GOODY GOODY Presents GIRL POWER Concerts, 5/18 & 20

Goody Goody, the American Classics resident female vocal trio of Valerie Anastasio, Mary Ann Lanier (Somerville) and Heather Peterson, with pianist Robert Humphreville, performs a unique concert saluting the popular girl groups of American popular music, from the jazzy stylings of the Boswell Sisters, the tight harmony of the Andrews Sisters, the 50s sounds of The McGuire Sisters and the Chordettes, and the classic ensembles of the 60s with the Shirelles and The Supremes, through to the Roches and solo singers like Carole King. Featured hit songs include Bei Mir Bist Du Schön, Lollipop, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?, I'll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time, On the Atcheson, Topeka, and the Santa Fe, and Baby Love. Performances are tonight, May 18 at 7:30pm at Pickman Concert Hall of the Longy School of Music, 27 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts and Sunday, May 20 at 3 pm at Follen Community Church, 755 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, Massachusetts. Tickets are $25; $20 students/seniors. Call 617-254-1125 or order online at www.amclass.org.

In the 2009-2010 American Classics season three of the group's regular singers came together to form an Andrews Sisters-style vocal trio of women, Goody, Goody! Mary Ann Lanier, Valerie Anastasio and Heather Peterson, with Robert Humphreville on piano, gave their first performances in a show saluting Johnny Mercer. That show was a highlight of that season and their popularity brought them back for another acclaimed program, a salute to Frank Loesser in 2010-2011. They were also featured in the one hundredth birthday concert for Alexander's Ragtime Band. With the success of those concerts, it was inevitable that they present a show dedicated to America's girl groups.

Mary Ann Lanier, founding member and producing director of American Classics, performs operas, oratorios, musicals, recitals, improvised music, and she particularly enjoys singing American music. The Boston Globe wrote of her, "Lanier's soprano soars and she boasts excellent diction." A versatile artist, Lanier's work ranges from movie soundtrack recordings to a showcase at the pop/rock music industry festival, South by Southwest (Austin, TX) to singing Zarzuela roles with the Jarvis Zarzuela Festival (Napa, CA). She has sung with Opera Aperta, Masterworks Chorale, Fine Arts Chorale, Raylynmor Opera, Opera to Go, New Opera Theater Ensemble, Boston Vocal Artists, and the MIT Wind Ensemble. A founding member of the American Classics concert series, Mary Ann earned the Bachelor of Music degree at Oberlin College and the Master of Music degree at Boston University. She has served on the music faculties of Tufts University, Wellesley College, and MIT. Lanier has been heard on WGBH radio, WERS radio, the Lifetime Channel on television, and WGBH television. In addition to her busy performing schedule, Lanier teaches voice at Groton School in Groton, MA, New England Conservatory Preparatory DivisioninBoston, MA, and, at her home atop Prospect Hill in Somerville, MA. She joined the music faculty of Bridgewater State College in September, 2007.

Robert Humphreville enjoys a full-time career as an organist, pianist, composer and music teacher. Mr. Humphreville has appeared in several American Classics concerts includingBack in the Saddle: More Songs of the Great American West. Recent achievements include creating the movie soundtrack for the independent film, The Windmill Movie. Equally at home with both popular and classical music, he accompanies silent movies and has been singled out by the Boston Globe several times for his inventive improvisations. Humphreville is a graduate of Harvard University.

Valerie Anastasio performs in cabaret venues throughout the greater Boston area and New England with pianist Tim Harbold. The duo also appears with Benjamin Sears and Bradford Conner in Noël & Cole - Together with Music (songs of Noël Coward and Cole Porter), and Fred & Ethel - Great Songs of Astaire and Merman, two critically-acclaimed original revues that have drawn capacity audiences to area venues in Boston, New York, and greater New England. Anastasio appears regularly with American Classics in both concerts as a featured singer/actress in their concert musicals. Anastasio is featured on four recordings: Saving Daylight Time - New American Songs (Albany Records, Troy 343), Noël & Cole - Together with Music (Oakton Recordings ORCD1001), Fred & Ethel - Great Songs of Astaire and Merman (Oakton Recordings ORCD1002), and Everybody Step – Irving Berlin's Music Box Revues (Oakton Recordings ORCD 0008), and she has recently recorded Marching Along With Time – Irving Berlin Songs, 1935-1945 (Oakton Recordings ORCD 0010) with Harbold and Sears & Conner, due for release in April, 2012.

Heather Peterson, has appeared with American Classics in Recognize the Tune, Up Close and Presidential, and Irving Berlin's Music Box Theater Revue, along with the three appearances of Goody Goody. She most recently performed as a soloist with the Spokane Opera on the West Coast in their 25th Anniversary Concert. She has soloed with the Borromeo String Quartet and the New England Contemporary Ensemble in Boston's Jordan Hall. Ms. Peterson is a graduate of Whitworth College and received her Masters Degree from the New England Conservatory of Music.

American Classics is the only Boston-area musical organization dedicated solely to the works of American composers. Recent concerts include Fabulous Fenway, an acclaimed salute to Boston's beloved ballpark on the occasion of its one hundredth anniversary in 2012, and a program of songs from the Civil War Era. Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe described the American Classics concerts as "delightful and informative, casual in atmosphere but professional in attention to musical and stylistic detail".

For further information about this exciting concert and American Classics, American Classics at 617-254-1125 or ac@amclass.org. Be sure to visit the website, www.amclass.org.

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