Kravis Center Announces Launch Of Michael Feinstein Conducts The Kravis Center Pops

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - June 12, 2014 - PRLog -- Kravis Center for the Performing Arts

Announces the Launch of the

MICHAEL FEINSTEIN CONDUCTS THE

KRAVIS CENTER POPS ORCHESTRA

Concerts Are Scheduled for January, February & March 2015

(West Palm Beach, FL – June 12, 2014)  The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts today announced that it is launching a new musical series: MICHAEL FEINSTEIN CONDUCTS THE KRAVIS CENTER POPS ORCHESTRA.  Michael Feinstein, an extraordinary musician and showman dubbed “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook”, will conduct the three concert series.

"Michael Feinstein has long been a favorite son of the Kravis Center,” says Lee Bell, Senior Director of Programming. “He has performed here more often than any other artist, so we are thrilled to partner with him on this exciting new musical endeavor.”

The Kravis Center Pops is scheduled to perform three major concerts:

+ Michael Feinstein’s Songbook (January 3, 2015)

Sponsored by Lee Wolf

+ Michael Feinstein’s MGM Classics (February 24, 2015)

Sponsored by The Chastain Charitable Foundation

+ Michael Feinstein: The Gershwins & Me (March 30, 2015)

Sponsored by Donald M. Ephraim and Maxine Marks for The Donald M. Ephraim Family Foundation

The Kravis Center Pops series will have media support from Legends Radio 100.3.

Each program will include songs personally selected by Mr. Feinstein with original orchestrations.  He will conduct and host each of the concerts and will be joined by singers to be announced.  Associate conductor for the series will be Larry Blank.

"Not only will the three presentations by the Kravis Center Pops be a great treat for our audience members and all lovers of the Great American Songbook, I am pleased about the additional opportunities that our local musicians will now have to perform in public,” says Bell.

Kravis Center donors will have the first opportunity to purchase the series this summer through the Center’s 2014-2015 season brochure. The General Public on sale date will be announced later this summer.

For more information about becoming a Kravis Center donor, please call (561) 651-4320 or visit the Center’s official website at kravis.org.

About Michael Feinstein:

The multi-platinum-selling, two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy Award-nominated Michael Feinstein is considered one of the premier interpreters of American standards. His 200-plus shows a year have included performances at Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House and the Hollywood Bowl as well as the White House and Buckingham Palace.

He started his career as assistant to legendary songwriter Ira Gershwin, 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 Feinstein evolved into a captivating performer, composer and arranger of his own original music. He also has become an unparalleled interpreter of music legends such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Duke Ellington and Harry Warren.

More than simply a performer, Feinstein has received national recognition for his commitment to celebrating America’s popular song and preserving its legacy for the next generation. In 2007, he founded the Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative, dedicated to celebrating the art form and preserving it through educational programs, Master Classes, and the annual High School Vocal Academy and Competition, which awards scholarships and prizes to students across the country. Michael serves on the Library of Congress’ National Recording Preservation Board, an organization dedicated to ensuring the survival, conservation and increased public availability of America’s sound recording heritage.

The PBS series “Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook” was the recipient of the ASCAP Deems-Taylor Television Broadcast Award. For his nationally syndicated public radio program “Song Travels,” Feinstein interviews and performs alongside such music luminaries as Bette Midler, Neil Sedaka, Liza Minnelli, Moby, Rickie Lee Jones, David Hyde Pierce and more.

His Manhattan nightclub, Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, presented the top talents of pop and jazz from 1999 – 2012, including Rosemary Clooney, Glen Campbell, Barbara Cook, Diahann Carroll, Jane Krakowski, Lea Michele, Cyndi Lauper, Jason Mraz and Alan Cumming. After the club closed in December of 2012 due to a year-long hotel renovation, Feinstein opened a new nightclub, Feinstein’s at the Nikko in San Francisco’s Nikko Hotel.

About the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts:

The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts is a not-for-profit performing arts center whose mission is to enhance the quality of life in Palm Beach County by presenting a diverse schedule of national and international artists and companies of the highest quality; by offering comprehensive arts education programs; by providing a Palm Beach County home in which local and regional arts organizations can showcase their work; and by providing economic catalyst and community leadership in West Palm Beach, supporting efforts to increase travel and tourism to Palm Beach County.

The Kravis Center is located at 701 Okeechobee Blvd. in West Palm

Beach, FL.  For more information, please call (561) 832-7469 or visit the Center’s official website at kravis.org.

Media Contact:

Gary Schweikhart

PR-BS, Inc.

561.756.4298

gary@pr-bs.net