Melissa Manchester is best-known for known for her hit 1970s ballads “Midnight Blue” and “Don’t Cry Out Loud,” as well as the 1982 danceable pop smash “You Should Hear How She Talks About You.” Manchester also co-wrote Kenny Loggins’ enduring 1978 duet with Stevie Nicks, “Whenever I Call You Friend.”
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Something Manchester isn’t known for is composing long instrumental pieces, but the 74-year-old singer/songwriter has done just that, recently creating her first-ever concerto. The piece, titled “Awake!,” will get its world premiere on Saturday, July 19, at the Corning Glass Museum Auditorium in Corning, New York, as part of the Endless Mountain Music Festival.
The five-movement piece will be performed by pianist Jeffrey Biegel, who will be accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Stephen Gunzenhauser.
Manchester recently chatted with American Songwriter about the concerto, including how she came to write it and the experience of creating it.
How Melissa Ended Up Writing a Concerto
Manchester explained that she was commissioned to write a concerto by Biegel, a master pianist who is part of the faculty of the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music that she discovered a few years ago while watching videos online.
“I suddenly saw this fellow playing a grand piano, and it was stunning playing,” she recalled. Melissa noted that Biegel included a message in one of the clips asking viewers to submit comments if they’d like.
“So I put a comment in, ’cause it was just magnificent playing,” Manchester told American Songwriter. “And [Biegel responded,] ‘Are you the singer?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ And we started to get into a conversation. [T]hen, a couple of months passed, and I was back on tour, and he texted me one evening … and he said, ‘Would you ever consider composing a concerto for piano and orchestra?’ And I thought to myself, ‘Would I?!’ ’cause I’d never done that before. I mean, you know, ’cause it’s just different. So, I agreed.”
Manchester noted that it took her about a month to write “Awake!,” which is 15 minutes long. Melissa explained the five-movement instrumental piece presents a hero’s journey. A main inspiration for the concerto was a collection of poetry by Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore that she’s loved since she was a teenager.
“I let those words just sort of sing to me,” Melissa explained. “They were words that started the melodies for me, and then I went off and would develop the ideas. … It’s extremely musical poetry. It’s rapturous poetry, and … I never knew if [Tagore] was writing to a lover or God.”
The orchestrations for the piece were created by Doug Walter, with Manchester’s input. Biegel will perform “Awake!” with a 40-piece orchestra. Melissa will be in attendance for the premiere.
More About Composing the Concerto
Asked if composing a long instrumental piece like “Awake!” was different from writing a song, Manchester said, “Very different.”
She explained that when she tried to come up with melodic ideas for the concerto, she would do it away from her piano.
“I didn’t want the muscle memory in my hands to go to old harmonies from three songs ago, you know what I mean?” Melissa maintained. “So I would just walk around or walk in the park near me, and hum into my phone, and at least establish a melodic theme. And if I kept singing the melodic theme, then I knew it was sinking into my brain and creating its own groove.”
She said that she would then take the musical theme and “start to explore where it could go to harmonically from that.”
Manchester shared that using this process unexpected ideas would emerge that would lead to engaging melodic parts for the concerto.
“[T]hings would start to zag where I was sure it was gonna zig,” she noted. “And it was wild. … It was the deep recesses of who knows where in the innards and … the deep imagination. And I thought, ‘We are not writing a song. … We are creating part of a journey.’”
She added, “I don’t think it sounds like anything I’ve written before, but it is melody driven, because that’s what I believe in. I think that’s what people come back to.”
More News About Manchester
On Monday, July 21, two days after the concerto premieres, Manchester will take part in an intimate Q&A and performance event at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.
Melissa will discuss “Awake!” and her 50-year career in the entertainment. She also will give a special performance at the end of the event.
In April 2025, Melissa ended a two-year run in the touring company of the stage musical Funny Girl. She portrayed Fanny Brice’s mother, Rose, in the production.
In June, Manchester debuted a storytellers-style show called “Fifty Threads: An Artist’s Journey” at the 54 Below venue in New York. The show featured Melissa weaving anecdotes about her life and songs into performances of many of her best-known tunes.
The concerts served to showcase her latest album, Re:View, which was released in 2024 and featured updated and reimagined version of standout songs from throughout her career. The album included duets with Loggins and Dolly Parton, respectively, on “Whenever I Call You Friend” and “Midnight Blue.”
Melissa explained to American Songwriter that she was able to promote Re:View when it first came out because of her commitments to the touring production of Funny Girl.
She’s hoping to schedule more performances of her “Fifty Threads: An Artist’s Journey” show to help raise awareness about the album.
(Photo by Nick Spanos)
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