Kate Baldwin, Melissa Errico and More to be Featured on OUT OF MYSELF – SONGS OF PETER FOLEY

CENTER STAGE RECORDS will release Out of Myself – Songs of Peter Foley in streaming and digital formats on Friday, July 25. A rising musical theater composer and lyricist praised by The New Yorker for his “gift for sinuous, haunting melody and surprising musical shapes,” Foley tragically passed away before his work achieved widespread public recognition. He nonetheless left behind an undiscovered trove of beautifully sweeping songs, overflowing with soaring melodies, that blend Broadway and classical art song with widespread influences from folk to soul. His honors included the NEA New American Works grant, the Richard Rodgers Award, and Jonathan Larson Foundation Award, among many others. Stephen Sondheim – an early mentor of Foley – called him “among the best of his generation at setting lyrics and writing music that evokes character and mood.” The album will be available for pre-order later this month.
 
Recorded live at a tribute concert at the New York venue Peter Norton Symphony Space in 2023, this special collection of music features an array of vocal talent from Tony Award-nominated Broadway stars to crossover luminaries from the opera world, supported by an 9-member musical ensemble and a 19-member chorus. Out of Myself – Songs of Peter Foley will continue to build on the legacy of a voice ripe to be discovered by new generations of music lovers.
 
The digital booklet includes complete lyrics and essays by Kate Chisholm, Executive Director of the Peter Foley Music Project, and Grammy Award winner Rob Berman, who serves as music supervisor and conductor for the album. Out of Myself – Songs of Peter Foley is produced by Kate Chisholm, Rob Berman, and Pete Karam, with Peter Foley Music Project and Van Dean serving as executive producers. Out of Myself features the lyrics of Marion Adler, Carl R. Brush, Mark Campbell, Adam Gopnik, Matthew Heimer, Ellen McLaughlin, and Foley himself.
 
The cast features Shereen Ahmed (My Fair Lady at LCT), Kate Baldwin (Tony Award nominee), Mikaela Bennett (Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists), Max Chernin (Parade), Eisa Davis (Obie Award winner), Melissa Errico (Tony Award nominee), Manoel Felciano (Tony Award nominee), Ashley Pérez Flanagan (Great Comet of 1812), Jason Gotay (Floyd Collins), Marya Grandy (Drama Desk nominee), Darron Hayes (Kimberly Akimbo), Christian Probst (The Book of Mormon), Sam Simahk (See What I Wanna See), and Michael Winther (Flying Over Sunset).
 
In his short lifetime, Foley created a remarkable body of work, including five full-length musicals and a short operetta – each vastly different from the others in subject matter, tone, and musical style – as well as art and cabaret songs, choral pieces, and instrumental scores for plays and television. Yet only one of the musicals, The Hidden Sky, had a professional premiere and only two songs were commercially released: “To Sing,” introduced by Michael Winther in Songs from an Unmade Bed, and “On Vit, On Aime,” which Melissa Errico debuted on her celebrated album Out of the Dark: The Film Noir Project. Both numbers are revisited by the original artists on this new live recording.
 
The Out of Myself chorus includes Bobby Barksdale, Elyse Bell, Landan Berlof, Kat Capili, Jordan Collins, Julianna Braga, Nour Habbash, Gabriela Hernandez, Charlotte Kunesh, Jadon Lopez, Asher Muldoon, Michael Protacio, Izzy Ramirez, David Rowen, Chandler Sinks, Grayson Todd, Maria Tramontozzi, Matthew Weatherhead, and Yemie Woo.
 
The band features Meg Zervoulis Bate on piano, Kiku Enomoto on violin, Katherine Cherbas on cello, Jeremy Clayton and Greg  Riley on reeds, Marc Schmied on bass, Matt SanGiovanni on guitar, Barry Spatz on keyboard, and Dan Berkery on percussion, with additional performances on piano by Rob Berman and Joseph Thalken, where noted.