Carnegie Hall

Educator, archivist, interpreter, and ambassador of the Great American Songbook, Michael Feinstein is a pre-eminent force in contemporary music. He has earned five Grammy and two Emmy nominations. His live concerts have spanned the globe, including such iconic venues as the White House, Buckingham Palace, Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, and Sydney Opera House.

In 2007, Mr. Feinstein founded the Great American Songbook Foundation, which is dedicated to preserving and elevating America’s rich musical legacy by curating physical artifacts of its creators and performers; offering programs for the public and research opportunities for scholars, historians, and performers; and providing educational opportunities for student musicians, including the annual high school Songbook Academy. He also serves on the Library of Congress’ National Recording Preservation Board, which ensures the survival, conservation, and increased public availability of America’s sound recording heritage.

His Emmy Award–nominated TV special Michael Feinstein: The Sinatra Legacy aired nationally in 2011. The PBS series Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook was broadcast for three seasons and is available on DVD. His most recent primetime PBS-TV special, New Year’s Eve at the Rainbow Room, aired in 2014. For his nationally syndicated public radio program Song Travels, Mr. Feinstein interviews and performs alongside music luminaries such as Bette Midler, Neil Sedaka, Liza Minnelli, Rickie Lee Jones, and David Hyde Pierce.

Mr. Feinstein was named principal conductor of the Pasadena POPS in 2012. Two years later, he launched an additional pops series at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida. He is also artistic director of the Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana, and director of the Jazz and Popular Song series at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Feinstein’s at the Nikko, Mr. Feinstein’s nightclub at San Francisco’s Nikko Hotel, has presented the top music talents since 2013. He debuted at Feinstein’s / 54 Below, his latest club in New York City, in late 2015.

Michael Feinstein was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, where he started playing piano by ear at age five. After graduating from high school, he moved to Los Angeles when he was 20. The widow of legendary concert pianist-actor Oscar Levant introduced him to Ira Gershwin. Mr. Feinstein became Gershwin’s assistant for six years, which earned him access to numerous unpublished Gershwin songs, many of which he has since performed and recorded.

Gershwin’s influence provided a solid base upon which Mr. Feinstein evolved into a captivating performer, composer, and arranger of his own original music. He has also become an unparalleled interpreter of music by Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Duke Ellington, and Harry Warren.

For more information, visit michaelfeinstein.com.

Ann Hampton Callaway is one of the leading champions of the Great American Songbook, having made her mark as a singer, pianist, composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, educator, TV host, and producer. Voted BroadwayWorld’s 2014 Performer of the Year, Ms. Callaway’s unique singing style blends jazz and traditional pop. She is best known for her Tony-nominated performance in the hit Broadway musical Swing!, and for writing and singing the theme song to the hit TV series The Nanny. Ms. Callaway has also penned songs that have been featured on seven of Barbra Streisand’s recent albums.

Ms. Callaway’s live performances showcase her warmth, spontaneous wit, and passionate delivery of standards, jazz classics, and originals. She has been a special guest performer with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, as well as with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood. Ms. Callaway frequently appears with her sister, Broadway star Liz Callaway, in their critically acclaimed shows Sibling Revelry, Boom!, and Broadway the Calla-Way. She took the symphony world by storm with her latest show, The Streisand Songbook, which she premiered with the Boston Pops and continues to tour with top orchestras across the country. After performing the show at 54 Below, she garnered two BroadwayWorld Awards and the 2013 MAC Award for Show of the Year.

Ms. Callaway made her feature film debut in The Good Shepherd, directed by Robert De Niro, in which she performed the standard “Come Rain or Come Shine.” As a part of her mission to keep the Great American Songbook thriving, she has produced and hosted Singer’s Spotlight with Ann Hampton Callaway on television, featuring guests Liza Minnelli and Christine Ebersole. Her latest album, Jazz Goes to the Movies, was released in 2018 and peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Albums chart.

Peter Mintun is a pianist and archivist who revives unjustly neglected music by composers of the early 20th century. His piano playing can also be heard on the soundtrack of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, and he was twice profiled by Terry Gross on her respected NPR series Fresh Air. He is a Berkeley native, who charmed San Francisco society by playing in the Huntington and Fairmont hotels for many years. He later moved to New York City, where he’s been heard in the Madison Room of The New York Palace and Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle. During his Carlyle engagement, New York magazine voted Bemelmans the Best Piano Bar in the city.

In 1973, Mr. Mintun began a successful engagement at the chic San Francisco restaurant L’Etoile, which helped to establish it as a well-known musical landmark. Since 1978, he has independently produced several commercial albums and written liner notes about vintage music. He participated in the Gershwin Centennial symposium at the Library of Congress in 1998 and was music advisor for “Yours for a Song: The Women of Tin Pan Alley,” part of the PBS American Masters series. He continues to devote himself to entertaining and educating audiences about the musical era he loves, recently consulting with the BBC Concert Orchestra in London. He is also an author and editor of publications for Steinway & Sons and Dover Publications.

Natalie Leclair hails from Rochester, New York, and currently attends Rider University in New Jersey, where she is studying musical theater and arts administration. She was honored to win the 2019 Songbook Inspiration Award this past summer at the Songbook Academy in Carmel, Indiana, where she first met and worked with Michael Feinstein. Ms. Leclair credits the Songbook Academy and her Songbook vocal coach Catherine Walker with her continued artistic growth.

Ms. Leclair performed the title roles in Mary Poppins and Evita in her hometown at Pittsford Sutherland High School. Her performance as Mary Poppins garnered her a Best Actress nomination from the Rochester Broadway Theatre League and an opportunity to perform at the 2018 Jimmy Awards held at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre.

Ms. Leclair is a passionate singer, studies the Great American Songbook, and enjoys singing jazz and R&B. She was named a 2020 winner in jazz voice by the National YoungArts Foundation. Her love of it all was inspired by her voice coach of many years, Diane Abrahamian. Ms. Leclair plans on pursuing performance and production opportunities in the theater and music industries. She would like to thank Michael Feinstein for this wonderful opportunity, as well as Renée LaSchiazza and Chris Lewis of the Songbook Academy, and Michael Kerker. She thanks her parents and the rest of her family for their love and encouragement.