Artist Series Concerts Takes A Musical Trip Through The '60s With Vocalist Jennifer Sheehan

Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota launches its 24th season with the return of acclaimed vocalist Jennifer Sheehan in "I Know a Place," her tribute to favorite hits of the '60s. Sheehan and her trio, which includes noted Broadway pianist James Followell, guitarist Stephen Benson and percussionist Dan Gross, offers a rich, and dare we say, groovy, assortment of tunes covering everything from Broadway, the Beatles and Bossa Nova, to Bacharach, Blossom Dearie, Simon and Garfunkel and so much more. Guests are also encouraged to don their favorite '60s attire.

The fun takes place on October 5, 4 p.m. at the Sarasota Opera House, 61 North Pineapple Avenue, Sarasota. Tickets are $20 - $55 and are available at www.ArtistSeriesConcerts.org or by calling 941-306-1202, M-F, 10 - 4.

Jennifer Sheehan knows a place, a very special place, in the history of music. "I've always been fascinated by the '60s and the booming kaleidoscope of music that came out of that decade," she says. That fascination resulted in "I Know a Place," Sheehan's critically acclaimed musical tour of the sixties featuring "insights into the music that are fresh and beautifully performed." (Times Square Chronicles.)

"From the early 60's on, a number of social influences changed what popular music was and gave birth to the immense diversity that we experience with music today," says Joseph Holt, director of artist programs for Artist Series Concerts. "And even though Jennifer was born long after most of the songs in this show were written, she's done an amazing job of capturing the essence of the decade's vicissitudes with this program that ranges from Broadway to the music invasions from Britain, Brazil and Detroit. She shows us that the '60s are still a very happening place!"

A graduate of Juilliard, Sheehan has performed for audiences nationwide, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and many of New York's most prestigious private clubs, where she has been hailed as "having one of the finest voices around." (Times Square Chronicles.) She is the first-ever recipient of the Johnny Mercer Foundation's Margaret Whiting Award and is the first-ever winner of the Noël Coward Foundation Competition Award. She has also received the Dorothy Loudon Foundation's Dorothy Loudon Award, the Mabel Mercer Foundation's Julie Wilson Award for outstanding interpretation of the Great American Songbook and was the first-place winner in the National Glenn Miller Vocal Competition.

Sheehan is joined by three of New York's top musicians - music director and pianist James Followell, guitarist Stephen Benson and percussionist Dan Gross. Followell, also no stranger to Sarasota audiences, has worked as a musical director, accompanist and arranger with such Broadway and cabaret luminaries as KT Sullivan, Ann Hampton Callaway, Kristin Chenoweth, and of course Sheehan, who he collaborated extensively with on "I Know a Place."