In this fifth concert homage to the founders of the American Songbook, the professional chorus Cantus Columbus and the distinguished string quartet Vega Quartet, directed by William J. Bullock, present tasteful arrangements of the songs of Irving Berlin (1888–1989). The concert follows previous collaborative tributes to Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, George & Ira Gershwin, and Jerome Kern.

Performing alone and in various combinations, the ensembles present a great variety of music. Performances alone include Puttin’ on the Ritz and Cheek to Cheek (string quartet), Remember and Top Hat, White Tie and Tails (the chorus’s pianist, Janie Lee Bullock), What’ll I Do, Say It Isn’t So and Now It Can Be Told (unaccompanied chorus). Combined performances include examples of the composer’s independent songs (How Deep Is the Ocean), Broadway show tunes (Blue Skies), film songs (I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm) and hits from the Broadway masterpiece Annie Get Your Gun (There’s No Business Like Show Business).

Interspersed throughout the concert’s chronological order are some of Berlin’s famous genre songs: secular holiday songs (White Christmas), so-called double songs (You’re Just in Love), patriotic songs (God Bless America), sentimental songs (Always) and humorous songs (You’d Be Surprised).

Lovers of the American Songbook will not want to miss this celebration of the songwriter about whom Jerome Kern said, “He has no place in American music, he is American music.”