein’s newest CD, The Sinatra Project, Volume II: The Good Life, was released last year by Concord Records and debuted at #17 on Billboard’s Traditional Jazz chart and #14 on the Contemporary Jazz chart. The album is the follow-up to the Grammy Award-nominated The Sinatra Project in 2008. This disc celebrates not only Frank Sinatra, but his contemporaries Peggy Lee, Ray Charles, Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett and Nancy Wilson. Michael Feinstein first met “Ol’ Blue Eyes” at 21 while playing a birthday party for Sinatra’s wife, Barbara. Sinatra took a liking to Feinstein because he knew all of his obscure songs; they remained friends until Sinatra’s death.
An additional PBS concert, The Sinatra Legacy – taped in concert at Feinstein’s new theater in Indiana – is airing nationally on public TV stations around the county throughout the season and was released on DVD and Blu-ray.
Feinstein’s syndicated NPR series Song Travels, which features interviews and live performances from such diverse artists as Bette Midler, Moby, Neil Sedaka, Joshua Bell and Pink Martini, is currently airing on public radio stations around the country.
He is producing a movie with Steven Spielberg and Oscar-winner Marc Platt (American Beauty) for Dreamworks Pictures about the creation of George Gershwin’s landmark folk opera Porgy & Bess, featuring a screenplay by Douglas Wright (I Am My Own Wife, Grey Gardens). Feinstein has written a coffee table book, The Gershwins And Me, which will be published by Simon & Schuster in October.
His acclaimed national PBS-TV series Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook, in which he uncovers treasures of classic American music, is now available on DVD with an additional disc of bonus features. It was one of PBS’s highest-rated music programs of 2010. The series was the recipient of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Television Broadcast Award and returned with new episodes in January 2012. The first two seasons are now available on DVD, with season three to air in 2013.
Feinstein’s other recent recordings include a new duet CD Power Of Two with “Glee” and “30 Rock” star Cheyenne Jackson, as well as We Dreamed These Days – featuring the Carmel Symphony Orchestra. Feinstein co-wrote the title song with Dr. Maya Angelou.
With two Emmys and five Grammy Award-nominations, 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 Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative, dedicated to celebrating the art form and preserving it through educational programs, Master Classes, and the annual High School Vocal Academy and Competition, which awards scholarships and 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 theater is home to an annual international Great American Arts festival, diverse live programming and a museum for his rare memorabilia and manuscripts. 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 will replace the late Marvin Hamlisch as the lead conductor of the Pasadena Pops
The roots of all this work began in Columbus, Ohio, where Feinstein started playing piano by ear as a 5-year-old. After graduating from high school, he worked in local piano bars for two years, moving to Los Angeles when he was 20. The widow of legendary concert pianist-actor Oscar Levant introduced him to Ira Gershwin in July 1977. Feinstein became Gershwin’s assistant for six years, which earned him access to numerous unpublished Gershwin songs, many of which he has since performed and recorded.
Gershwin’s influence provided a solid base upon which Feinstein evolved into a captivating performer, composer and arranger of his own original music. He also has become an unparalleled interpreter of music legends such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Duke Ellington and Harry Warren. Feinstein has received three honorary doctorates.
Tickets are $65, $55, $45 and $35* all seats are reserved and available at all Ticketmaster outlets online at www.ticketmaster.com or charge by phone: 1-800-745-3000. Doors open one-hour prior to show start time. *Additional fees may apply.