Review: WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE at Blossom Music Center

About ten minutes before the Blossom music complex was to be filled by glorious music, an announcement asked all attendees who were sitting on the lawn to come into the pavilion as bad weather was moving into the area.

A few minutes later the stragglers were encouraged again to enter the covered area with the warning that the concert would not start until all were safe from the weather forecast of rain and lightning.

Shortly after the concert started a horrendous downpour started.

Combine the compelling piano virtuosity of pianist/singer/musical historian Michael Feinstein, superb pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra and not even torrential rain could corral the enthusiasm of the massive crowd at the TWO PIANOS:  WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE?
Concert at the Blossom Center on July 23rd. 

Michael Feinstein, an American singer and pianist, is well-known as an archivist and interpreter for the repertoire known as the GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK. 

A multi-platinum-selling, five-time Grammy-nominated recording artist, the diminutive, Feinstein currently serves as Artistic Director for The Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana.  In 1988 he won a Drama Desk Special Award for celebrating American musical theatre songs. 

Feinstein was born in Columbus, Ohio.  “At the age of five, he studied piano for a couple of months until his teacher became angered that he was not reading the sheet music she gave him, since he was more comfortable playing by ear.” 

After graduating from high school, Feinstein worked in local piano bars for a couple of years and then moved to California.  In 1977 he was introduced to Ira Gershwin, who hired him to catalogue his extensive collection of phonograph records.

The next six years opened a new world to the creative young man which led, in 2008 to his founding the The Great American Songbook Foundation, whose purpose is to preserve, research, and exhibit the physical artifacts of American music and educate youth about the music's relevance to their lives.

Jean-Yves Thibaudet was born in France.  “He entered the
Conservatoire de Lyon at the age of five and began studying the piano. He made his first public appearance at the age of seven. He won a gold medal at the Conservatoire when he was twelve and subsequently entered the Conservatoire de Paris .” Three years later, he won the Premier Prix du Conservatoire and at the age of eighteen, won the Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York.

Thibaudet has performed with most of the world's leading orchestras.  He has also appeared in the major concert halls of Europe, North America and Asia. 

His recording of Lists drew rare praise from the great Vladimir Horowitz, who remarked, “It was amazing, such dexterity, such technique, such articulation, such command.

The quality of the Cleveland Orchestra, considered one of the greatest in the world, is unquestionable.

The concert, which was advertised as the first time Thibaudet Feinstein joined forces, celebrated the music and tales about George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, Vincent Youmans, Andrew Previn and Andrew Firth.  

Feinstein recounted his experiences with the composers as well as singing their songs, while playing duets with Thibaudet.  The orchestra both supported the duo, as well as playing solos.

The two program segments, each about 45-minutes in length, were continually supported by enthusiastic applause.

Capsule judgment:  Yes, Thibaudet, Feinstein, the Cleveland Orchestra, under the baton of Keith Lockhart and the finest works of some of Americans great composers.  Who could ask for anything more!!

Upcoming offering at Blossom of interest to theatre-centric audience:  

Audra McDonald & THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA—August 13-- Audra McDonald is an accomplished performer, singer, theater, TV, and film actress best known for her work in  such shows asRagtime, Carousel, Master Class,  A Moon for the Misbegotten, Porgy and Bess and 110 in the Shade.

Her incredible three-decade career has resulted in multiple accolades, including six Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards, and an Emmy Award. In 2016, she received the state’s highest civilian honor for the arts, the National Medal of Arts, presented by then-President Barack Obama. McDonald was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame the following year.