Composer James Adler is a man of many parts. A Curtis Institute graduate, Adler may

Composer James Adler is a man of many parts. A Curtis Institute graduate, Adler may be best known for his Memento mori – An AIDS Requiem yet he is constantly creating. A master of many styles, James Adler has created a collection of art songs “That Star in the Picture” that is his latest release. Adler has written an album of love songs to vocal music in both the classical tradition of art songs as well as for musicals. The musicians on the album are a Who’s Who from Broadway, the Metropolitan Opera and Cabaret – and among my favorites are Michael Buchanan’s “Beautiful Garden”, the charming “Growing” with Kennedy Kanagawa. Chief among my favorites is “”Hope” is the thing with feathers” sung by Perry Sook. Adler has set the familiar Emily Dickinson poem as a paean our own Bruce-Michael Gelbert. At the time Adler set it, he did so to both honor and encourage Bruce-Michael who was battling a deadly illness, a battle he ultimately lost. Adler relates the joy of singing through it with him and what it meant to share it with him in person.

Get your copy of “That Star in the Picture” wherever fine music is sold.