People everywhere sought out ways to pass their time during the pandemic. While in quarantine, during an imposed hiatus from work, at a point in the history of humanity when the world was left staring at walls, every person looked for something to do. Or, perhaps, nothing to do. It was personal to every individual.
 
Singer Renee Katz took to her work as a storyteller and emerged from the shutdown with a new piece of art.
 
Winter Awakenings is a project the much-lauded soprano has had on her drafting table for a while, but when Renee had the chance to take the combined artistic forces of herself and Musical Director John Cook and apply them to her album of music centered around the cold-weather months, she created a lovely collection of stories for music lovers to enjoy any time of the year. Though the anchor of the piece is a 1991 song cycle by Broadway composer Maury Yeston, Katz bookends the popular work with well-known compositions from The Great American Songbook and Musical Theater, making the listening experience one reminiscent of a twelve-course meal in a five-star restaurant (fifteen musical courses, to be exact, including a bonus track). To be certain, though: the album is about December Songs.
 
Many is the soprano who will step up to a microphone and sing songs with a focus on technique. Though Katz’s technique entered the room with her, Renee is all about the storytelling, the feelings, the acting. Observe the emotional content present in every aspect of the Yeston piece, one that outlines the romantic relationship-themed thoughts of one person during a snowy walk in Central Park. Renee runs the gamut, using every trick up her storytelling sleeve to convey all the aspects of that wintery stroll, and it works, particularly on numbers like “My Grandmother’s Love Letters” and “By The River,” although listeners would be well advised to not just skip to their favorite tracks (for this writer, “Winter Was Warm,” the number Ms. Katz chooses to close the book on the song cycle). Take the full journey, enjoy the amuse-bouche of the lyrical “Deep Purple” and revel in the dessert of the playful “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” because Renee and co. have gone to great lengths to make it a pleasure, a musically and emotionally rich one, aided greatly by Alon Bisk’s cello. The three artists work hard and work well together in their storytelling efforts, and all of the composers, not just Mr. Yeston, are honored by their efforts; and the listener is the lucky beneficiary of the pandemic project. 
 
Clearly, a little quarantine can yield good things in the hands of the right person, the right artist.
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Stephen Mosher
He/Him/His
Editor Broadway World Cabaret
https://www.broadwayworld.com/cabaret/