Concerts for City Greens Features Neil Sedaka, Amanda McBroom and More, May-October 2012

Concerts for City Greens is dedicating four of this summer's free, outdoor concerts to the music of its illustrious song contest judges. The award-winning series, that brings the sounds of music to heart of Midtown, will showcase Amanda McBroom (May 30), Neil Sedaka (August 1), Ann Hampton Callaway (September 12) and Michael John LaChuisa (October 3). These four – plus David Friedman and Matthew Parillo – are serving as judges for the first Concerts for City Greens Songwriting Contest. (The quadruple-platinum songwriter and Today Show regular David Friedman provided the theme of last summer's concert finale, and Matthew Parillo, a two-time Emmy Award-winning MTV Networks executive, has yet to begin his songwriting career.)

The fifth edition of the summer series, whose mission is to increase audiences for live music in New York while promoting sensitive stewardship of New York's privately owned public green spaces, will also present the songs of its eight semifinalist songwriters. The songs, all of which celebrate the different roles green spaces play in the lives of New Yorkers, will be performed -- two per concert -- by prominent guest artists from the worlds of Broadway, jazz, cabaret and classical music.

The eight songwriters include the two-time Grammy nominee Larry Kerchner; prominent indy Judy Kellersberger; rising musical theatre writer and actor Will Reynolds, and the award-winning, Houston-based singer-songwriter Kristine Mills. Among the newcomers are the songwriting duo of Benjamin Bonnema and AriAnna Rose, who graduate from NYU's Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program in May; the Brooklyn-based songwriting collective Inland Traveler (consisting of Katie Locke, Lucas Madrazo and Gerald Edward), and a music educator from Georgia, Lauren McCall. Veteran tunesmith Charles Bloom penned a song with a Los Angeles-based playwright, Karl Gadjusek, in their first collaboration.

At the conclusion of the summer series, three songs, chosen through a combination of online and jury voting, will move forward to the final round. The contest culminates with a special concert at Feinstein's at the Loews Regency, in the fall or winter of 2012. (TBA)

The Broadway actress and singer Raissa Katona Bennett hosts and produces Concerts for City Greens (formerly The Concerts for Tudor City Greens). All of the concerts to date have taken place at Tudor City Greens, one of a select number of privately maintained public spaces in New York City. Bennett won the 2010 Bistro and 2011 MAC Award for hosting "The Concerts at Tudor City Greens."

The concerts take place at the South Park of Tudor City Greens Park (between 41st & 42nd Streets, and 1st & 2nd Avenues) on the following Wednesdays at 6:30pm: May 30, June 20, August 1, September 12 and October 3. (The rain dates for this summer's concerts are the following days, all at 6:30pm.) For more information visit www.raissakatonabennett.com.