Glen Roven, Peter Fitzgerald, and Richard Cohen are pleased to announce the formation of a new CD label, GPR Records, (www.GPRRecords.com) which will record and distribute Broadway, classical, spoken word, and children's music. GPR aims to surprise listeners with recordings that are both unusual and entertaining.
GPR Records' first release will be "Poetic License" featuring 100 poems read by 100 performers of the stage and screen. The CD will be released on April 2nd in celebration of National Poetry Month and will be available on Amazon.com and on itunes. There has never been a spoken word recording that has included so many performers reading such a wide variety of poetry, each selection a personal choice of the performer. GPR Records is presenting this collection in hopes of inspiring audiences with a new appreciation of the spoken word.
"I love poetry. I love reading it. I love memorizing it. I love hearing great actors recite it," said GPR Records artistic director Glen Roven. "In the past, I have had the audacity to set poetry to music. But, on this CD, the only music you will find is the music of the poems. Poetry unadorned. Great poetry needs nothing but a great actor with a voice as eloquent and expressive as the poem itself to lift the poem off the page and into the heart."
"It is very exciting to begin this new CD label with such a great group of people," said GPR Records CEO Peter Fitzgerald. "Our goal is to record new material, standards, and old favorites while giving audiences exposure to some amazing up-and-coming artists."
Chief financial officer Richard Cohen added, "We created GPR Records to add something special to the landscape. It is important for us to push boundaries with these unique compilations."
The list of poems and performers on "Poetic License" is as follows:
1. Jason Alexander (Robinson: Richard Cory)
2. Glen Seven Allen (Shakespeare: Sonnet 131)
3. Nancy Anderson (Blake: Mary)
4. Linda Balgord (Strand: Eating Poetry)
5. Christine Baranski (Shakespeare: How Happy Some)
6. James Barbour (Kipling: If)
7. Brent Barrett (Shakespeare: Sonnet 29 When In Distress)
8. John Belhamm (Shakespeare: Hang My Poems)
9. Reed Birney (Blanding: Some Lines Scrawled on a Door of a Vagabond's House)
10. Charles Busch (Browning: My Last Duchess)
11. Danny Burstein (Hayden: Those Winter Sundays)
12. Zoe Caldwell (Caldwell: On Behalf of Trees)
13. Ann Hampton Calloway (Rilke Sonnet 3 from Orpheus)
14. Alan Campbell (Lux: A Little Tooth)
15. Douglas Carpenter (Whitman: To What You Said)
16. Len Cariou (Shakespeare: Ye Elves)
17. Donna Lynne Champlin (Cadell: The Job Interview)
18. Philip Casnoff (Thomas: Fern Hill)
19. Michael Cerveris (Ondaatje: The Cinnamon Peeler)
20. Chuck Cooper (TBA)
21. Donald Corren (Poe: Annabel Lee)
22. Veanne Cox (Milton: Paradise Lost)
23. Tyne Daly (Auden: But I Can't))
24. Daniel Davis (Cavafy: Waiting for the Barbarians)
25. Paige Davis (Field: New Yorker)
26. Ed Dixon (co Producer) (Frost: Bearer of Evil Tidings
27. Mike Doyle (S.L. Johnson) Lovers on a Park Bench
28. Melissa Errico: (Kenyon: Otherwise)
29. Francesca Faridany (Rukeyser: Myth)
30. Barbara Feldon (Atwood: I Would Like to Watch You Sleeping)
31. Lauren Flanigan (Weinstein: Grosz)
32. Peter Friedman (Levertov: Psalm Concerning the Castle)
33. Penny Fuller (Lawrence: Terra Incognita)
34. David Garrison (Frost: Road Less Traveled)
35. Joanna Gleason (Neruda: Sonnet XVII)
36. Amanda Green (Carroll: You Are Old Father Williams)
37. Harriet Harris (Spice: Any Fool Can Get Into an Ocean)
38. RoxAnne Hart (Moore: Poetry)
39. Florence Henderson (Longfellow: The Day is Done)
40. Edward Hibbert (Bentjamin)
41. George S. Irving (Fearing: Elegy in a Theatrical Warehouse)
42. Dana Ivey (Henley: Invictus)
43. Beth Howland (Parker: Sympton Recital)
44. Moises Kauffman (Williams: Life Stories)
45. Cady Huffman (Taylor Mali: A Dog Named Bodhidsattva)
46. Byron Jennings (Yeats: When You Are Old and Grey)
47. Judy Kaye (cummings: I thank God for this...)
48. Lauren Kennedy (Stevens: The House was Quiet...)
49. Charles Kimbrough (Browning: Meet At Night)
50. Marc Kudisch (Frost: Fire and Ice)
51. Claire Lautier (Donne: A Valediction...)
52. Judith Light (Stoher: Soft Knife)
53. Patti LuPone (TBA)
54. Rebecaa Luker (Rosetti: Remember)
55. Ramona Mallory (Silverstein: The Nap-taker)
56. Jeff McCarthy (Collins: Conversion)
57. Carolyn McCormick (Millay: Dirge Without Music)
58. Roberta Maxwell (Stevie Smith: Not Waving But Drowning)
59. Kate Mulgrew (Dickinson: I Could Not Stop for Death)
60. Tom McGowan (Lawrence: Afternoon in School)
61. Keith McDermott (Yeats: Second Coming
62. Michael Minarek (Ammons: Beautiful Woman)
63. Julia Murney (TBA)
64. Cynthia Nixon (Milne: Vespers)
65. Diedre O'Connell (Harrison: Barking)
66. Cieran O'Reilly (Yeats: Cloths of Heaven)
67. Nancy Opel (Clampitt: The Sun Underfoot Among...)
68. Daniel Okulitch (Hoaglund: Self Improvement)
69. Patrick Page (Shakespeare: Our Revels)
70. Peter Paige (Anne Sexton)
71. Guy Paul (Marvell: To His Coy Mistress)
72. Michele Pawk (Karr: Last Love)
73. Dean Pitchford (Parker: Song of a Hopeful Heart)
74. Alice Playten (Kushner: An Undoing World)
75. Sam Robards (Bunan: Die While You're Alive)
76. John Rubinstein (Coleridge: Ancient Mariner)
77. Michael Rupert Ginsberg: A Supermarket in CA)
78. Chris Sarandon (Tennyson: Ulysses)
79. Lynn Sherr (Rich: Heroines)
80. Paul Schoeffler (Owens: Dulce et Decorum Est)
81. Matthew Schechter (Silverstein: The Poem Tester))
82. Emily Skinner (Millay: Love is not All)
83. Douglas Sills (Monette: Context)
84. Carole Shelley (Wordsworth: Composed Upon Westminster)
85. Bobby Steggart (Naruda: If You Forget Me)
86. James Patrick Stewart (Pinsky: Doctor Frolic)
87. Richard Thomas (Hopkins: Spring and Fall)
88. Maria Tucci (Yeats: A Prayer for My Daughter)
89. Kathleen Turner (Dorfman: Correspondence)
90. Harriet Walter (Hardy: The Walk)
91. Tony Walton (Cook: Blue Football)
92. Brenda Wehle (Hirshfield: Lake and Maple)
93. Chandler Williams (O'Hara: To The Harbour Master)
94. JoBeth Williams (Keats: When I have fears)
95. Geraint Wyn Davies (Thomas: In My Craft or Sullen...)
96. Michael York (Kipling: Tommy)
97. Chip Zien (Longfellow: Mezzo Cammin)
98. Catherine Zeta-Jones
99. Louis Zorich (Tennyson: Crossing the Bar)
100. Alan Campbell (Lux: A Little Tooth)
101. Gregory Jbara (Shakespeare: Bottom's Dream)
102. Michael Learned (Millay: An Ancient Gesture)
103. Paul Provenza (Justice: Men at Forty)
"Poetic License" will be released on April 2nd and will be available on Amazon.com and itunes.
Future recordings for GPR Records include:
GOODNIGHT MOON / RUNAWAY BUNNY
· This will be a live recording of a MOTHER'S CONCERT in Central Park and will feature The InterSchool Orchestra Performing Live.
· These are two highly acclaimed new concert pieces for children written by GPR Artistic Director Glen Roven.
· Margaret Wise Brown wrote the original books for Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny which have been in print for 60 years and annually sell more than 2 million copies.
· The concert celebrates Ms. Brown's 100th Birthday.
· Stars will be announced to Narrate and Sing. For more information, visit: runawaybunnyconcerto.com
Daniel Okulitch
· Classical album for Baritone Daniel Okulitch (recently Don Giovanni at New York City Opera)
· The album will be a celebration of the new American art songs.
· Composers include: Ricky Ian Gordon, Jake Heggie and Lowell Leiberman.
THE GREAT NEW YORK PIANISTS: New York State of Mind
· The great pianists of New York City doing what they do best.
· Featuring Dick Hyman, Lee Musiker, Robbie Kandor and many others.
· Never before heard compilation of pianists on the same CD for the first time.
BIOS
Peter Fitzgerald Founding partner in GPR Records, a new recording company devoted to classic and unexpected works. Peter is a noted Broadway sound designer represented currently by, Looped and All About Me. A prolific designer including last season's: Will Farrell's Your Welcome America, Blithe Spirit, Speed the Plow, and such past designs as: New York Philharmonic's production of My Fair Lady, in 2006 and Camelot in 2007. Billy Joel's Movin' Out, La Cage Aux Folles, Victor/Victoria with Julie Andrews, City of Angels, Gypsy, Falsettos, Paul Simon's The Capeman, The Will Rogers Follies, Swing, Minnelli on Minnelli with Liza, Dream, Threepenny Opera with Sting, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas to name a few. Noted plays: The Odd Couple, M. Butterfly, Stones in His Pockets, The Beauty Queen of Leenane and A Thousand Clowns. Peter is President and co-owner of Sound Associates, Inc a premier provider of sound and video systems to the theater and business community with locations is New York, Yonkers, and Atlanta. He was instrumental in developing the recording studio at the New York location, home of GPR Records. Peter and his wife, Maritza, are the proud parents of daughters Lori and Mallori.
Glen Roven, a four-time Emmy winner, recently conducted his Violin Concerto at Carnegie Hall and will accompany Baritone Mark Stone this season at Carnegie when Stone performs a full evening of Roven's music. He has conducted The Israel Philharmonic, the National Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, The Munich Philharmonic, The Radio Luxembourg Orchestra, The American Symphony, as well as many others. He has produced for Julie Andrews, Kathleen Battle, Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming, Aretha Franklin, Kenny G., Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Quincy Jones, Kermit the Frog, Patti LaBelle, Liza Minnelli, Diana Ross to name a few. Career highlights include conducting the original Broadway production of Sugar Babies, conducting four Presidential Inaugurations, conducting Frank Sinatra's last television appearance and Sammy Davis Jr,'s last televised appearance. Next season sees the debut of his Broadway musical, Dr. Seuss's The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.
Richard Cohen has over forty years in technical theater, film and television. He has worked for the Metropolitan Opera and on Broadway, from Company in 1970 to Smokey Joe's Cafe in 2000. His film credits include, among others "Billy Bathgate" and "The Thomas Crown Affair." He has also done commercials for every brand of detergent on the market. His television credits include soaps, news, and variety shows. Outside the biz, he has developed real estate in New Jersey. Richards daughter Alison is pursuing a career in the fine arts in Boston
For More Information, Visit: www.GPRRecords.com
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