Cook, Esparza, Baldwin, Rose & Gershwin Set for American Songbook 2011

Lincoln Center's acclaimed series American Songbook returns in January for its thirteenth season celebrating the diversity of American popular song. For 16 nights of pop, folk, cabaret, country, rock, and show tunes, the series will explore the best of the golden age of musical standards through to today's most dynamic songwriting.

The 2011 season - January 12 through February 20 - will bring to the stage some of today's most gifted interpreters of song, starting with the luminous legend Barbara Cook, the multi-faceted Joan Osborne, as well as the newest toast of Broadway, Kate Baldwin. It will feature opportunities to hear the acclaimed opera star Stephanie Blythe and stage and film actress Anika Noni Rose who make their solo pop concert debuts, and the enduring influence of Latin music in the American Songbook canon will be represented by the modern bossa nova of Bebel Gilberto and the Cuban rhythms of Broadway star Ra?l Esparza.

Arguably the greatest songwriting team in American Songbook history are the brothers George and Ira Gershwin, and they will be the subject of a Rob Fisher tribute with an array of dazzling voices.

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.

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