Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is proud to present the Grammy-award winning pianist PETER NERO performing The Gershwin Project on Saturday, October 26th, 2013 at 8pm. Joining the Maestro for this incredible program drawn from George Gershwin’s iconic American Songbook, will be bassist Michael Barnett.
Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is on the campus of Lehman College/CUNY at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, Bronx, NY 10468. Tickets for PETER NERO on Saturday, October 26th, at 8pm are $35, $30, and $25 (children 12 and under: $10 for any seat) and can be purchased by calling the Lehman Center box office at 718-960-8833 (Monday through Friday, 10am–5pm, and beginning at 12 noon on the day of the concert), or through online access at www.LehmanCenter.org. Lehman Center is accessible by #4 or D train to Bedford Park Blvd. and is off the Saw Mill River Parkway and the Major Deegan Expressway. Low cost on-site parking available for $5.
Peter Nero’s performance The Gershwin Project at Lehman Center will include a selection of beloved songs that include “Rhapsody in Blue,” “Embraceable You,” “Someone to Watch Over Me” and excerpts from Porgie and Bess. Hailed as one of the premier interpreters of Gershwin, Peter Nero starred in the 1972 Emmy Award-winning NBC Special S’Wonderful, S’Marvelous, S’Gershwin. Mel Torme has commented that “Peter Nero’s interpretations of Gershwin are unique and glorious. He is a one-of-a-kind artist.” The virtuoso pianist has been performing Gershwin since he was 14 and has included Gershwin tunes on many of his albums including 1965’s Nero Goes Pops (Arthur Fiedler), On Tour (‘66), Peter Nero & Friends (‘94), All the Things You Are (‘96) and More in Love (’97).
PETER NERO, the Julliard-trained pianist and founding conductor of the Philly POPS, was born in Brooklyn in 1934. He began his formal musical training at age seven and by the time he was 11 he was performing Haydn concertos. For several years after college he played a swinging piano hybrid of jazz and classical in famed New York City nightclubs before being signed to RCA records in 1960. Awarded the 1961 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, Nero produced an astounding 26 albums in eight years, winning a second Grammy Award for The Colorful Peter Nero in 1962 along with eight additional Grammy nominations. During the 1960’s, Nero’s jazzy hybrid of pop, classical, swing and bob became one of the most popular mainstream sounds of the era. In 1963, Nero composed and performed the Golden Globe nominated score for the Jane Fonda film Sunday in New York, which the New York Times opined “was quite possibly more memorable than the script.” His subsequent move to Columbia records resulted in two additional Grammy nominations as well as a million-selling gold single and album, Summer of ’42.
Over the years Nero has made numerous televised guest appearances in top shows such as the Tony Awards, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Mike Douglas Show, The Jackie Gleason Show and The Merv Griffin Show. He has performed with Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Diane Schuur, Ray Charles, Johnny Mathis, Elton John and Rod Stewart. In 1979, Nero founded the Philly POPS and for 34 seasons served as its conductor and musical director where he frequently performed classical arrangements of popular music. With 68 recordings to his name, he was honored with the 2009 American Federation of Musicians Lifetime Achievement Award and has been bestowed with six honorary doctorates.
Lehman Center is supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council. The 2013-2014 season is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, JPMorgan Chase, Con Edison and through corporations, foundations and private donations.
