A modern take on "Night and Day," "I Get A Kick Out of You," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "Anything Goes," and more
Tickets on sale now at dso.org
Detroit, (June 2, 2025) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) closes out its 2024–25 PNC Pops series with Let’s Misbehave: The Songs of Cole Porter on June 20–22.
Conducted by Na'Zir McFadden (DSO Assistant Conductor and Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador), the DSO will team up with Tony DeSare (piano and vocals), Aubrey Logan (trombone and vocals), and John Manzari (tap dance and vocals) for this program. Together, they will bring Cole Porter’s greatest hits to life with an extra sense of flair, freshness, and fun. Cole Porter was a significant contributor to the Great American Songbook who created a legacy as one of the most influential composers of American songs spanning the worlds of jazz, Broadway, and Hollywood.
Let’s Misbehave: The Songs of Cole Porter will take place Friday, June 20 at 10:45 a.m. and 8 p.m., Saturday, June 21 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, June 22 at 3 p.m. in Orchestra Hall.Tickets for these performances start at $25 and can be purchased at dso.org or by calling the Box Office at 313.576.5111, open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The title sponsor of the DSO’s PNC Pops Series is PNC Bank.
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Friday, June 20 at 10:45 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Saturday, June 21 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, June 22 at 3 p.m.
Orchestra Hall
Na’Zir McFadden, conductor
Tony DeSare, piano & vocals
Aubrey Logan, trombone & vocals
Johm Manzari, tap dance & vocals
Cole Porter's songs feel forever new. Pianist Tony DeSare, trombonist Aubrey Logan, and tap dancer John Manzari put fresh spins on "Night and Day," "I Get A Kick Out of You," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "Anything Goes," and more.
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About Na’Zir McFadden
American conductor Na’Zir McFadden is the Assistant Conductor and Phillip & Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
McFadden also serves as Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra. Together they’ll present three programs—exploring the masterworks of Sibelius, Schubert, Beethoven, Takashi Yoshimatsu, and Einojuhani Rautavaara.
Establishing his presence on the classical music scene, the 2024–25 season includes debuts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, and The No Name Pops (formerly the Philly Pops) at Marian Anderson Hall in Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center. He’ll also return to the New Mexico Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Ballet, in addition to several engagements with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
This past summer McFadden was invited by the Boston Symphony Orchestra as one of two 2024 Tanglewood Music Center Conducting Fellows. As a fellow, he conducted the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in numerous performances, and participated in masterclasses led by Andris Nelsons, Alan Gilbert, Thomas Wilkins, and Dima Slobodeniouk.
In the 2022–23 season, he made his subscription debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, alongside bass-baritone Davóne Tines and clarinetist Anthony McGill. In March of 2024, he conducted the DSO’s Classical Roots program, premiering two new works by composers Billy Childs and Shelley Washington.
Other career highlights have included debuts with the North Carolina Symphony, Utah Symphony Orchestra, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, and Philadelphia Ballet. Additionally, McFadden led a recording project with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago—featuring Hilary Hahn as co-collaborator and soloist.
In 2020, McFadden was named the inaugural Apprentice Conductor of the Philadelphia Ballet; a position he held until 2022. He also served as the Robert L. Poster Conducting Apprentice of the New York Youth Symphony from 2020 to 2021.
At the age of 16, McFadden conducted his hometown orchestra—The Philadelphia Orchestra—in their “Pop-Up” series, meeting their Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin who has been a mentor ever since. The Philadelphia Inquirer praised his “great stick [baton] technique and energetic presence on the podium” in their concert review.
About Tony DeSare
Tony DeSare performs with infectious joy, wry playfulness, and robust musicality. Named a “Rising Star Male Vocalist” in DownBeat magazine, DeSare has garnered critical and popular acclaim for his concert performances throughout North America and abroad. From jazz clubs to Carnegie Hall to Las Vegas headlining with Don Rickles and major symphony orchestras, DeSare has brought his fresh take on old-school classics around the globe. DeSare has four top ten Billboard jazz albums and has been featured on the CBS Early Show, NPR, A Prairie Home Companion, and the Today Show. His music has been posted by social media celebrity juggernaut, George Takei, and DeSare has also collaborated with YouTube icons Postmodern Jukebox.
DeSare's Lush Life recording debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Chart, and he released Song Diaries Vol. 2 in early 2022. His latest single Paris Always Will Have You was released in early 2024 and is available on all streaming platforms.
Beyond his well-regarded turns as a singer/pianist, DeSare is also an accomplished composer. He not only won first place in the USA Songwriting Contest but has written the theme song for the motion picture My Date with Drew, several broadcast commercials, and has composed the full soundtracks for the Hallmark Channel's Love Always and Santa, and Lifetime's Nanny Nightmare and A Welcome Home Christmas. His sound is romantic, swinging, and sensual, but what sets DeSare apart is his ability to write original material that sounds fresh and contemporary while paying homage to the Great American Songbook. His compositions include a wide range of tender, funny, and soulful sounds that can be found on his top-selling recordings.
DeSare’s forthcoming appearances include The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, Minnesota Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
New recordings, originals, and videos of standards are released regularly on DeSare's YouTube channel, Apple Music, and Spotify. Follow Tony on Facebook, and Instagram, and subscribe on YouTube to stay connected.
Tony DeSare is a Yamaha Artist. For more information, visit https://www.tonydesare.com/.
About Aubrey Logan
Jazz is the great leveler as an art form. Pop sensibilities are thrown out of the window when the greats step up to the microphone and one of today’s most brilliant contemporary jazz artists to bless us with her story is Aubrey Logan.
A singer, trombone player, and a songwriter, her body of work is underscored by the integrity of a performer that is able to stretch herself emotionally across a musical landscape that defies description. Complex and still retaining the intimacy of stories that are both personal and inspiring, Logan is able to bring a wealth of experience to her songwriting that touches the deepest part of the human experience.
Recognized on the global stage as a performer who can deliver in the most informal of settings and then to huge festival audiences, her work is praised as being accessible, fresh, and dynamic. It shines a light on an art form that can at times appear exclusive and hard to connect with. Logan certainly flips that narrative on its head and allows the music to bask in the sunlight; introducing new generations of listeners to her world of sophisticated songs. With the number one album Where the Sunshine is Expensive already under her belt, Logan returns to the spotlight with her follow-up collection, STANDARD.
Once again diving deep into her jazz roots, STANDARD is a journey into her musical past with covers of some of the most recognizable tracks that have ever been made, plus her original work Done Pretending and Louboutins 2.0.
Having worked with some incredible names in the past including Quincy Jones, Burt Bacharach, Josh Groban, Smokey Robinson, Patrice Rushen, and Pharrell Williams, Logan brings those unique perspectives to the music she delivers. On STANDARD, reworks of "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac, "Macarthur Park," and "Sunny Side of the Street" show the astounding application of a woman at the top of her game.
Moving between jazz, funk, tender love songs, Calypso-infused rhythms, and traditionally inspired fusions, her vocals and trombone playing sway between the caress of a long-lost love to triumphant powerhouse performances that simply blow the mind.
About John Manzari
John Manzari is an Ovation Award and Helen Hayes Award nominated dancer, singer, choreographer, and teacher.
Stage credits include the Broadway revival of Funny Girl, MUNY's Anything Goes, Encore!’s The Tap Dance Kid, Off Broadway’s Maurice Hines, Tappin’ Thru Life, Caleb Teicher’s Bzzz, Bessie Award winning production Chasing Magic, 42nd Street, The Wiz is 40: A Celebration in Dance and Music, and Sophisticated Ladies.
Television credits include Law & Order SVU, the PBS specials Black Broadway: A Proud History, A Limitless Future, Rooted, The Kennedy Center at 50, and Michael Feinstein at the Rainbow Room, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Good Morning America, The View, The Jerry Lewis Telethon, and So You Think You Can Dance.
Concerts include one man shows RECENTER and The First Set; guest appearances with symphonies across North America including New York, Edmonton, Seattle, Houston, and DC (National & American) and bands such as The Hot Sardines, Fall for Dance, Canada’s Fall for Dance North, Amelia Island Dance Festival, and Gold Coast Dance Festival. Manzari can be seen in the documentary about his mentor Maurice Hines Bring Them Back. Film credits include I Get Knocked Down and the award-winning short films To: Everything I Love, Slip, and Leonard Soloway’s Broadway. His short film Ghost was an official selection for Fall for Dance North's 8-Count Short Film Festival 2024.
About the DSO
The acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra is known for trailblazing performances, collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists, and a deep connection to its city. Led by Music Director Jader Bignamini since 2020, the DSO makes its home at historic Orchestra Hall within the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, offering a robust performance schedule that features classical, pops, jazz, and family concerts, plus community performances. Enrico Lopez-Yañez was named Principal Pops Conductor in 2023, trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard serves as the orchestra’s Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair, and Tabita Berglund began her tenure as Principal Guest Conductor in the 2024–25 season. A dedication to broadcast innovation and technology began in 1922, when the DSO became the first orchestra in the world to present a live radio broadcast of a concert and continues today with the groundbreaking Live from Orchestra Hall series of free webcasts.
The DSO’s distinguished history of recordings—many led by its renowned music directors—spans nearly a century, beginning with the orchestra’s first 78 rpm singles with Ossip Gabrilowitsch released on the Victrola label in 1928. A steady recording output has continued since then, with highlights including more than 20 releases with Paul Paray for Mercury’s Living Presence series, and 27 under the baton of Neeme Järvi, mostly on the Chandos label. In the 1970s, the DSO took part in the historic Black Composers Series for Columbia Records led by its then-Associate Conductor Paul Freeman and later made several acclaimed recordings with Antal Doráti for the Decca label. More recently, under the direction of Leonard Slatkin, the DSO recorded music by Rachmaninoff, Copland, and John Williams for the Naxos label, earning its first GRAMMY® nomination in 2017 for Copland’s Third Symphony / Three Latin American Sketches. The first recording with Jader Bignamini, of Wynton Marsalis’s Blues Symphony, was released in March 2025 on the Pentatone label.
Since its first school concerts a century ago, and particularly since the founding of the Civic Youth Ensembles in 1970, the DSO has been a national leader in bringing the benefits of music education to students, teachers, and families in Detroit and surrounding communities. The DSO remains committed to expanding its participation in the growth and well-being of Detroit through programs like its Detroit Neighborhood Initiative—cultural events co-created with community partners and residents—and Detroit Harmony, a promise to provide an instrument and instruction to any student in the city who wants to learn. With unwavering support from the people of Detroit, the DSO actively pursues a mission to impact lives through the power of unforgettable musical experiences.