Thanks to energetic singer-pianist Michael Feinstein, audiences are enjoying Frank Sinatra's music, keeping him in memory alive and well, 17 years after his final curtain call and one hundred years after his birth.
We experienced Feinstein's Sinatra homage at the opening of the Orange County Pacific Symphony's pop season, November 6-7, at the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa, California.
It was terrifically fun. Soprano Jessica Rivera opened the evening with a lovely mix of Broadway tunes.
After intermission of 25 minutes, Feinstein showered the audience with an 80 minute show - after which many were wishing for more.
Recalling Sinatra's one hundred years is a good reason to celebrate a career that spanned the better part of the 20th century, though his contemporary, Perry Como, is said to have remarked about Sinatra - "We used to be the same age, but now he's younger than me." Como was born in 1912. Apparently,a Sinatra agent shaved some time from Sinatra in the early years, not an uncommon thing to do. And at this stage it hardly matters..
Michael Feinstein, resurrecting Sinatra's song selections, with the magnificent 88-piece Pacific Symphony Pops Orchestra, conducted by Richard Kaufman, conjured the aura of awe and appreciation for ...