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Appearing together in a series of concerts enticingly titled, “One Enchanted Evening”, the new performing team of Kelly & Clayton will be offering an evening of selections from the Great American Songbook, beloved music from the 30’s through the 70’s.

Capturing the magic of the early decades of American popular music, Kelly and Clayton present a programme of timeless lyrical and sophisticated music. They draw primarily on the works of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Rodgers & Hart and Jerome Kern, but also breathe new life into such diverse descendants of these icons as Dave Frishberg and Billy Joel.

Their repertoire includes the classics People Will Say We’re In Love, Some Enchanted Evening, and I Only Have Eyes for You, songs which were made famous by such legendary American singers as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Holiday and Mel Torme.

“Kenny and I began working on this repertoire because the songs are so beautifully written they’ll take any number of different stylistic interpretations and still stay intact, musically and emotionally. And as a singer, that’s great for me,” says Paul. “My classical training comes in handy because these guys wrote songs for singers who could act, rather than for actors who could sing, as in earlier shows.”

Although raised on pop and jazz standards, Paul Austin Kelly made a career singing opera at La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden and other top-level opera venues. He gained international acclaim for his performances of the demanding tenor roles of Rossini and Mozart.

Kenny Clayton trained as a classical musician and exploited his love of jazz and popular music as pianist and musical director to artists such as Petula Clark, Charles Aznavour, Dick Haymes and Matt Monro. He also performs with his own jazz group, the Kenny Clayton Trio.

Together, the dynamic performing duo of Kelly & Clayton covers all ends of the musical spectrum, from pop to opera, from jazz standards to classical song.