Music For All Seasons | Marni Nixon-Nancy Shear Conversation | 9 March 09

MUSIC FOR ALL SEASONS' "CONVERSATIONS" SERIES FEATURES RENOWNED SINGER MARNI NIXON, "THE VOICE OF HOLLYWOOD," IN CONVERSATION WITH NANCY SHEAR

MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2009, 6:30 to 8:30 P.M.

NEW YORK SOCIETY FOR ETHICAL CULTURE

2009 SEASON INCLUDES

THE JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET

Singer Marni Nixon, the legendary "Voice of Hollywood," will be the next guest on Music For All Seasons' popular "Conversations" series. She will share her thoughts on life, art, and her extraordinary career, on Monday, March 9, 2009, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the New York Society for Ethical Culture. The event is co-sponsored by MFAS and NYSEC.

Music For All Seasons' popular and acclaimed "Conversations" series is an innovative program that has a devoted and enthusiastic following. Guests who have appeared on the series include Barbara Cook, Richard Stoltzman, Andr�� Previn, Lorin Maazel, Andr�� Watts, Steven Isserlis, Dawn Upshaw, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Richard Stoltzman and Peter Schickele.

Each evening's program includes a question-and-answer session and a Meet-the-Artist reception with drinks and substantial hors d'oeuvres for all members of the audience.

The conversations, led by distinguished writer and broadcaster Nancy Shear, provide rare insights into the careers and lives of the guests and offer a behind-the-scenes look into the music world. The interviews benefit Music For All Seasons, an organization that brings the healing power of live musical performances to residential institutions. MFAS has received support from the NEA, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and donations and grants from corporations, foundations and individuals.

In addition to the program with Marni Nixon on Monday, March 9, 2009, the series will feature the renowned Juilliard String Quartet on April 20. The event will feature the entire quartet, including Nick Eanet, who will join the quartet as first violinist beginning in July of 2009. Each event is held in an interesting, unusual venue in New York City. Current and past locations include Steinway Hall, Bond #9, B��sendorfer New York, and BMI.

Tickets to the Marni Nixon event are $75 ($30 tax deductible). Discounted tickets are available for two or more events, and for students with ID. Seating is limited. For information and reservations, please call MFAS at 908-322-6300, or toll-free at 1-866-524-(MFAS).

Additional Information

MARNI NIXON

Best known as the singing voice of Deborah Kerr, Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn in the classics The King and I, An Affair to Remember, West Side Story and My Fair Lady, Emmy Award-winning soprano Marni Nixon's career includes both opera and Broadway. Her recordings include the works of Boulez, Villa-Lobos, Ives, Schonberg, Stravinsky and Copland. In addition to such major Broadway productions as Cabaret and Sondheim's Follies, she has appeared as an actress in Shakespeare and on television in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Mothers-in-Law, The Merv Griffin Show, the Today Show and the Tonight Show. Her children's program, Boomerang, has been in rerun for twenty-five years and has garnered twenty-six Emmy Awards and four personal Emmys for Best Actress. Her autobiography, I Could Have Sung All Night, was published in hardcover in 2006.

A much-sought-after judge of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, National Association of Teachers and Singing, and other prestigious competitions, Ms. Nixon also presents master classes in colleges and universities and teaches privately throughout the USA.

NANCY SHEAR

Nancy Shear is well-known as writer, lecturer, producer, broadcaster and director of a performing arts production and public relations company. She has lectured for the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and Caramoor Festival; has hosted broadcasts of the New York Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, Frick Collection series and Naumburg Foundation; had her own interview programs on WNYC; and has been a commentator for the American Public Radio Network. Her articles have appeared in major publications such as Musical America, Ovation, the New York Times, Lincoln Center Stagebill and Symphony Magazine. Ms. Shear has taught at New York University's School of Continuing Education, NYU's Vernon Center for Foreign Affairs and The New School. She has hosted special events including benefits at the Rainbow Room and, with Andr�� Previn, co-hosted a gala at the Caramoor Music Festival. Her rich background includes almost two decades as orchestra librarian, for The Philadelphia Orchestra, Curtis Institute, and privately for Leopold Stokowski and other major figures of the current and recent past generations. Ms. Shear has also lectured on the life and work of Eleanor Roosevelt and on various travel subjects.

MUSIC FOR ALL SEASONS

Music For All Seasons, now celebrating its 17th season, is active in five states: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and California. By bringing live musical performances to a wide range of institutions including children's hospitals, retirement facilities, shelters for victims of domestic violence, juvenile detention centers, nursing homes, medical centers, halfway houses and hospices, MFAS aids the physical, mental and spiritual healing processes. MFAS brings together a wide variety of people and styles of music, provides opportunities for young professional artists to serve special audiences, and creates volunteer opportunities that serve local communities.

NEW YORK SOCIETY FOR ETHICAL CULTURE:

Ethical Culture is a Humanist and Ethical movement inspired by the ideal that the supreme aim of our lives is to create a more humane society. The NYSEC stands for separation of church and state, and believes that acting morally does not require a belief in God. Ethical Culture places its faith in the demonstrated capacity of people to do wonderful things. The Ethical Culture community believes that all people are part of something that transcends the individual experience.

FOR LISTINGS

MUSIC FOR ALL SEASONS CONVERSATIONS 2009 SERIES

Monday, March 9, 2009 Marni Nixon in Conversation with Nancy Shear

6:30-8:30 p.m.

New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 West 64^th Street, New York City

Tickets $75 each ($30 tax-deductible). Meet-the-Artist Reception included.

Music For All Seasons. http://www.musicforallseasons.org/ Toll-free-1 866-524 MFAS (6327)

Monday, April 20, 2009 Juilliard String Quartet in Conversation with Nancy Shear

6:30-8:30 p.m.

Steinway Hall, 109 West 57^th Street, New York City

Tickets $75 each ($30 tax-deductible). Meet-the-Artist Reception included.

Music For All Seasons. http://www.musicforallseasons.org/ Toll-free-1 866-524 MFAS (6327)