Celebrity Series of Boston will present What Makes It Great? with Rob Kapilow and soprano Emily Albrink in All the Things You Are, American song from Kern to Copland and beyond on Friday, November 6, 2015 at 8pm at NEC’s Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA.

(Boston) Celebrity Series of Boston will present What Makes It Great? with Rob Kapilow and soprano Emily Albrink in All the Things You Are, American song from Kern to Copland and beyond on Friday, November 6, 2015 at 8pm at NEC’s Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA. Sponsored by Amy and Joshua Boger, and the D.L. Saunders Real Estate & Hotel Investors Group, AMO.

Tickets start at $30, and are available online at www.celebrityseries.org, by calling CelebrityCharge at (617) 482-6661 Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m., or at the Jordan Hall Box Office, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA.

Celebrity Series of Boston has presented What Makes It Great?© with Rob Kapilow 37 times since its Boston debut in 1997.

Rob Kapilow is a graduate of the Yale School of Music and the Eastman School of Music, and is an accomplished pianist. He has brought the joy and wonder of classical music to audiences of all ages and backgrounds, opening their ears to musical experiences and helping them to listen actively. The reach and diversity of his interactive events is considerable, both geographically and culturally: from Native American tribal communities to inner-city high school students and from children barely out of diapers to musicologists long out of Ivy League programs. Mr. Kapilow’s popularity and appeal are reflected in notable engagements: on NBC’s “Today Show” in conversation with Katie Couric, in a program for broadcast on PBS’s “Live From Lincoln Center” in January 2008; and in his books, All You Have To Do Is Listen and What Makes It Great? Kapilow’s What Makes It Great?® (WMIG) made its debut on NPR’s Performance Today nearly 20 years ago, and with its accessible ten-minute format it quickly attracted a wide base of fans and followers.

Soprano Emily Albrink has been hailed by The New York Times as “delightful and vocally strong and versatile,” and has collaborated with venerable composers and conductors such as James Levine, Plácido Domingo, Robert Spano, Marin Alsop, Jake Heggie, and John Musto. A 2010 alumna of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington National Opera, Ms. Albrink was a finalist in the Stella Maris Vocal Competition. She recently performed at Washington National Opera to perform the role of Sophie in Werther, and sang Marian Paroo in The Music Man with Ash Lawn Opera. Previously, Ms. Albrink made her Kentucky Opera debut as Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore and returned to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, conducted by Alsop. She also made her Alice Tully Hall debut singing Knoxville Summer of 1915 with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas and finished the season as Evvy in the U.S. premiere of Death and the Powers with the American Repertory Theater and the Chicago Opera Theater.

In 2010, Ms. Albrink made her international debut with a 10-day tour of China as the soprano soloist with the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, and appeared in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Washington National Opera. Ms. Albrink appeared in 2008 at Carnegie Hall to sing Nuria in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar with Dawn Upshaw and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, conducted by Spano. She also performed the role with the Colorado Music Festival, Opera Boston, the Phoenix Symphony, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the latter of which was under the baton of Miguel Harth-Bedoya. An ardent champion of new music, Ms. Albrink made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2006 in the world premiere of Clarice Assad’s Confessions. She returned three years later to sing John Adams’ Grand Pianola Music. In addition, Ms. Albrink performed the West Coast premiere of Heggie’s Rise and Fall with the composer at the piano.

Program:

“All the Things you Are”
(from Very Warm for May)
Jerome Kern (1885-1945)

“Tom Sails Away”
(from Three Songs of War)
Charles Ives  (1874-1954)

“Laurie’s Song”
(from The Tender Land)
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

“The Monk and his Cat”
(from Hermit Songs)
Samuel Barber  (1910-1981)

“Baby Love”
Adam Guettel (1964-  )

About Celebrity Series of Boston
Celebrity Series of Boston was founded in 1938 by pianist and impresario Aaron Richmond. Over the course of its 77-year history, Celebrity Series has presented an array of the world’s greatest performing artists, including Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arturo Toscanini, Ignace Paderewski, Artur Rubenstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Glenn Gould, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern, Andrés Segovia, Kirsten Flagstad, Marian Anderson, Luciano Pavarotti, Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Martha Graham, Ballet Russe De Monte Carlo, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mstislav Rostropovich, and the New York City Opera Company.

The Celebrity Series has been bringing the very best performers–from orchestras and chamber ensembles, vocal and piano music, to dance companies, jazz, and more–to Boston’s major concert halls for 77 years. The Celebrity Series of Boston believes in the power of excellence and innovation in the performing arts to enrich life experiences, transform lives and build better communities. Through its education initiatives, the Celebrity Series seeks to build a community of Greater Boston where the performing arts are a valued, lifelong, shared experience–on stages, in schools, at home– everywhere. For more information on Celebrity Series of Boston, call (617) 482-2595 or visit us online at www.celebrityseries.org.

The Celebrity Series of Boston, Inc. receives generous support from Amy & Joshua Boger; Donna & Mike Egan; Gabor Garai & Susan Pravda; The Garbis & Arminè Barsoumian Charitable Foundation; Stephanie L. Brown; David & Harriet Griesinger; Paul L. King; Jann Leeming & Arthur Little; The Royal Little Family Foundation; Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation; Stewart Myers; Eleanor & Frank Pao; The John S. and Cynthia Reed Foundation; Stiffler Family Foundation; Sanjay & Sangeeta Verma; Nancy Richmond Winsten; Charlesbank Capital Partners LLC; EMC Corporation; Foley & Lardner; Massachusetts Cultural Council; National Endowment for the Arts; The Peabody Foundation; PTC; Tufts Health Plan; The D.L. Saunders Real Estate & Hotel Investment Group, AMO; Vertex Pharmaceuticals.