Kate Baldwin is a two-time Tony Award and four-time Drama Desk Award nominee. Broadway: Hello, Dolly! (Irene Molloy), Big Fish (Sandra Bloom), Finian’s Rainbow (Sharon McLonergan), Wonderful Town (Helen Wade), The Full Monty, Thoroughly Modern Millie. Off-Broadway: Giant (Public), John & Jen (Keen), Superhero (2ST). Theatre: Arena Stage, Old Globe, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Huntington Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Group, Goodspeed Opera House. TV: NBC Law & Order: SVU; PBS Live From Lincoln Center: Stephen Sondheim’s Passion, First You Dream: The Music of Kander & Ebb; Disney+ Just Beyond. Concerts: 54 Below, Feinstein’s, Birdland, American Songbook at Lincoln Center.

Tony Award nominee, Emmy winner, and newly-minted GRAMMY nominee Liz Callaway made her Broadway debut in Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along. She went on to star in Baby, Miss Saigon, The Look of Love, The Three Musketeers, and for five years appeared as Grizabella in Cats. Liz sang the Academy Award-nominated song “Journey to the Past” in the animated feature Anastasia. Other film work includes Jasmine in the two Aladdin sequels, The Swan Princess, and The Rewrite with Hugh Grant. Her extensive concert career has included appearances in London, Paris, Australia, and nearly every major city in the U.S. She performs regularly with her sister Ann Hampton Callaway, as well as composer Stephen Schwartz, and has had the pleasure of singing with Jimmy Webb, Paul Williams, and the legendary Johnny Mathis. The GRAMMY-nominated To Steve With Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim marks her eighth solo recording.

Deniz Cordell has worked in various capacities for his friends David Shire and Richard Maltby, Jr. since 2015. Several of his arrangements and orchestrations have been performed by Closer Than Ever: The Unique Six-Decade Songwriting Partnership… author Joshua Rosenblum and his orchestra, The Pit Stop Players—some of them here at Symphony Space. He is delighted to be a part of this evening celebrating David, Richard, and Joshua, as well as their work. Deniz has worked Off-Broadway and internationally as a musical director, conductor, arranger, writer, composer/lyricist, and pianist, and he also works in film music advocacy and restoration. He is an associate producer and liner note writer for various record labels, as well as a one-time Jeopardy! loser.

Daniel Jenkins has been lucky enough to work with Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire on a number of projects on Broadway, at Sundance, the O’Neill, and in concert venues in NYC. Broadway: Oslo, Golden Boy, Billy Elliot, Mary Poppins, Wrong Mountain, Big (Drama Desk nomination), Angels in America, Big River (2003/1985 Tony, Drama Desk nominations). Recent Off-Broadway: The Connector at MCC, Golden Shield, Something Clean, To Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday, Oslo, Travels with My Aunt, Stage Kiss, Paris Commune (Civilians Associate Artist), Sex Lives of Our Parents, Benefactors, Love Child (co-written w/ Robert Stanton). Composer/performer of Feast Here Tonight at the Vineyard Theatre. Daniel co-wrote and performed Borrowed Cash, a multi-media theatre/concert with Melissa van der Schyff in New York and Cambridge. Film: Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman. For Robert Altman: O.C. and Stiggs, Tanner’ 88, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial. Also, Cradle Will Rock, Glory, In Country, Five Corners. Recent TV: The Watcher, City on a Hill, Blacklist, New Amsterdam.

Joanne Lessner was seen most recently as Josephine in the Blue Hill Troupe’s 100th anniversary production of H.M.S. Pinafore, her thirteenth role for the company. Other NY credits include Broadway’s Cyrano–The Musical, the York Theatre Company’s Milk and Honey (Mrs. Segal), The Old Majestic with NY City Opera VOX (Nora), and Sweeney Todd at Teatro LaTea (Mrs. Lovett). Regional faves: Mamma Mia (Rosie) and Falsettos (Trina) at Weston Playhouse; Pirates of Penzance (Mabel) and A Little Music (Anne) at Skylight Opera; Amadeus (Constanze) at Wayside Theatre. Joanne has published five novels and is the librettist of seven musicals with music by her husband, newly-minted author Joshua Rosenblum, with whom she shares a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Lyrics (Einstein’s Dreams, Prospect Theater Company). “Crossword Puzzle” was the first song they ever performed together.

Richard Maltby, Jr. Broadway: Conceived and directed two Tony Award-winning Best Musicals: Ain't Misbehavin' (1978, Tony Award for Best Director) and Fosse (1999). Director/lyricist: Baby (1983, Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Score); director/co-lyricist: Song & Dance (1986, Tony Award for Bernadette Peters); co-lyricist: Miss Saigon (London 1990 and New York 1991, Tony nomination for Best Musical, Evening Standard Award, Best Musical); lyricist: Big (1996 and London 2019, Tony nomination for Best Musical Score); conceiver/director: Ring of Fire, (2006); co-lyricist: The Pirate Queen (2007); director: The Story of My Life (2009). Off-Broadway: director/lyricist Starting Here, Starting Now (1977, GRAMMY nomination); Closer Than Ever, (1989, revival 2013, Outer Critics Circle Award: Best Revival of a Musical). Regional: Lyricist: Take Flight (London 2010; Princeton 2012); book and lyrics, Waterfall (Pasadena and Seattle 2015; Bangkok, 2023); Film: screenplay, Miss Potter (2007, Christopher Award, Best Original Screenplay, Golden Globe nomination for Renée Zellweger). Five children: Nicholas, David, Jordan, Emily, and Charlotte.

Broadway: Prince of Broadway; Book of Mormon; After Midnight; The Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess; Ragtime (revival). Off Broadway/NY: A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet (DR2); Promenade (Encores); Candide (Carnegie Hall); Grapes of Wrath (MasterVoices); Running Man (American Songbook); NY Philharmonic’s Showboat and Sweeney Todd (Live From Lincoln Center). National Tours: Falsettos (Dr. Charlotte). Concerts: New York Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra (Bernstein’s MASS), Jacksonville Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, 92Y L&L. Regional: Sweeney Todd (Signature) Helen Hayes Nomination; Life After (Goodman) Jeff Award Nomination; Sister Act (Muny); Sound of Music (Muny) DAVE (Arena Stage) Helen Hayes Nomination; The Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess (American Repertory Theatre); Ragtime (Kennedy Center); Civil War (Networks); HAIR (Sacramento Music Circus); Dreamgirls (NorthShore); Little Shop of Horrors (Berkshire Theatre Group), and many more! Television: SpongeBob Musical LIVE; Madame Secretary; Showboat and Sweeney Todd Live From Lincoln Center for PBS (Emmy); 66th/68th Annual Tony Awards; The Today Show. Upcoming: How to Die Alone; Long Bright River. Twitter/Instagram: @BryonhaMarie

Christiane Noll received Tony Award® and Drama Desk nominations, winning a Helen Hayes Award for Mother in the revival of Ragtime. She starred in the First National Tour of Dear Evan Hansen (BWWLA award) and took over the role of Cynthia Murphy on Broadway. She made her Broadway debut as Emma in Jekyll & Hyde, receiving a FANY award. Ms. Noll received her second Drama Desk nomination for her work in Chaplin on Broadway. She was seen as Sister Margaretta in NBC’s The Sound of Music Live with Carrie Underwood and supplied the singing-voice of Anna in the animated The King & I. She was also on Broadway in Elf (at Madison Square Garden), It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues, and on tour in Urinetown (Ovation Award), The Mambo Kings, Grease!, Miss Saigon, and City of Angels. Her favorites include Next to Normal (CCC award), Follies (St. Louis Critics Circle award), Closer Than Ever (Off-Broadway Alliance Award), Little Shop of Horrors, Into the Woods, and 1776. Film/TV: Madam Secretary, Law & Order: SVU, The Good Fight, Law & Order: Organized Crime, The Bite. She has been a frequent guest soloist with symphony orchestras worldwide and released five solo CDs.

Joshua Rosenblum is a pianist, conductor, composer/lyricist, orchestrator, university professor, music critic, and, with the publication of Closer Than Ever: The Unique Six-Decade Songwriting Partnership of Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire, a first-time author. As composer/lyricist, he wrote the scores to the Off-Broadway musicals Bush Is Bad, Fermat’s Last Tango, and Einstein’s Dreams (four Drama Desk nominations), the latter two in collaboration with his wife, singer/librettist/author Joanne Sydney Lessner. Recordings of his instrumental music include Impetuosities—Music of Joshua Rosenblum and Sundry Notes, both available from Albany Records. He has conducted fourteen Broadway and Off-Broadway shows and has performed as a pianist with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and the Encores! Orchestra at New York City Center. He can also be heard playing piano on the GRAMMY-winning recording of the hit 2022 Broadway revival of Into the Woods. A long-time contributor of reviews and feature articles to Opera News, Joshua is a graduate of Yale College and the Yale School of Music. He now teaches Composing for Musical Theater at Yale and Conducting at NYU. His next book for Oxford University Press will be about Broadway composer/lyricist Maury Yeston.

An Oscar and GRAMMY winner and multiple Tony and Emmy nominee, David Shire has composed prolifically for the theater, film, television and recordings. Broadway: Baby, Big. Off-Broadway: Starting Here, Starting Now, Closer Than Ever, The Sap of Life, Urban Blight. Regional: How Do You Do, I Love You, Take Flight, Sousaztska, and Waterfall. Numerous film scores include Norma Rae (Academy Award, Best Song), The Conversation, All the President’s Men, The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, Zodiac, Return to Oz, and Saturday Night Fever (two GRAMMYs). His many television scores have earned five Emmy nominations. His songs have been recorded by Barbra Streisand, Melissa Manchester, Jennifer Warnes, Billy Preston and Syreeta, Glen Campbell, Kiri Te Kawana, Julie Andrews, and Patti LuPone, among many others. Recently, he was one of three composers commissioned by the Abu Dhabi Abrahamic Family House to compose a three-movement Symphony of Three: Peace, Love, Tolerance for chorus and orchestra. It was premiered at the Abu Dhabi annual arts festival last year and celebrated the completion of its new three-sanctuary interfaith complex. He is a member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild of America.