Singer Jazimina MacNeil and pianist Gordon Peery team up for a concert of songs from the American Songbook. Beloved jazz standards and show tunes from the early to mid 1900’s represent a golden age of melody, and continue to be interpreted in many different styes by a wide range of musicians, including many contemporary singers.

The unique flavor of this concert, program is suggested by the diverse backgrounds of the musicians. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, MacNeil has sung at Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, the Aspen Music Festival, and Marlboro Music Festival. Locally she has sung with Music on Norway Pond, Electric Earth Concerts, Ashuelot Concerts, and the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music. She has also put together creative new programs interspersing classical songs with poetry and original stories.

Peery is best known for his piano accompaniment to fiddle music, both in the context of contra dances and concerts. In this capacity he has played throughout the United States, mainland Europe, and the Shetland Islands, and he once shared the stage with the Irish band The Chieftains at Avery Fisher Hall. In recent years he’s enjoyed diversions into jazz, blues, and rock and roll.

The American Songbook, which includes classics from Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, and others, is a temptation hard to resist. Audiences are delighted by the many ways that the familiar songs can be interpreted. A highlight of this program will be narratives throughout with details about the composer’s lives, and what was going on (globally and locally) at the time that the songs were written.

With the sophistication of art song and the freedom of folk music, the American Songbook is a perfect musical meeting place for MacNeil and Peery, and a treasure trove for all.