Steve Pollack

Steve Pollack is a lecturer for various groups and organizations in the greater Philadelphia/New York area for 30 years. He is on the faculties of Temple University Continuing Education and Upper Dublin Library. He is a featured speaker for universities, community groups, community organizations, private functions, and retirement homes on a wide variety of subjects and topics. He presents topics ranging from history of the arts, literature and music to history, current events and politics - and often does programs on specialty events and entertainment that include live performance. He has appeared as a performer, singer and director with local and regional theater and opera companies from Los Angeles to Boston, appearing as an actor or in leading baritone or tenor roles in opera, concert programs, and musical theater.  He was one of the original members of Peter Nero’s Voices of the Pops and often appeared as a soloist in the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival in Wilmington, DE.  He performs jazz, pop, R&B, Rock and Roll and standards in concert, restaurant and cabaret settings, and produced/directed many concert/performance events. He has performed at the Walnut Street Theater, Merriam Theater, Kimmel Center and Academy of Music and was a regular at the Renaissance Hotel Downtown, in Center City, Philadelphia for many years.

Steve’s program offerings include:

• Entertainment as a single performer with tracks or as a performer with a live accompanist, singing partner, or band. Steve can provide a wide range of musical styles including standards, pop, rock, jazz, musical theater and opera, as well as sing-along programs and strolling musicians

• Lecture programs:

  • Music and the Brain – This talk is an exploration of the profound physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual connections that we have to music. Music and sound have a deep connection to us that provide more than just entertainment value. Our brains are hard-wired for sound, and we have physical and emotional responses that make us want to move, cry, respond to therapy, heal faster, and unite us as communities in many recognized ways.

  • Impressionism and Surrealism – Investigate the roots of Impressionist art, music, and poetry, with live performance of music and poetry as well as discussion of the major artists, composers, and poets involved in the Impressionist movement

  • American Operetta – The Road to Show Boat – An overview of the roots of American musical theater starting from its European beginnings, looking at George M. Cohan, Rudolf Friml, Victor Herbert, and events leading to the production of Show Boat, which changed the Broadway show style and gave us what we know today as the musical

  • The Musical Comedians – The role of comedy/parody in music and how music plays a role in moving ideas, from The Beggar’s Opera to Offenbach, Gilbert & Sullivan, Allen Sherman, Tom Lehrer, and many more

• Cabaret-style performances of opera or Broadway music

• Ballroom or swing dance programs, with demonstrations of ballroom or swing styles of dance including waltz, tango, foxtrot, lindy, West Coast swing, night club two-step and other types of partner dance

Please contact On Demand! for Steve’s full list of engaging programs, performances, and lectures.