Another year’s Irish celebration is the third feature of Matthew J. Lorenz’s YEAR of Cabaret! No need to beware the Ides of March. Instead we welcome the coming of spring with bonnie songs and mirth. Featuring some cabaret songs by Bolcolm, Sinatra standards, and even a drinking song or two, this show and Mr. Fitzwater will leave you with plenty of festive feeling to make it through the emerald weekend. And, let’s face it, we’re just trying to help the summer come a little sooner.
Hailed for his "commanding stage presence" and the "dynamic power" of his voice (San Diego Story), bass-baritone Steele Fitzwater is quickly becoming a sought-after performer nationwide. In 2024, Steele can seen returning to Cedar Rapids Opera in Puccini's Tosca, making it his first time with the company since his acclaimed Pirate King in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance in 2022. Last season, Steele saw his company debuts as an apprentice artist with Sarasota Opera and as Don Basilio in Rossini's The Barber of Seville with Opera Neo, as well as singing as an apprentice artist with Opera Neo's summer festival. Equally at home on the concert stage as in opera, he was recently featured as the bass soloist in Haydn’s The Seasons, as well as in soloist appearances in Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s The Creation, and Schubert’s Mass in G. A master's degree and performer's diploma graduate of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Steele completed his studies under acclaimed singers Peter Volpe and Carol Vaness. Completing his Bachelor’s degree from Miami University (Ohio), Steele was featured as Frank Maurrant in Weill's Street Scene, Count Carl- Magnus Malcom in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, and Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, as well as in multiple concerts of jazz standards and classics from The Great American Songbook. Steele’s summer and training programs include two summers at The Brevard Music Center and one summer as a Studio Artist with Central City Opera, having sung the world premiere role of Louis Cypher in Brevard’s Falling Angel by J. Mark Scearce and in Central City’s acclaimed production of Britten’s Billy Budd. Off-stage, Steele works behind the scenes as a competition manager and coordinator for Schmidt Vocal Arts, a non-profit company devoted to the education and training of young singers.
Matthew Lorenz is a growing artistic presence in the American Midwest and the international stage at large. Matthew’s performance experience as a pianist extends from Bismarck, ND to Santa Rosa, NM, then Paris; and beyond, now currently active in Chicago. Besides his regular performing schedule Matthew is on the Piano Faculty at the New Music School, the Gold Coast’s premier music academy. Read more about Matthew at his website, mlorenzmusic.squarespace.com!
Matthew has become a regular performer at Davenport’s since playing his first cabaret there in Spring of ‘22 (he prepared for character by watching Liza Manelli’s 1972 classic Cabaret! three or four times). Now he chases cabaret’s electric atmosphere, and is on a mission to present a new cabaret at Davenport’s every month of 2024: the YEAR of Cabaret!