Celebrating the Great American Songbook

Dive into the Great American Songbook this winter with What Makes It Great? host Rob Kapilow, the NPR & PBS music commentator, conductor, composer, author and pianist. He is also the artist-in-residence at the Thurnauer School of Music. The new series combines performances filmed in Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Hall exploring the music of Cole Porter and Stephen Sondheim with online classes filmed at the Eric Brown Theater in the JCC  focused on five giants of the Great American Songbook: George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Richard Rodgers and Leonard Bernstein. Created and taught by Kapilow, the performances feature Broadway stars Nikki Renée Daniels (Company, Hamilton, The Book of Mormon, Les Miserables), Sally Wilfert (Assassins, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Kind David, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), and Michael Winther (Flying Over Sunset, 33 Variations, The Crucible, Mamma Mia!).

A collaboration of the JCC Thurnauer School of Music and the Kaufman Music Center, the course draws on Kapilow’s critically acclaimed 2019 book Listening for America: Inside the Great American Songbook from Gershwin to Sondheim.  Each class ends with a live Q&A with Kapilow.

Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.

Thurnauer Symphony Orchestra (Hybrid)

An excellent intergenerational educational and nurturing environment where students gain a strong understanding of orchestral music and develop their ensemble skills. Virtual learning for symphonic repertoire includes weekly rehearsals, sectionals, workshops, discussions and playing assignments. Students come together at the start of rehearsal or at assigned times for each section of the orchestra. Sectional workshops focus on score studying, analysis and form, and interpretation skills. Students learn how to practice more effectively, attain proficiency in their own parts, grasp and appreciate what other players are learning in their parts, and listen to and read from scores. They learn to work with recordings, as a professional recording artist would work with a click track. Weekly projects, which involve listening, practicing and writing, provide a follow-up to lectures and discussion groups. Winners of an annual concerto competition perform in a special concert. 
 
Audition required for new students. Contact Robyn Searles at rsearles@jccotp.org to schedule an audition.

PLEASE DO NOT REGISTER BELOW UNLESS YOU HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED INTO THE ORCHESTRA.

Thurnauer Symphony Orchestra (Hybrid)

An excellent intergenerational educational and nurturing environment where students gain a strong understanding of orchestral music and develop their ensemble skills. Virtual learning for symphonic repertoire includes weekly rehearsals, sectionals, workshops, discussions and playing assignments. Students come together at the start of rehearsal or at assigned times for each section of the orchestra. Sectional workshops focus on score studying, analysis and form, and interpretation skills. Students learn how to practice more effectively, attain proficiency in their own parts, grasp and appreciate what other players are learning in their parts, and listen to and read from scores. They learn to work with recordings, as a professional recording artist would work with a click track. Weekly projects, which involve listening, practicing and writing, provide a follow-up to lectures and discussion groups. Winners of an annual concerto competition perform in a special concert. 
 
Audition required for new students. Contact Robyn Searles at rsearles@jccotp.org to schedule an audition.

PLEASE DO NOT REGISTER BELOW UNLESS YOU HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED INTO THE ORCHESTRA.