#StephenSondheim’s passing hit me harder than I even had thought it might. I have been privileged to play BOTH Bobby and Buddy (from “#Company” and “#Follies” respectively): two sides of the same male-arrested-development coin. And I did my time in “Side by Side by Sondheim.” I have cherry-picked from his inestimable songbook for one-man cabaret shows over the years. I spent my high school summer in Japan obsessed with @Madonna’s #DickTracy-inspired “I’m Breathless,” most notably the numbers “Sooner or Later,” “More,” and “What Can You Lose?” But my deep love of his story-songs began with @barbrastreisand, @blbuckley, and #DawnUpshaw, who wove magic with #Sondheim, plucking tunes from his catalog, disentangling them from their source shows, imprinting the vocalists’ own hopes and heartaches on his twisty-turny lyrics, and giving the soon-to-be standards new life through clever and evocative arrangements. That’s when I saw Sondheim’s true musical brilliance, as a Rorschach test on the soul, malleable and elastic but never losing the unique zing that was purely him. I find myself heartbroken yet also optimistic that generations of similarly intrepid performers will continue to be inspired by Sondheim and to explore the maps of their hearts through his work. Let me see the world with clouds Take me to the world Out where I can push through crowds Take me to the world A world that smiles With streets instead of aisles Where I can walk for miles with you Take me to the world that’s real Show me how it’s done Teach me how to laugh, to feel Move me to the sun Just hold my hand whenever we arrive Take me to a world where I can be alive “Take me to the world” - from “Evening Primrose” (at Saline, Michigan) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWzSS7QF7mr/?utm_medium=tumblr

New GloBeat Remembrance. To honor the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. To play stream from https://www.mixcloud.com/jgueron/globeat-remembrance/ Listen to a small selection of classical music by Górecki, Fauré, Bruch, Barber, Bach, Saint-Saëns, Marin Marais as played by #MstislavRostropovich #JaquelineDuPrè #PieterWispeley #AlisaWeilerstein #DawnUpshaw #DiegoFasolis #JordiSavall #VivianHornikWellerstein #GeraldMoore #SirSimonRattle and more. https://www.instagram.com/p/CTr6oVAgD7H/?utm_medium=tumblr

#dawnupshaw #diezauberflöte #madredeus (at Marblehead, Massachusetts) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKMML7GlrKs/?igshid=gpez78unadlx