The Great American Songbook and Beyond

Brian Byrne, composer, arranger, piano, conductor
Zara McFarlane, vocalist
Jamie Parker, vocalist

American popular songs from Gershwin to Joni Mitchell and Billy Joel 

The Great American Songbook and its legacy comes to thrilling life in songs that have become timeless standards.

Olivier- and Tony Award-garlanded Jamie Parker and Zara McFarlane – ‘a voice to cherish’ (Clash Music) – join forces with the National Symphony Orchestra and the multi-award-winning, Golden Globe-nominated composer, arranger and conductor, Brian Byrne, in a rich array of iconic standards from the middle of the last century to the present day.

Classic songs drawn from the glory days of Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, Hollywood and jazz include George and Ira Gershwin’s Oh, Lady Be Good!, Rodgers and Hart’s My Funny Valentine, Irving Berlin’s Cheek to Cheek, and Cole Porter’s Night and Day.

Modern classics such as Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now and Billy Joel’s New York State of Mind showcase the continuing vibrancy of the popular song in America. 

Receiving its world premiere, Brian Byrne’s From Silence to Song is a song cycle inspired by some of history’s most literary poets: Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Sara Teasdale and Dylan Thomas.

From the stark landscapes of Frost to the introspective musings of Dickinson, the boundless energy of Whitman, the quiet yearning of Teasdale, and the fiery lyricism of Thomas, it illuminates the depth and emotion of their poetry in a bold new way. Blending sweeping orchestration with rich jazz harmonies, it captures their very different voices in a deeply expressive and cinematic musical journey.

Presented by NCH