Harry Connick, Jr. Set for Two Performances at MPAC, 6/29-30

Harry Connick, Jr. performs two concerts at the Mayo Performing Arts Center on Saturday and Sunday, June 29-30, 2013 at 8 pm. Tickets range from $89-175.

Connick, Jr. is among today's most successful and multi-talented artists, who has garnered acclaim in both the music and acting arenas. While he first reached a mass audience as a pianist, singer and bandleader, his subsequent success in theatre, film, and television have secured his place as a renaissance man and a versatile entertainer, earning him both Grammy and Emmy awards as well as Tony nominations.

Connick, Jr. has built a reputation for musical and emotional honesty. Never one to rest on his ever-growing list of laurels, Connick exposes his feelings as never before on Every Man Should Know. The new CD to be released on Columbia Records on June 11, contains twelve original songs for which Connick wrote music, lyrics and arrangements.

Connick achieved widespread success as a musician when director Rob Reiner asked him to contribute the score to his 1989 smash When Harry Met Sally, leading to Connick's first multi-platinum album (also his first big band recording.) In the '90s, the full scope of Connick's artistry emerged. His albums featured original instrumental and vocal music (Lofty's Roach Soufflé and We are in Love, respectively), explored funk (She and Star Turtle) and romantic balladry (To See You), and then pulled all of these strands together in the decade-ending big band tour de force Come by Me. Recent years have seen further triumphs, including his Grammy-winning reflection on favorite music of his youth, Songs I Heard, and his blockbuster hit albums Harry for the Holidays, a Christmas classic, a subsequent collection of ballads, Only You, the 2007 release of Oh, My NOLA, an album of New Orleans-inspired music, and the Marsalis Music companion album of instrumentals by Connick's big band, Chanson du Vieux Carre. Your Songs was released on Columbia Records in 2009, featuring Harry's versions of 14 classic popular songs. At the same time, Connick has displayed his instrumental prowess in more intimate settings, a goal realized with his Connick on Piano series recordings for Marsalis Music which include the releases Other Hours, by Connick's quartet, and Occasion, Connick's duo encounter with Branford Marsalis.

In 1990, Connick made his acting debut in "Memphis Belle", followed by his 1991 appearance in "Little Man Tate", Jodie Foster's directorial debut. His acting credits also include Jon Amiel's "Copycat"; "Independence Day," with Will Smith; "Hope Floats," opposite Sandra Bullock; "Mickey," written by John Grisham; William Friedkin's "Bug"; Richard LaGravenese's "P.S. I Love You," with Hilary Swank; and "New in Town," opposite Renée Zellweger. Most recently he starred alongside Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd in Dolphin Tale which reached #1 at the box office.

On the small screen, Connick recently appeared opposite Mariska Hargitay on NBC's "Law & Order SVU." ConNick Starred in the ABC presentation of the musical "South Pacific" and played the recurring role of Grace's love interest, Dr. Leo Markus, on the hit NBC series "Will & Grace." In addition, he won Emmy Awards for the PBS Great Performances concert specials "Harry Connick, Jr: Only You," and "Harry Connick, Jr. In Concert on Broadway." He also starred in two network TV holiday specials, "When My Heart Finds Christmas" and "Harry for the Holidays," both built around his best-selling holiday albums. One of his Christmas compositions, The Happy Elf, was the basis for a one-hour 3D animated holiday TV special which aired on NBC and became the inspiration for a full-length stage musical, a children's picture book released by HarperCollins and the Marsalis Music instrumental album, Music From The Happy Elf.

No stranger to the New York theater scene, he returned to Broadway in the revival of On A Clear Day You Can See Forever following the sold-out, critically acclaimed 2010 run of Harry Connick, Jr. in Concert on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre which was filmed and released by Columbia Records in 2011 as a DVD and Live CD. His concerts at the Neil Simon marked the 20th anniversary of his sold-out concert series at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in 1990. Connick received Tony nominations for his performance as Sid Sorokin in The Pajama Game, which was hailed as "absolutely sensational" and "a Broadway debut of legendary proportions," and for the music and lyrics he composed for Thou Shalt Not which was directed by Susan Stroman.

As a New Orleans native, Harry Connick, Jr., was deeply impacted by the devastation caused by Katrina along the Gulf Coast. Connick teamed up with Branford Marsalis and the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity to create "Musicians' Village," a community in the Upper Ninth Ward which consists of 72 single-family homes and ten elder-friendly apartments. Its centerpiece, the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, a performance, instruction and recording complex, dedicated to the education and development of homeowners and others who live nearby, celebrated its grand opening on August 25, 2011.

Mayo Performing Arts Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, presents a wide range of programs that entertain, enrich, and educate the diverse population of the region and enhance the economic vitality of Northern New Jersey. The 2012-2013 season is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as support received from the F.M. Kirby Foundation and numerous corporations, foundations and individuals. The Mayo Performing Arts Center has been designated a Major Presenting Organization by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

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