9/6/2023
Performances and Artists
Singer-Pianist Tony DeSare to Perform Hits by Billy Joel, The Beatles and More on Sept. 30
Chart-topping singer-pianist Tony DeSare knows how he built his worldwide fanbase: by never second-guessing himself.
After earning a business degree from Ithaca College, for instance, the lifelong musician didn’t question moving to New York City to chase a music career instead.
“I don’t know if I’d have the guts to do that again,” laughs DeSare, who has headlined at Carnegie Hall and collaborated with global music sensation Postmodern Jukebox. “I was barely scraping by for so long.”
Luckily, his satin-smooth vocals, rollicking piano stylings and charismatic personality drew attention.
He eventually landed a starring role in a musical about Frank Sinatra at the legendary Birdland Jazz Club.
“I got to see the best jazz acts in the world every night, and I learned so much,” DeSare says, adding that featured bands played after his show. “It taught me how to evolve from just a musician playing in a bar, to actually putting on a show where people buy tickets.”
He applied those lessons artfully, soon earning a record deal, securing four Top 10 Billboard jazz albums, and performing on national broadcasts with CBS’ “The Early Show,” NPR, the “Today Show” and more.
He looks forward to performing solo on piano, he says, which gives him the versatility to take requests and entertain the audience with banter and humor.
“I want (audiences) to feel like they’re in my living room and I just invited them to hang out and have a party,” DeSare says. “I want them to feel cozy, and like anything could happen.”
Performing with Top Symphonies Worldwide
DeSare has found an epic way to build his sound, he says — by performing with over 100 symphonies worldwide, including the New York Pops and the Chicago Symphony.
“I feel like it’s what I was most destined to do,” says DeSare, who also plays violin. “My favorite music is the classic pop of the ‘50s and 60s, and those songs were filled with strings, woodwinds, trumpets, trombones, saxophones. So I get to hear my arrangements played (in that style) by the best orchestras in the country.”
On the opposite end of the performance spectrum, he’s garnered a widespread following through his online video diary project, which he began during the pandemic.
He’s recorded himself performing over 300 songs, with some of the most popular videos paying homage to Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra.
“It’s amazing how far it’s reached,” he says. “At every show that I’ve done since I got back on the road, somebody comes up after and thanks me because it helped get them through the pandemic. We both tear up, because it got me through, too.”
An Intimate, Spontaneous Show
DeSare favorite performances are his solo shows, which always prove playful and impromptu.
He chose the iconic songs for his upcoming show simply because he considers them fantastic tunes that he can adapt to his own style, he adds.
“I don’t try to recreate the same arrangement of a Billy Joel song. I like to give it my own twist,” he explains. “A great song with a strong melody and lyrics you can do as a ballad, as a bossa nova, as a swing. So that’s what I look for.”
He predicts these electrifying arrangements, along with his lighthearted audience interaction, will keep listeners hooked.
“It’s a very intimate thing to sit at a piano and play for people,” he says. “I can take the show wherever I want to go.”