Hershey Felder
(born July 9, 1968) is a pianist, actor, playwright, composer and producer. He is the first artist to have created (as playwright, actor and pianist) the role of America’s great composer George Gershwin for the theatrical stage in the stage play George Gershwin Alone
. Combining the craft of acting and concert-level piano performance, George Gershwin Alone
was followed by the creation of the role of Fryderyk Chopin, great Polish composer/pianist, and the roles of Ludwig van Beethoven and Gerhard von Breuning in Beethoven, As I Knew Him
. These three works comprise a trilogy known as “The Composer Sonata.” To date, Felder has appeared before the paying public with his trilogy as well as in theatre roles and concerts for more than 4,000 performances. Felder has acknowledged that he will continue his theatrical one-man format with stories reaching further than just the art of classical music, and will also include his own compositions.
Of Felder’s compositions, Noah’s Ark, an Opera
has been performed with members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. His Aliyah Concerto on Israeli Themes
for piano and orchestra has been performed in Canada and in the United States. The Suite Les Anges de Paris
for violin and piano, Etudes Thématiques
, as well as Song Settings
(the poetry of Vachel Lindsay) have been performed on and recorded by the WFMT Radio Network in Chicago. Felder holds a Negaunee Foundation Chicago commission for a new operatic composition.
Lauded by the majority of the international critical press, Hershey Felder’s works appear to inspire ardent fans as well as detractors much like the critical assessments of the work of the masters he represents.
Currently, Felder is the President of Eighty-Eight Entertainment , a music-based production company, producing new performance works worldwide. Married to The Right Honourable A. Kim Campbell, former Prime Minister of Canada, and North America’s first female head of government, Felder and Campbell make their home in Paris, France.
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HERSHEY FELDER TICKETS
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Performance History
Broadway, London’s West End
:
George Gershwin Alone
, Helen Hayes Theatre, Duchess Theatre.
National and International Appearances
: include
Beethoven As I Knew Him
, The Old Globe Theatre (World Premiere), The Geffen Playhouse (L.A.);
Monsieur Chopin
, Chicago’s Royal George Theatre, The Geffen Playhouse, Arizona Theatre Company, American Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, Ravinia Festival, The Old Globe Theatre, Cleveland Play House; Command Performance for the Polish Ambassador to the United States, Polish Embassy, Washington; Uijeongbu Theatre Festival, South Korea.
George Gershwin Alone
, 2004-2005 Chicago; 1999-2008 at Ford’s Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, The Geffen Playhouse (2007 L.A. Stage Ovation Awards, Best Musical and Best Actor), The Old Globe Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Prince Music Theatre (Philadelphia), Cleveland Play House, The Gilmore Festival, Ravinia, El Paso, Uijeongbu, and others.
Upcoming International Appearances
:
Monsieur Chopin
and
Beethoven As I Knew Him
.
Compositions
: include
Fairytale
, a musical;
Les Anges de Paris, Suite for Violin and Piano
;
Song Settings
, poetry by Vachel Lindsay;
Aliyah, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra; Saltimbanques for Piano and Orchestra; Etudes Thematiques for Piano
.
Recordings
: include
Love Songs of the Yiddish Theatre
,
Back from Broadway
, and
George Gershwin Alone
and
Monsieur Chopin
for the WFMT Radio Network Recordings label;
Beethoven As I Knew Him
for the Eighty Eight Entertainment label. Worldwide live broadcast,
George Gershwin Alone
, July 2005. National broadcast of
Monsieur Chopin
, November 2005.
Current Projects
: include a Negaunee Foundation Chicago composition commission, and a new musical,
Nine Hours on Tenth: The Unknown Story of President Lincoln's Last Day
, as well as a recording of current compositions. Mr. Felder is on the Board of Directors of the Colburn School.
History as Producer, Commercial
Noah’s Ark, an Opera
(Los Angeles, June 1997)
Sing, A Musical Journey
(Los Angeles, 1998)
George Gershwin Alone
(Los Angeles World Premiere; International, 2000-present)
Back From Broadway
(Los Angeles, Florida, New York, Boston, 2002-2003)
Romantique
(Boston, 2003)
Monsieur Chopin
(Chicago World Premiere; International, 2005-present)
Beethoven, As I Knew Him
(San Diego World Premiere; International, 2008-present)
Personal
Hershey Felder was born in
Montreal, Quebec, Canada on July 9th, 1968 to Jacob Felder (born in
Ustrizki, Poland, 1929) and Eva Surek (born in
Budapest, Hungary, 1946). A first-generation North-American, much of Felder’s upbringing included Eastern European traditions, in particular traditions associated with the Jewish faith into which he was born. Early schooling included Hebrew Academy Day School of Montreal as well as synagogue affiliations with Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem Synagogue in Cote St. Luc, Quebec.
In 1976, Felder’s mother, Eva, was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and six years later, at the age of 35, Eva Surek Felder lost her battle to cancer and left both Hershey and his younger sister, Tammy (b. 1973) to their father to raise alone. Pursuing a career in theatre and music, in 1989, Felder met his first wife, Cara Lynn Gaffen, an actress, at The Yiddish Theatre of the Saidye Bronfman Centre in Montreal and in 1991 Felder and Gaffen were married in Montreal. The couple was divorced in 1993.
In 1994, Felder made his way to Los Angeles where he spent a brief time working for Steven Spielberg’s
Shoah Foundation interviewing Holocaust Survivors in order to catalogue their aural histories on film. The following year, he was invited to take part as one of four interviewers to attend the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz in Poland, which led to his creation of
George Gershwin Alone
( – production history). Upon returning to the United States, Felder was invited to present a concert performance at the Canadian Consular Residence in Los Angeles, in honor of The Right Honourable A. Kim Campbell, Canada’s first and only female Prime Minister. Reports of this meeting reference a “love at first sight” encounter, and Felder and Campbell, 21 years his senior, have been inseparable ever since. One year later, in September of 1997, Felder and Campbell entered into an official common law marriage, recognized by Canadian Law.
After Campbell’s departure from Canadian Politics and governmental duties, Campbell and Felder moved to Cambridge MA, where Campbell was a Professor of Practice at Harvard University’s Kennedy School for Government, and Felder was invited to open a production of
George Gershwin Alone
at the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard. This production went on to be the highest-grossing production of any booked in production in the theatre's history. In 2004, Felder and Campbell moved to Chicago where Felder opened a production of
George Gershwin Alone
as well as presenting the world premiere of
Monsieur Chopin
. At this time, Campbell was named a Vice President and the Secretary General of the
Club of Madrid, an organization of over 70 former Heads of State and Government who promote democratic transition. Felder and Campbell then made their home in Madrid, Spain, while keeping their residence in Chicago as Felder’s performances in that city continued. In 2006, Felder and Campbell relocated to Paris, France, where they currently reside, while they both continue to be before the public internationally.
Education
Piano studies with Dorothy Morton, Eugene Plawutsky, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, (1981-1988)
Piano Studies with Jerome Lowenthal, NYC (1988-2001)
Opera studies, conducting, accompanying, composition, McGill University, Montreal, Canada (1985-1988)
Hebrew Academy Day School, primary and secondary education, (1971-1985)
Affiliations
Felder and
Joel Zwick (director,
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
and 525 episodes of episodic television including
Mork and Mindy
,
Laverne and Shirley
,
Bosom Buddies, Full House, Perfect Strangers
, etc.) are recognized as full-time collaborators with Zwick directing stage work for all of Felder’s artistic projects.
Felder is a former Scholar in Residence at Harvard University’s School Of Music (2002-2004) and a former member of the Board of Directors of the
Chicago College of Performing Arts, where he created and sponsored a classical music competition entitled “The Real Thing.”
He has presented Master Classes in Music and Theatre Arts at: The Chicago College of Performing Arts, The University of Pennsylvania, The Boston Conservatory, The
Old Globe Theatre (San Diego).
Felder is associated with Dr. Jeffrey Kallberg PhD., Professor of Music and Chairman of the
University of Pennsylvania's Department of Music, who acts as musical history advisor on all of Mr. Felder’s projects.