Michael Feinstein celebrates Judy Garland's 100-year legacy with flair

Legendary performer Michael Feinstein salutes the great Judy Garland on her 100th birthday with “Get Happy! Michael Feinstein Celebrates the Judy Garland Centennial,” coming to Mercyhurst University’s Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, Oct. 26, at 7:30 p.m.

Executive produced by Liza Minnelli, this brand-new multimedia show features film clips, never-before-seen photos, rare audio recordings, and previously unheard musical arrangements.

Feinstein will lead the audience on a historical journey through Garland's amazing life, telling stories he learned from Minnelli and from the legend's close friends. Erie audiences will be treated to recently discovered and previously unheard musical arrangements while gaining rare insight into the enduring Garland mystique.

In addition to his recognition as one of the leading musical entertainers and piano virtuosi of recent decades, Michael Feinstein’s work as an educator, archivist, interpreter, and Ambassador of the Great American Songbook have established the popular and honored musician as a pre-eminent force in contemporary music. His dazzling career as a top-selling and critically acclaimed recording artist, and a star performer on Broadway and the world’s great concert stages, has earned him five GRAMMY® nominations, two Emmy nominations, and acclaim for his NPR series. His live concerts have spanned the globe, including such iconic venues as The White House, Buckingham Palace, the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, and the Sydney Opera House.

In 2022, Feinstein released to rave reviews, “Gershwin Country,” an album of standards in duet with some of the biggest names in country music from Dolly Parton and Alison Krauss to Brad Paisley and Amy Grant. He received GRAMMY® nominations for his albums “The Sinatra Project,” “Michael Feinstein with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra,” “Romance on Film, Romance on Broadway,” “Michael & George: Feinstein Sings Gershwin,” and “Michael Feinstein Sings the Jule Styne Songbook.”

In 2007, as an extension of his work as a legendary performer and passionate guardian of this nation’s greatest musical traditions, Feinstein founded the Great American Songbook Foundation. The Foundation works to preserve and elevate America’s rich musical legacy by curating physical artifacts of its creators and performers; offering programs for the public and research opportunities for scholars, historians, and performers; and providing educational opportunities for student musicians, including the annual high school Songbook Academy®. For over a decade, Feinstein served as a Founding Member on the Library of Congress’ National Recording Preservation Board, an organization dedicated to ensuring the survival, conservation, and increased public availability of America’s sound recording heritage.

Feinstein was named Principal Pops Conductor for the Pasadena Symphony in 2012 and made his conducting debut in June 2013 to celebrated critical acclaim. Under Feinstein’s leadership, the Pasadena Pops has quickly become a premier orchestral presenter of the Great American Songbook with definitive performances of rare orchestrations and classic arrangements. He launched an additional Pops series at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2014.

Feinstein serves as Artistic Director of the Center for the Performing Arts, a $170 million, three-theatre venue in Carmel, Indiana, which opened in January 2011. The theater is home to diverse live programming and a museum for his rare memorabilia and manuscripts. Since 1999, he has served as Artistic Director for Carnegie Hall’s “Standard Time with Michael Feinstein” in conjunction with ASCAP. In 2010 he became the director of the Jazz and Popular Song Series at New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Through his live performances, recordings, film and television appearances, and his songwriting (in collaboration with Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Lindy Robbins, Bob Merrill, and Marshall Barer), Feinstein is an all-star force in American music.

Tickets for “Get Happy! Michael Feinstein Celebrates the Judy Garland Centennial” can be purchased online at the MIAC ticketing website, over the phone at 814-824-3000, or in person at the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center box office (open Tuesday-Thursday, noon-5 p.m.). Each order is subject to a $3 per ticket processing fee, regardless of purchase or payment method.

This performance is sponsored by Make It Fabulous Catering & Events, and the 2022-23 MIAC Live season is sponsored by Scott Enterprises, Dr. & Mrs. Robert Guelcher, Aetna, Cumulus Media, and the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority.