Feb 18

A very busy winter!

When it rains it pours...or snows. I've been going full speed ahead since November of last year and it's been exciting!

November started off the winter season with 3 spectacular nights with the Nashville Symphony! Man, what a dream come true to be able to perform the music that inspired me (The Very Best Of John Denver) with some of the most incredible musicians on the planet.

The concerts were well received, which was quite a relief since the whole concept and creation of the Denver concerts was over a year in the making. Jeff Steinberg and team helped to create a spectacular concert, and I'm looking forward to many many more nights of beautiful music performing it!

Then on to the Houston Symphony in December for their Christmas concerts. It was an honor to be the guest artist with this impressive and celebrated orchestra, and my first time to work with Maestro Michael Krajewski. It was so good to "be back home" in the area where I grew up for the holiday season. I look forward to returning to Houston again to be with the symphony in the future!

Then home to Nashville for a couple of weeks to do my Christmas Concert at the Troutt Theatre. My band was awesome and the crowd was generous and loving to us all! It certainly was a great night and felt like the true beginning of my holiday season. I hope to be able to make the holiday concert in Nashville an annual tradition.

In January I headed to Florida for three nights with the Florida Orchestra in Tampa, St. Pete and Clearwater. I joined Maestro Steven Reineke and superstar Betsy Wolfe for some groovy love songs. Betsy is currently starring on Broadway in "Merrily We Roll Along". What a GREAT concert...and the audiences seemed to agree. Steve is a complete joy to work with and Betsy has quite simply one of the most beautiful voices in the biz. We all had a great time...and at times had to remind ourselves that we were working. The Florida Orchestra is another exceptional symphony...I'm getting spoiled!

Then on to Detroit and the gorgeous February weather...no lie! It was crazy beautiful at a time when it's often an ugly time of year to be there. The Detroit Symphony...well, what can I say? Just EXTRAORDINARY..and such a pleasant group of musicians to perform with. Steven and I worked this time with the stunning Rachel York, who is a brilliant singer and actress. I have to pinch myself often when I'm standing on stage singing with some of the greatest vocalists of our time. Rachel is no exception. Wow, is all I can say. I was able to spend time with friends Greg and Holly and their posse after one of the concerts...it was a great weekend!

Speaking of pinching myself, last weekend I was on stage with the dream girl herself, Jennifer Holliday, singing "The Prayer" with her! I received a call while in New York a couple of weeks ago that Marvin Hamlisch was looking for a tenor for his concert with Jennifer in San Diego. Was I available? You better believe it!

Unfortunately, Marvin ended up getting sick and couldn't make the concerts. He was greatly missed, but everything turned out better than any of us could have imagined! Matthew Garbutt took over for Marvin and pianist virtuoso Eldar Djangirov helped to make the concerts breathtakingly beautiful. The San Diego Symphony was stellar (like I said, spoiled) and I had the pleasure of performing several of my orchestrations (Steinberg) to a very appreciative crowd. I love San Diego people! The magic moment of the concert (for me) was performing the song "Bewitched" with Eldar. People, I just can't quite tell you how magnificent this guy is. RUN, don't walk to buy his CDs and/or see him in concert.

On my day off, I had my friend John take me in his helicopter on a tour of the city and the coast line. There are no words. I also was able to visit with other dear friends Linda and Steven who showed me their San Diego/La Jolla. What a beautiful place! Then I visited what might be one of the coolest houses I've ever seen, belonging to my friends Amy and Frank. The house is made from re-purposed Indonesian wood. Beautiful! It was also great to see one of my old singing buddies Dawn Marie after a long bike ride through the city. Looks like I'll be back in August. I can't wait.

Back home for now, rejuvenating and making plans for the future...more music to come!

Peace to you all. Hope to see you soon.

Mike
View Comments (0)