Tony Nominee Laura Osnes to Mentor Students at 2015 Songbook Academy

Two-time Tony Award nominee Laura Osnes (Cinderella, Bonnie & Clyde) will serve as a mentor at the 2015 Songbook Academy. Osnes joins founder of the program, Michael Feinstein, for this one-of-a-kind music and performance intensive for high school students.

"Through this national program, we are helping a new generation discover the Great American Songbook and learn about the history that inspired and influenced its composers," said Michael Feinstein, founder of the Songbook Academy and the organization called the Great American Songbook Foundation.

The Songbook Academy will take place at the Songbook Foundation's headquarters in Carmel, IN, July 18-25, 2015. Students will participate in a seven-day academy on interpreting and performing the music of the Great American Songbook. Five-time Grammy nominee, Michael Feinstein, and other top music industry professionals and educators will conduct workshops and master classes throughout the week. The week culminates in a performance that will be held in the 1,600 seat Palladium Concert Hall at the Center for the Performing Arts, of which Feinstein serves as Artistic Director.

The program is open to all high school students in the continental United States. Applications for the 2015 Songbook Academy are now available online at www.TheSongbook.org until March 25, 2015.

Laura Osnes was most recently seen on Broadway as the title role in Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (Drama Desk Award; Tony, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama League Award nominations). Osnes also starred in Bonnie and Clyde (Tony Award nomination), creating the role at Asolo Repertory Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse (San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award). She appeared as Hope Harcourt in the Tony-winning revival of Anything Goes (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Astaire Award nominations), Nellie Forbush in Lincoln Center's production of South Pacific, and her Broadway debut as Sandy in the most recent revival of Grease. Other New York credits include The Threepenny Opera (Drama Desk Award nomination), directed by Martha Clarke at the Atlantic Theater Company; Encores! Productions of: The Band Wagon, Randy Newman's Faust, and Pipe Dream; and a one-night-only concert of The Sound of Music at Carnegie Hall. On television, Ms. Osnes has been seen on the CBS series "Elementary", in the HBO pilot "The Miraculous Year" (written by John Logan and directed by Kathryn Bigelow), Sondheim: The Birthday Concert at Avery Fisher Hall, HBO's documentary Six By Sondheim, and the Kennedy Center Honors salutes to Barbara Cook (2011) and Dustin Hoffman (2012). Her many concerts and cabarets include performing with Michael Feinstein, the NY Philharmonic, the NY Pops, and the Pasadena Pops and appearing in such venues as Carnegie Hall, The Cafe Carlyle, 54 Below, NJPAC, Las Vegas Smith Center, and the LA County Arboretum. In addition to being heard on several cast recordings, Laura has two solo albums, Dream A Little Dream: Live at The Café Carlyle and If I Tell You: The Songs of Maury Yeston.