Clark, Lewis et al. Lead Lincoln Center's American Songbook in Jan.

Lincoln Center's acclaimed series American Songbook, which explores the best of the golden age of musical standards through to today's most dynamic songwriting, will bring to the stage some of today's most gifted interpreters of song. Week Two starts on January 26th with a tribute to arguably the greatest songwriting team in American Songbook history: the brothers George and Ira Gershwin. Conductor, arranger and pianist (as well as Artistic Director of the Gershwin centenary) Rob Fisher will lead Victoria Clark (Tony winner for Light in the Piazza) and Norm Lewis (Les Miserables, The Little Mermaid) in a night of gorgeous Gershwin. On January 27th singer/songwriter Shara Worden (from the group My Brightest Diamond) performs her unique blend of vocal music that has her pegged as a star to watch. Week Two closes out with gritty veteran John Doe singing "real" country, with all its understated empathy and rough poetry.
Pfizer is a proud sponsor of Lincoln Center's American Songbook 2011.

American Songbook will be presented in the spectacular Allen Room of Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. The Allen Room possesses one of New York's greatest settings - a stunning vista of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline that provides an evocative backdrop for the performers.

TICKETS can be purchased online beginning November 1, 2010 at Lincoln Center's website www.AmericanSongbook.org, via CenterCharge at 212-721-6500, at the Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall Box Office, or at the Frederick P. Rose Hall Box Office. Tickets for The Friends of Lincoln Center go on sale October 26th for six days prior to the public sale.

Lincoln Center's American Songbook 2011 Week Two
January 26 - 28, 2011
The Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street

Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 8:30 pm: Fascinatin' Rhythm: Rob Fisher Celebrates the Gershwins with Victoria Clark and Norm Lewis Rob Fisher's previous two composer celebrations for American Songbook - on Cole Porter and Leonard Bernstein - were joyous explorations of the work of those composers, presented with a firm understanding of how they fit into American musical life. Fisher has invited Victoria Clark and her voluptuous soprano and Norm Lewis and his lush baritone to perform both perennial favorites and new discoveries, illuminating the Gershwins' way with a melody and a mood. From his experience as the Artistic Director of the 2-year Gershwin centenary (1996-1998) to his 11 years as founding music director and conductor of the award-winning Encores! series to his extensive work on Broadway and in concert halls across the country, Rob Fisher knows the American Songbook, where the Gershwins occupy pride of place.

Thursday, January 27, 2011, 8:30 pm: The Songs of Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond) The daughter of an accordion-champion father and classical organist mother, Worden's musical influences were many: gospel, Spanish tango, jazz and classical music filled her early years and inform her sound today. As a vocalist she has recorded and performed with Sufjan Stevens, David Byrne, and The Decemberists, as well as her own group, My Brightest Diamond. For her American Songbook concert she has written new songs and new arrangements for the fantastic ensemble yMusic, a group that includes violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet and trumpet. Half of her program will be new material and half will be My Brightest Diamond jams. Both halves will be marked by her other-worldly soprano and unique instrumentations that mark her as an indie rock goddess to watch.

Friday, January 28, 2011, 8:30 pm: John Doe: Americana With its simple yet powerful themes of love, loss, destruction and redemption, John Doe's music explores the artistic and emotional common ground between punk rock, country & western, indie and American roots music. A founding member of both the LA band X and their string band alter-ego, The Knitters, Doe launched his solo career in 1990. He has since garnered worldwide acclaim for music described as "complex and intoxicating."

Since it was launched in 1998, American Songbook has been dedicated to celebrating the extraordinary achievements of the popular American songwriter from the turn of the 20th century to the present day. Spanning all styles and genres from Tin Pan Alley and Broadway to the eclecticism of today's songwriters working in pop, cabaret, rock, folk and country, American Songbook traces the history and charts the course of the American song from its past and current forms to its future direction.

Artists who have appeared on the American Songbook series include Andy Bey, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Betty Buckley, Ann Hampton Callaway, Calexico, Liz Callaway, Neko Case, Rosanne Cash, Michael Cerveris, Kristin Chenoweth, Peter Cincotti, Eric Comstock, Victoria Clark, Rodney Crowell, Alan Cumming, Dean & Britta, Mos Def, Dirty Projectors, Christine Ebersole, Kurt Elling, Marianne Faithfull, Sutton Foster, The Fountains of Wayne, Michael Friedman, Mary Cleere Haran, Darius de Haas, Joe Henry, Fred Hersch, Jane Krakowski, Judy Kuhn, LaChanze, k.d. lang, Gabriel Kahane, Bettye Lavette, Amos Lee, Patti Loveless, Rebecca Luker, Patti LuPone, Nellie McKay, Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley, Del McCoury, Audra McDonald, Lori McKenna, Nellie McKay, Alan Menken, Jane Monheit, Megan Mullally, Kelli O'Hara, Tonya Pinkins, John Pizzarelli, Martha Plimpton, Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thile, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Steve Ross, Stephin Merritt with The Magnetic Fields, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Nico Muhly, Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, Jimmy Scott, Patti Smith, Todd Snider, Sufjan Stevens, Stew, Billy Stritch, Elaine Stritch, St. Vincent, Paulo Szot, They Might Be Giants, Leslie Uggams, Suzanne Vega, Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, Deborah Voigt, Lillias White, Dar Williams, Lizz Wright, David Yazbek and John Lloyd Young. The series has also presented concerts highlighting the music of composers and lyricists such as Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Harold Arlen, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Leonard Bernstein, Jason Robert Brown, William Bolcom and Arnold Weinstein, John Bucchino, Michael John LaChiusa, Cy Coleman, Ricky Ian Gordon, Adam Guettel, David Hidalgo and Louie Pérez, Frank Loesser, Alan Menken, Cole Porter, Andy Razaf, Richard Rodgers, Arthur Schwartz, Duncan Sheik, Stephen Sondheim, Billy Strayhorn, Charles Strouse, Jule Styne, Jimmy Van Heusen, and David Zippel.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter of superb artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community relations, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. As a presenter of over 400 events annually, LCPA's programs include American Songbook, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Midsummer Night Swing, and the Mostly Mozart Festival and Live From Lincoln Center.

LINCOLN CENTER PRESENTS AMERICAN SONGBOOK 2011
At The Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall
Broadway at 60th Street

Wednesday, January 26, 2011, at 8:30 pm
Fascinatin' Rhythm: Rob Fisher Celebrates the Gershwins with Victoria Clark and Norm Lewis
Tickets: $45, 65, 85, 100

Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 8:30 pm
The Songs of Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond)
Tickets: $35, 50, 60, 75

Friday, January 28, 2011 at 8:30 pm
John Doe: Americana
Tickets: $40, 55, 70, 85

TICKETS for the general public can be purchased online at Lincoln Center's website www.AmericanSongbook.org, via CenterCharge at 212-721-6500, at the Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall Box Office, or at the Frederick P. Rose Hall Box Office.

Photo Credit: Peter James Zielinski