Barbara Cook and the LA Phil Launch the Songbook Series at Walt Disney Concert Hall Tonight

Barbara Cook and the Los Angeles Philharmonic launch the 2012/13 Songbook Series at Walt Disney Concert Hall tonight, November 14 at 8:00 PM to celebrate the legendary Broadway lyric soprano's 85th birthday. For their first performance together at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Cook and the Los Angeles Philharmonic will explore the American songbook and timeless classics. The evening's performance also marks the first time the LA Phil performs a concert in the Songbook Series.

Cook and the LA Phil will be joined by conductor Rob Berman, as well as her pianist and musical director Ted Rosenthal, bassist Kirk Smith, drummer Albie Berk, and Don Shelton on woodwinds. The evening marks Cook's third performance at Walt Disney Concert Hall; in October 2004 she inaugurated the Songbook Series and then returned in October 2007 to perform in honor of her 80th birthday.

A recipient of the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors, Barbara Cook received rave reviews and a Tony Award nomination for her performance in Sondheim on Sondheim, which marked her return to the Broadway stage after an absence of 23 years. Cook most recently celebrated her 85th birthday with her seventh solo concert at Carnegie Hall and the release of her new album, Loverman. Other notable recent appearances include three sold-out concerts with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, a series of critically acclaimed new shows at New York's Feinstein's at the Regency and an historic solo concert debut at the Metropolitan Opera House, where she became the first female solo pop singer to be presented in concert by the MET. Ms. Cook won a NY Drama Critics Circle Award and was nominated for a Drama Desk award for her concert Barbara Cook's Broadway and was nominated for Tony and Drama Desk awards for her previous concert, Mostly Sondheim.

A leading star of the Broadway stage during the '50s and '60s, her many credits include the creation of three classic roles in the American musical theater: Cunegonde in Leonard Bernstein's Candide, Marian the Librarian in Meredith Willson's The Music Man (Tony Award) and Amalia in Bock and Harnick's She Loves Me (Drama Desk Award).

A Grammy winner, her many recordings for DRG Records include: Barbara Cook: Live From London; Oscar Winners: The Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein; All I Ask of You; The Champion Season: A Salute to Gower Champion; Mostly Sondheim; Barbara Cook's Broadway; the Grammy-nominated Count Your Blessings; the live album Tribute; Barbara Cook at the Met; No One Is Alone; Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder; the boxed set The Essential Barbara Cook; a live recording of her recent concert with Michael Feinstein at Feinstein's at the Regency titled Cheek to Cheek; and You Make Me Feel So Young.

The 2012/13 Songbook Series continues with the Tony-nominated songwriter and performer Ann Hampton Callaway (February, 10, 2013) and the charming Max Raabe & Palast Orchester (April 10, 2013).

For more information, visit www.laphil.com.

More Articles by This Author...