2023
Festival of
American Song
with NYC cabaret legend, Steve Ross
July 21-22
"The suavest of all male cabaret performers."
- New York Times
A Rare West Coast Engagement
Dubbed the “Crown Prince of New York cabaret,” Steve Ross has played in virtually all of the world’s fabled clubs from New York and London to Sydney and São Paolo and is widely considered one of the greatest interpreters of Broadway and American standards. From Carnegie Hall to Lincoln Center and from cabarets to theaters around the globe, Steve is a National Treasure.
July 21 - Summer Soirée Fundraiser
6-8pm
You are cordially invited to a special Summer Soirée fundraising event in support of Whidbey's Saratoga Orchestra. Hosted at a private residence overlooking Puget Sound, this intimate gathering with light nosh & wine, will feature Festival of American Song's special guest, Steve Ross. Revel in the music & stories of a bygone era as Steve recounts his legendary career in the cabaret business.
July 22 - FAS Performance Masterclass
Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, Langley
10:30-3:30pm
A unique opportunity to explore the art of storytelling through song and gaining a deeper meaning to the music and lyrics. Suited for professional performers and enthusiastic amateurs.
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July 22 - Steve Ross in Concert
Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, 7:00 pm
$45 General Admission
Described as "Scrumptiously sophisticated", legendary cabaret artist, singer/pianist Steve Ross, pays musical tribute to some of America’s greatest composers. One of the foremost interpreters of Cole Porter, Noel Coward and the Great American Songbook, his performances invoke the elegant style and wicked wit of the era.
A performance you won't want to miss.
ABOUT
International cabaret and concert performer Steve Ross brings his sophisticated touch, delicious sense of humor and heartfelt ballads together in his programs. As a major proponent of the Great American Songbook, his repertoire encompases the songs by the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Noel Coward and others.
Steve has been a fixture of the cabaret community in Manhattan for over 40 years. He was born 45 minutes from Broadway in New Rochelle, NY and raised in Washington, DC by an opera-loving father and a mother who played the songs of Gershwin, Porter and Irving Berlin on the piano. His first major job in New York was as a successful singer/pianist at the now famous piano bar, Ted Hook’s Backstage.
In 1980, Steve re-opened the legendary Oak Room at Manhattan’s famed Hotel Algonquin. There, he held forth off and on for more than 15 years. Theatrically, Steve has appeared on Broadway with Frank Langella in Noel Coward’s Present Laughter and off-Broadway in his tribute to Fred Astaire entitled, I Won’t Dance. Ross made a cameo appearance as himself in the 1988 fantasy-comedy film Big. Internationally, he has performed in London, Paris, Tokyo, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Melbourne, and Sydney and performed in cabarets and theatres across North America and on the high seas.
Steve has hosted programs on the BBC and NPR, and was on the lecture/performance roster at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for eight years. His last show at the Algonquin Hotel, Puttin’ on the Ritz – the Songs of Fred Astaire, prompted Stephen Holden of the New York Times to describe Steve as “the personification of the bygone dream world that his music summons.”
