"SOUVENIR: A JOURNEY IN SONG"
Sara Louise Lazarus, Director
Alex Rybeck, Musical Director & Arranger
"Souvenir: A Journey in Song" is an evening of songs and stories about growing up abroad as the daughter of an American diplomat. ANNA BERGMAN, who spent her youth living in such exotic places as Ethiopia, Congo-Kinshasa, Paris, Vienna and London, takes her audience on a musical voyage through these fascinating locales. With her "scintillating soprano" (The New York Sun), Anna sings in five languages in styles ranging from folk and pop to Broadway and opera. "It is unusual to hear a singer who is at home in all of [these vocal styles]." (The Washington Post) From a Nigerian Yaruba Chant, Puccini's "Musetta's Waltz" and Carol King's "So Far Away" to French and German torch songs made famous by Marlene Dietrich and Edith Piaf and Broadway standards introduced by Barbara Cook and Noel Coward, Anna will thrill you, touch you and inspire you. See why The International Herald Daily News calls her "one of the best singers in America and "a world class performer" and named her debut CD "SOUVENIR" Best CD of 2005.
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING ABOUT
ANNA BERGMAN IN
"SOUVENIR: A JOURNEY IN SONG"
"A songstress who has triumphed in everything from Broadway-flavored tunes to opera arias and the sultry innuendoes of the cabaret chanteuse." —Cecilia Porter, The Washington Post
"A dynamite looking doll, with more than a touch of class and blessed with a voice most girl-singers would kill for...Run-don't walk to see and hear her!"
—Nancy Walman, WQXR, NY Times Radio
"In a carefully polished cabaret program...[With] songs that require a variety of vocal styles and skills, ranging from torch song to operatic aria, it is unusual to hear a singer who is at home in all of them ...Whether they were originally associated with Barbara Cook, Julie Andrews or even Maria Callas, Bergman made these songs momentarily her own."
— Joseph McLellan, The Washington Post
"With Barbara Cook's popularity soaring to all time highs...audiences still go nuts for a soprano brimming with classical cleanliness...and a repertoire that straddles Broadway's best with the Met. Indeed, this could be the trajectory of the generations-younger diva Anna Bergman."
— David Drake, Playbill
"SOUVENIR" is a ravishing collection of songs...Not since Dawn Upshaw triumphed with I Wish It So has a soprano so effortlessly navigated the waters of Broadway and art songs to such dazzling effect...She sings with perfect, heartbreaking truth. Brava!"
—David Hurst, Show Business
"A glorious voice...the sureness and subtlety of a fine actress...a captivating, class program and performance."
—Peter Haas, Cabaret Scenes
"A very classy American diva, an extremely beautiful singer...A world class performer!"
— Maximillien de La Croix de Lafayette, International Herald Daily News (Named "One of the Best Singers in America" 2005)
"It's high time you heard soprano Anna Bergman...A versatile and attractive performer who can really sing the classical stuff and then surprise you with her musical comedy chops...a tour de force."
— Barbara & Scott Siegel, Theatremania.com ("SOUVENIR" Awarded Best CD of 2002)
"A singer of splendid accomplishment...achieving a memorable evening from a thrilling voice."
—John Hoglund, Backstage
"Looking like a cross between Madonna and Madeline Kahn and possessing a touch of the latter's mix of a pure classically trained soprano voice and a zany comic sensibility...with her shimmering soprano and excellent taste in materia...her warm, engaging wit and personality."
—Jonathan Frank, TalkinBroadway.com