Bart and Garland: As Long As He Needs Me

Bart and Garland: As Long As He Needs Me

From my very first coaching with Maestro Blier, I brought in a new American Songbook song every week. I think it’s something we both look forward to; we work on my repertoire for the first fifty minutes of the coaching and in the remaining few moments of our time...
Pizzetti: I Pastori

Pizzetti: I Pastori

Born in Parma in 1880, Ildebrando Pizzetti had a career as musicologist, teacher and composer of music ranging from concerti to film scores. In this beautiful poem by Gabriele D’Annunzio, the narrator fondly remembers his days as a shepherd and the journey his crew...
Lin-Manuel Miranda: Helpless/Satisfied

Lin-Manuel Miranda: Helpless/Satisfied

With the biggest hit in Broadway history on his hands, Lin-Manuel Miranda is in the midst of his first “Golden Age” and he’s only 36 years old. Hamilton: An American Musical already won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, currently has sixteen Tony nominations, and is...
Sondheim:  Finishing the Hat

Sondheim: Finishing the Hat

Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Sunday In the Park with George opened on Broadway in 1984 starring Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters. Act One centers around Georges Seurat as he paints his pointillistic masterpiece, Un dimanche...
Schubert: Abendstern

Schubert: Abendstern

To start off my week of blogs, I wanted to feature the first song I ever sang for Maestro Blier. This somber poem by Johann Mayrhofer asks the prettiest star in the sky why it stays secluded, not joining the other stars around him. The star replies that it is because...