Award Winner STEARNS MATTHEWS Announces Beechman Residency

MAC and Bistro Award-winning vocalist Stearns Matthews will perform four solo concerts at the Laurie Beechman Theatre in Manhattan on January 17 at 7pm, February 17 at 2pm, March 13 at 7pm, and April 4 at 7pm. The series, named #RESIDENCY, will feature two different shows.

The January performance will celebrate the release of Matthews' latest CD, the first-ever male recording of Tony Award-winning composer-lyricist Maury Yeston's (Nine, Grand Hotel, Titanic) song cycle, December Songs. Accompanied by Markus Grae-Hauck on piano, the evening will feature December Songs in its entirety, plus more of the lush, romantic words and music of Maury Yeston.

December Songs was commissioned by Carnegie Hall for its centenary season in 1991 for celebrated cabaret singer Andrea Marcovicci. Yeston set out to create a "modern equivalent" to the quintessential nineteenth-century song cycle Die Winterreise by Franz Schubert, which chronicles a young man wandering the Austiran forest, lamenting the end of a love affair. In December Songs, it was a young woman walking through present-day Central Park.

December Songs is currently available for purchase at stearnsmatthews.com/store as well as for digital download on iTunes, Amazon mp3, Google Music Store, and CDBaby.com.

February and April's shows will pay tribute to one of the greatest and most prolific songwriters of all time with GOLDEN TICKET: The Songs of Leslie Bricusse. Bricusse's extensive catalog includes Stop the World-I Want to Get Off, The Roar of the Greasepaint-The Smell of the Crowd, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Jekyll & Hyde. Matthews will be joined by longtime friend and collaborator, pianist Warren Helms.

On March 13th, Matthews will reprise, for one night only, his MAC Award-nominated show from 2016, Me and the GershTwins. Join him as he teams up with Adam and Matt Podd for a musical romp through the songs of George and Ira Gershwin. The twins will astonish you with their multi-instrumental talents and their imaginative, classic, and refreshing arrangements. Cabaret Scenes said of the show last year, “Beautiful singing by Stearns Matthews and terrific musicianship by Adam & Matt Podd honor the Gershwin legacy.”

Tickets for all performances are available at https://tinyurl.com/StearnsTix. There is a $20 cover and a $20 food/beverage minimum. MAC members pay only a $15 cover. The Laurie Beechman Theatre is located at 407 West 42nd Street (at Ninth Avenue), NYC.

Stearns Matthews is a New York City-based vocalist whose recent appearances include The Town Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Feinstein's/54 Below, and The Metropolitan Room. His critically acclaimed debut album Spark won the 2015 Bistro Award for Outstanding Recording as well as the LaMott/Friedman Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs Award for Outstanding Recording. He also won the 2015 MAC Award for Best Male Vocalist. Stearns is an alumnus of Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey.