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 Scarsdale, NY - Hoff-Barthelson Music School is pleased to announce that, in an unprecedented appearance, the elegant Pianist/Singer Steve Ross, a prominent figure on the New York cabaret scene, will coach a Master Class with Hoff-Barthelson voice students on the “American Songbook,” on Friday, April 4 at 7:30 pm.
The voice students that will perform for Mr. Ross are all middle and high school students. Scarsdale residents include Jenny Saylak, Elizabeth Han, Daniel Emond, Shannon Berkeley; Christopher Ingrao is an Eastchester resident; Chelsea Baccay is from Bedford, and Katie Friedman from Hastings. Selections will include Over the Rainbow, The Man I Love, As Long As He Needs Me, Skylark, and more.
Steve Ross rose to fame as a cabaret entertainer during his lengthy sojourns at New York’s fabled Algonquin Hotel and Ted Hook’s Backstage in the late 1970’s. He has spent the ensuing decades singing and playing in smart clubs and swank parties all over the world. The Ritz in London, the Crillon in Paris and the Imperial Hotel Tokyo, in addition to festivals in Hong Kong, Perth and Spoleto – these are but highlights of Steve’s appearances on six continents. On the airwaves Steve has been the performer/host for radio series for both the BBC and National Public Radio. In 1992 he was voted outstanding singer-instrumentalist by the Manhattan Association of Cabarets. Also in that year Steve made his Off-Broadway debut in his own tribute to Fred Astaire, I WON’T DANCE. He continues to tour in solo concerts, master classes, theatrical engagements and symphonic Pops appearances.
July of 1997 found Steve atop the city at RAINBOW & STARS, with a modified version of I WON’T DANCE, directed by Susan Claassen, featuring an ensemble of New York’s most talented singer/performers. Stephen Holden of the New York Times hailed Steve as “…the suavest of all male cabaret performers.”
In 1999, at the FIREBIRD CAFÉ, Steve presented SET TO MUSIC: STEVE ROSS CELEBRATES NOEL COWARD. Before the year was out, he participated in similar Coward centenary celebrations at Carnegie Hall and the Savoy Theatre in London. In the summer of 1999 Steve returned to the famous St. Louis MUNY (seating 12,000) to star in THE MUNY GOES BRITISH, directed by Paul Blake.
In August of 2000 Steve made his debut at the PLUSH ROOM in San Francisco. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote: “Attending a Ross performance is like opening a treasure chest of great, often rare, songs. No one performing today is his equal. They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore.”
In November of 2002, Ross opened to rave reviews at the swank supper club at the Stanhope Park Hyatt Hotel. In January of 2003 he joined forces with Broadway legend Peter Howard and the peerless society pianist Peter Mintun for special two-piano engagements at that hotel he went back in the Spring with AN AMERICAN IN PARIS.
In June of 2003, Ross had the pleasure of returning for the first time in many years to Australia where he took pleasure in his role as musical ambassador to venues in Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Melbourne - and then return engagements in Sao Paulo and Rio.
His show, MY MANHATTAN (Stanhope Park Hyatt, Autumn, 2003) prompted Stephen Holden of the New York Times to call him “…the quintessence of old-style urbanity.” He took that show to Pizza on the Park in February of 2004. In the course of this engagement he performed a special salute to Noel Coward for the Noel Coward Society. Steve took his fourth Stanhope show, RHYTHM AND ROMANCE to a four city tour of Australia in June of 2004 where one critic dubbed him “A master showman.” Ross returned to the New York theatre scene in November of that year with a reprise of his two-piano Fred Astaire show – this time for a five week run at one of the most desirable of the newer off-Broadway venues, 59 East 59th St.
In the first part of 2005, he gave two highly successful illustrated (by song) lectures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art – one on the songs of Noel Coward, the other on the songs of Jerome Kern. In June, 2006, he returned to the Met to lecture on and perform the songs of Dietz & Schwartz and Rodgers & Hart.
In September of 2006, Ross was asked to participate in a conference at Oxford examining the works of Noel Coward. Then he had the honor to be the first American cabaret artist ever to appear at the Paris Ritz. In October he re-joined Judy Carmichael for an engagement at Feinstein’s at the Regency.
Last year also found Ross appearing with cabaret legend Julie Wilson in a Musical Chairs presentation at the Annenberg Theatre in Palm Springs which was followed by an enthusiastically received show of the music of Stephen Sondheim at the Jermyn Street Theater in London in February as part of the American Songbook in London series. He later presented the same show at the Hotel Algonquin's fabled Oak Room. Then it was off to Amsterdam and Delft for salon concerts followed by a visit to Spain where he laid the groundwork for performances this year.
Mr. Ross was just awarded the Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement by the National Arts Club.
The Master Class is open free of charge to the public, but reservations are certainly recommended. 914-723-1169
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