Michael Feinstein
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, the Sydney Opera House, and the Hollywood Bowl, as well as the White House
and Buckingham Palace.
More than simply a performer, Mr. 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. He also 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.
Mr. Feinstein earned his fifth Grammy nomination in 2009 for The Sinatra Project,
his Concord Records CD celebrating the music of "Ol' Blue Eyes." The Sinatra Project,
Volume II: The Good Life was released last year. His Emmy-nominated
TV special, Michael Feinstein: The Sinatra Legacy-taped live at the Palladium in
Carmel, Indiana-is currently airing across the country. His PBS series Michael
Feinstein's American Songbookwas the recipient of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Television
Broadcast Award; the first two seasons are now available on DVD and the third season is
scheduled to air in 2013. For his nationally syndicated public radio program Song
Travels, Mr. Feinstein interviews and performs alongside such music luminaries as
Bette Midler, Neil Sedaka, Liza Minnelli, Moby, Rickie Lee Jones, David Hyde Pierce, and
others.
Mr. Feinstein's new book, The Gershwins and Me (Simon & Schuster)
includes a CD of Gershwin standards performed with pianist Cyrus Chestnut. Recently, Mr.
Feinstein released The Power of Two (a collaboration with
Glee and 30 Rock star Cheyenne Jackson) and Cheek to
Cheek (with Broadway legend Barbara Cook).
Mr. Feinstein serves as artistic director of the Center for the Performing Arts-a $170
million, three-theater venue in Carmel, Indiana. The theater is home to an annual
international Great American Songbook festival, diverse live programming, and a museum for
Mr. Feinstein's rare memorabilia and manuscripts. In 2010, he also became director of Jazz
at Lincoln Center's Jazz and Popular Song Series. In 2013, he replaced the late Marvin
Hamlisch as the lead conductor of the Pasadena Pops.
The roots of all this work began in Columbus, Ohio, where Mr. Feinstein started playing
piano by ear when he was five. 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. Mr. 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.
For more information, visit michaelfeinstein.com.
Tom Wopat
It's a rare performer who can star on a classic television action series that's become
part of American pop-culture, win top-billing on Broadway marquees in award-winning hit
musicals, record solo albums that feature country chart-makers, and play the leading man in
a hit situation comedy. That rare performer is Tom Wopat.
Mr. Wopat first came to public attention in the late-1970s as the freewheeling Luke Duke
on the TV series The Dukes of Hazzard. In 1977, he made his Broadway debut in Cy
Coleman's I Love My Wife. Mr. Wopat went on to perform in the Tony Award-winning
City of Angels and Guys and Dolls. He received a Tony nomination for
creating the role of Frank Butler in the Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun,
opposite Bernadette Peters. In 2008, Mr. Wopat returned to Broadway as Tom Hurley in A
Catered Affair with Faith Prince and Harvey Fierstein.
Though Mr. Wopat had never done a sitcom before, he seized the opportunity when Chuck
Lorre offered him a leading role in Cybill. Other credits include a recurring role
on Home Improvement, the critically acclaimed NBC movie Just My
Imagination, and HBO's Taking Chance alongside Kevin Bacon.
Mr. Wopat has also become a successful recording artist with many albums to his credit,
including A Little Bit Closer, Don't Look Back, Learning to
Love, The Still of the Night, Dissertation on the State of Bliss,
and Consider it Swung. His latest jazz CD was released earlier this month.
Last year, Mr. Wopat guest-starred on TV's Longmire and A Gifted Man,
appeared in Pipe Dream at New York's City Center, and performed in concert
across the country. He can be currently seen in Quentin Tarantino's feature film Django
Unchained.
Natalie Douglas
A set of gorgeous pipes, combined with effortless vocal styling and inspiring song
interpretation are the hallmarks of nightclub diva Natalie Douglas. She is a seven-time
MAC, Nightlife, and Backstage Bistro award winner, whose appearances include
Birdland Jazz Club as part of Jim Caruso's Broadway @ Birdland series, Feinstein's at Loews
Regency, The Kennedy Center, and Cabaret Conventions presented by The Mabel Mercer
Foundation across the US and in London, in addition to her recent London nightclub debut at
The Crazy Coqs. Her musical celebrations of Freedom Songs, Nina Simone, Lena Horne, Nat
King Cole, and Café Society have had US and international audiences on their feet clapping
along and yelling for more.
Ms. Douglas's second CD, To Nina … Live at Birdland, was released to critical
delight; selections from that CD and her first, Not That Different, continue to be
heard on NPR and Sirius Satellite Radio. She also appears on Fine and
Dandy for PS Classics and Broadway by the Year: 1940 on Bayview
Records. For more information, visit nataliedouglas.com.