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Hershey Felder

Hershey Felder (born July 9, 1968) is a Canadian pianist, actor, playwright, composer, producer, and director. He created (as playwright, actor, and pianist) the role of American composer George Gershwin for the theatrical stage in the stage play George Gershwin Alone. Combining the craft of acting and concert-level piano performance, George Gershwin Alone was followed by the creation of the role of Fryderyk Chopin, the Polish composer/pianist, the roles of Ludwig van Beethoven and Gerhard von Breuning in Beethoven, As I Knew Him, Leonard Bernstein in Maestro Bernstein, Franz Liszt in Musik, and Irving Berlin in Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin. These works comprise "The Composer Sonata."To date, Felder has appeared before the paying public with his Sonata as well as in theatre roles and concerts for more than 4700 performances. Felder has acknowledged that he will continue his theatrical one-man format with stories reaching further than just the art of classical music, and will also include his own compositions.As director, Felder premiered award-winning concert pianist Mona Golabek in The Pianist of Willesden Lane. The acclaimed one-woman show is Felder's adaptation of The Children of Willesden Lane, written by Golabek and Lee Cohen.Of Felder’s compositions, Noah’s Ark, an Opera has been performed with members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. His Aliyah Concerto on Israeli Themes for piano and orchestra has been performed in Canada and in the United States. The Suite Les Anges de Paris for violin and piano, Etudes Thématiques, as well as Song Settings (the poetry of Vachel Lindsay) have been performed on and recorded by the WFMT Radio Network in Chicago. In September 2010, An American Story was recorded with the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra, composed of members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra, and conducted by Alan Heatherington.In October 2014, American Theatre Magazine referred to Felder as a "one-man cottage industry" for whom quality is paramount in that he feels a responsibility to his audience. Currently, Felder is the President of Eighty-Eight Entertainment, a music-based production company, producing new performance works worldwide. He is married to Kim Campbell, the former Prime Minister of Canada.