Winter Serenades

For immediate release – 

Village of Brockport Winter Serenades 

Contacts: 

     Jacqueline Davis  jdavis@brockport.edu 

     Erica Linden  www.brockportny.org  585-637-5300 

 The Village of Brockport’s third Winter Serenade is Sunday March 5, 2023 at 3:00.  Join fellow music lovers at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, corner Main and State, for this special performance.  It’s a family friendly, no tickets needed, “all Cole Porter music” afternoon!  Stay after to chat with friends and the performers upstairs in the Gathering Room.

Cole Porter was probably the least ambitious of all the major songwriters. He knew what he was good at and he stuck with it – throbbing ballads and comic catalogue songs. Join Michael Lasser, Jessica Ann Best, and Alan Jones for an hour of songs you remember—and also a few that might be new to you. All of them memorable; all with informative background stories provided by Public Radio’s award winning Lasser.

The entire program can also be found on the YouTube section of the stlukesbrockport.org web site, live-streamed and saved for later viewing.  Information is available at 585-637-5300 and www.brockportny.org.

The Winter and Summer Serenades series is run by volunteers and supported financially by generous local individuals and businesses; the Village of Brockport provides in-kind support.

Michael Lasser… 

“…has the stage presence of a performer with an expert’s command of his subject matter.” A speaker, writer, broadcaster, and critic, he is the author of City Songs & American Life, 1900-1950 (2019) America’s Songs II: From the 1890s to the Post- War Years (2013); and, with Philip Furia, America’s Songs: The Stories Behind the Songs of Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley (2006). For more than forty years, from 1980-2021, he was the host and producer of the nationally-syndicated public radio show, Fascinatin’ Rhythm, winner of a 1994 Peabody Award for letting “our treasury of popular tunes speak (and sing) for itself with sparkling commentary, tracing the contributions of the composers and performers to American society.” He is the former theater critic for The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, and for 35 years has spoken at museums and universities all over the country. In 2010, he was a Thomas P. Johnson Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Rollins College. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and has a website at www.american-song.com.

Jessica Ann Best… 

is known for her versatility. She performs nationwide in opera, musical theater, jazz, concert, oratorio, and recital. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, LA Opera, The Savannah Music Festival, Birdland Jazz, The Iridium Jazz Club, The Florida Orchestra, The Santa Fe Opera, Opera Tampa, and The Buffalo Philharmonic. Best produced and performed William Bolcom’s Cabaret Songs for the Rochester Fringe Festival and appears on the recording of Louis Karchin’s opera, Jane Eyre. She serves as artist, voice teacher, and stage director at the The Florida VOICE Project (VOICExperience) and Savannah Voice Festival. She is also a Professor of Voice at Nazareth College. Best holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Literature from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and Literature from Nazareth College. She is a member of AGMA and The Actor’s Equity Association. Critic Laurence Vittes said that her singing “showed just how magnificent and commanding a mezzo-soprano can be.”

Alan Jones…
…singer and piano player extraordinaire, performs a wide variety of repertoire, from

Cabaret to Classical. He and his longtime musical partner, Phyl Contestable, have been guest artists with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Brockport Symphony. Together, they have been the opening act for Bill Cosby, Rich Little, and Jackie Mason. They have entertained at many resorts and hotels, including Trump’s Castle in Atlantic City, the Concord Hotel, and the Royal York in Toronto. Jones and Contestable also performed a series of concerts for the Ryder Cup in Rochester, NY, in 1995. They have released two recordings and continue to be among Western New York’s most popular entertainers. Jones is a graduate of The Capital University Conservatory of Music and earned a Master’s degree from The Eastman School of Music. His work as an educator, songwriter, arranger, and performer has gained him inclusion in Who’s Who of American Teachers.

2/27/2023

Jacqueline Davis
Professor Emerita
Department of Dance
SUNY Brockport