Kunde and Smith: the Perfect Collaboration

And the beat goes.

Kunde and his accompanist/arranger/pianist John G Smith continue to bring their brand of swing and the Great American Songbook to listeners around the world. The remarkable return of Kunde to Pesaro during the 2024 Rossini Opera Festival was just the beginning.

The concert in Pesaro began with Kunde’s nod to the great composer Rossini with the famous aria “Asile héréditaire” from Guillaume Tell. The crowd was thrilled to hear this excerpt, known for its beauty but also remembered as one of Kunde’s great moments in the 1995 ROF. The tenor has not sung the opera for many years,hainvg switched to the verismo and spinto tenor roles more than ten years ago. But his bel canto roots and insightful understanding of the Rossiniano style yielded a masterful performance to remember.

From there, Kunde sang the ballad “Maria” from Bernstein’s West Side Story, and then led his listeners through a lovely program of standards, cleverly and beautifully arranged for orchestra by John. Listeners and reviewers alike were amazed at the tenor’s seamless and expert transition from opera to popular music, without losing any of the legato and elegance for which the tenor has become known.

A few months later, John and Gregory traveled to Tokyo for a concert at Suntory Hall with the Tokyo Philharmonic playing John’s custom arrangements. The result was again overwhelmingly spectacular. With John at the piano and Greg at the microphone, the duo performed their program to a huge and enthusiastic crowd, multiple encores, and rave reviews from the Tokyo media.

Plans are already being made for more concerts in the very near future. Greg and John hope to bring their reinterpreted American standards to audiences in the US as well as throughout the EU, the UK, and Asia,

Stay tuned for more news!