MUSIC

The Hobby Center presents "A Night Like This" CD Release Concert, Saturday, March 12 at 7:30pm, in Hobby Center - Zilkha Hall.

Mercator Media presents "A Night Like This" CD release concert. Please join us for an evening celebrating jazz and the Great American Songbook. The concert will present music from the new CD "A Night Like This" featuring Bryan Anthony and the Gary Norian Trio and Yvonne Washington's new duo CD "Trust In Me" with pianist Gary Norian.

Meet and Greet wine reception to follow.

From the very first time we hear them, there are certain singers whom we feel we know. As the intimacy of their delivery and subtle shading of their interpretation draw us in, a whole personality seems to take shape in our imagination. Bryan Anthony is that magnetic kind of singer. He has sung and studied professionally since his teens and has performed the world over from the Acropolis to Carnegie Hall.

Bryan first began singing in church choirs at age 5 and got an early start at performing in festivals, restaurants, and musicals even before his teenage years. At 15 he was given his first Frank Sinatra record, which he would listen to for hours, studying the nuances and phrasing. In the fall of 1995, Bryan entered the Manhattan School of Music in NYC, where he majored in classical voice. During his freshman year, Bryan performed several times on New York’s restaurant row, including Don’t Tell Mamas and Danny’s Skylight Room, where he thrilled audiences with his own style and voice.

In the summer of 1997, Bryan accepted an offer from the Glenn Miller Orchestra to begin touring with them. The tour took him all over the US, Canada, the Bahamas, the Hawaiian Islands and Japan. He returned to the Manhattan School of Music to finish his undergraduate degree in 2000, but he remained in New York City to complete his Master’s degree from New York University in jazz and contemporary music. Then, in 2002, Bryan joined the off-Broadway cast of “Our Sinatra,” a production about the musical legacy of the late Frank Sinatra—the show ran an unprecedented two and a half years.

In addition to touring the world with his jazz trio, Bryan has had the pleasure of working with The Glenn Miller Orchestra, The New Gene Krupa Orchestra, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and The Nelson Riddle Orchestra, with whom he is now doing a series of UK tour dates (www.nelsonriddleorchestra.biz).

The renowned recording artist, Gary Norian, is a classically trained musician who switched to jazz piano in high school. Since that time he has toured with Arista recording artists Expose, composed and produced commercial music for radio and television, and performed at hundreds of national and local music venues.

The superb vocalist, Yvonne Washington, can be heard on the soundtrack to the Richard Gere film, Autumn in New York, 2000. She performs with the Smithsonian Orchestra when they visit Houston and she has been invited to sing at mayoral inaugurations, and memorial services of state and national dignitaries.