The class, “Sing the Swing," will take place on July 10th and 11th, from 7-10 pm in The Dorothy Jones Theater at Singers Forum. Participating students will be chosen by auditions on May 31 and June 1, but auditors are welcome and encouraged. Over the two-day workshop, Callaway, Masse and Siegel will give students individual instruction and constructive criticism within a safe environment, meant to encourage the freedom to take chances and stimulate the exchange of creative ideas. Sessions will also include vocal/physical warm-ups, instructor demonstrations and improvisations, and Q&A time. Interested parties should contact the school for audition appointments and class prices.
Ann Hampton Callaway is said to be one of the finest singer/songwriters of our time. The statuesque performer dazzles music lovers as a singer, pianist, composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, and educator. Her talents have made her equally at home in jazz and pop as well as on stage, in the recording studio, on TV and in film. She is best known for starring in the hit Broadway musical “SWING!" and for writing and singing the theme to the internationally successful TV series, “THE NANNY".
Laurel Masse, founding member of Grammy award-winning vocal group The Manhattan Transfer, toured internationally for seven years with the group and recorded five albums. She has released four solo CDs. In the course of her career, Massé has performed at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, the London Palladium, Salle Pleyel de Paris, the Hollywood Bowl, The Smithsonian Institution; jazz festivals in Montreal, Chicago, Woodstock, Syracuse, Detroit and Saratoga Springs; the clubs Birdland and the Blue Note in New York City, The Roxy Nightclub and The Cinegrill in Los Angeles, Chicago's Green Mill, and Harrah's, Caesar's Palace, MGM Grand, and the Hilton in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe.
Over the past three decades, the voice of Janis Siegel, a nine-time Grammy winner and a seventeen-time Grammy nominee, has been an undeniable force in The Manhattan Transfer's diverse musical catalog. Alongside her career as a member of this 32-year musical institution, Siegel has also sustained a solo career that has spawned more than a half dozen finely-crafted solo albums and numerous collaborative projects, amassed a large international fan base and garnered consistently high critical praise.
Singers Forum was founded in 1978 by Andy Anselmo and John Albert Harris to be a training center for the vocal arts. Over the years, the Forum has always been located in the historic Flat Iron District, and recently moved to 49 West 24th Street in Manhattan. Singers Forum has been a classroom to professional performers including Liza Minnelli, John Leguizamo, Brooke Shields, Mandy Patinkin, Billy Stritch and Amanda Green. Master Classes have been offered at the school by Lucine Amara, Maxene Andrews, Julie Wilson, Dick Gallagher, and Tovah Feldshuh, among others. The school also offers a Youth Scholarship Program for at-risk youth, as well as Community Outreach Concerts for seniors and hospitals.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
