Verona Quartet

Ben Bliss, tenor

August and November 2025, May and August 2026

Project Description:

“Get Your Kicks: An American Story”

A fully collaborative program linking a variety of musical genres from jazz to folk to British songs based on Edmund Spenser sonnets, but all connected with a thread to  American history. A great celebration of the 100th anniversary of Route 66 and the 250th anniversary of the USA.

Program:

Nat King Cole: “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” (all)

Benny Goodman: “Where or When” (all)

Glen Miller: “Chattanooga choo choo” (all)

*Intro/Welcome*

Edmund Rubbra: Amaretti Op. 43, Mvmt II: Sonnet LXX (all)

Peter Warlock: Movement from Elizabethan Song (all)

Arnold Bax: “O Mistress Mine” (all)

Bax: “My Eyes for Beauty Pine” (all)

**Intermission**

Rhiannon Giddens: At the Purchaser's Option with variations (quartet only)

Native American Composer Apprentice Project Piece and/or commission about indigenous history

Duke Ellington: Cotton Club Stomp arr. Peter Myers (quartet only)

(Possibly one other 20’s tune)

*Ben comes back onstage*

Peggy Lee: “Be Anything (But be mine)” (all)

Mel Tormé: “I concentrate on you” (all)

Rubbra: Amaretti Op. 43, Mvmt V: Sonnet XL (all)

Rubbra: Amaretti Op. 43, Mvmt IV: Sonnet XXXVII (all)

Nat King Cole: “Stardust” (all)