JACQUELINE’S PERFORMANCES

"... an uncanny sensitivity to the moods and proprieties of music from other eras ..." – New England Folk Almanac

Jacqueline’s solo concerts evoke historical community music making, with fresh, new sounds. She performs her own arrangements of vintage American “heart songs” and dance tunes, including Stephen Foster parlor songs, Civil War pieces, Victorian waltzes, Scots and Irish fiddle tunes, hymns and spirituals, Cuban habaneras, ragtime, Tin Pan Alley tunes, Brazilian and Argentine tangos, Billie Holiday blues, klezmer and an occasional classical piece. Jacqueline speaks in her concerts about the power of old tunes to transport us into our own past and also on to new horizons.

She has performed Vintage American music in almost every state of the Union, including for the Smithsonian, the Savannah Music Festival, the Mark Twain Museums in both Hannibal and Hartford, the National Underground Railroad Center in Cincinnati, and many colleges, churches, coffeehouses,  libraries, and concert halls (see past concerts). She also enjoys duo collaborations, with instrumentalists, singers and actors.

“Thanks so much, Jacqueline! Your performance was wonderful! We received many, many compliments and I very much would like to bring you back to the series in the future with the Mark Twain program.” Chris Campbell, Executive Director, Boone County Historical Society, Columbia, MO, re Jacqueline's "I Lift My Lamp" performance for the Blind Boone Concert Series

Sample solo concerts:

I Lift My Lamp—Illuminations from Immigrant America celebrates the vibrant community music making and multicultural gifts of immigrants to the United States. Jacqueline performs music from the British Isles, Western and Eastern Europe, the African-American community, the Caribbean and South America, along with American “standards.” She reflects on growing up in Pittsburgh’s “melting pot” and her later journeys with music from many cultures.

Ken Burns’ Pianist Jacqueline Schwab in Concert—celebrates Jacqueline’s work with documentary filmmaker Ken, who re-introduced her to the music of Stephen Foster, hero of her childhood Pittsburgh home. Her program, a tapestry of American music, ranges from Foster to Jerome Kern and beyond. She performs Celtic fiddle tunes tunes, side by side with African-American spirituals, Civil War-era tunes, Cuban habaneras, ragtime and more. Jacqueline speaks about her collaborative work with Burns.

 Mark Twain’s America—Vintage American “Heart Songs” and Dance Tunes for Piano celebrates Stephen Foster “heart songs,” Irish airs and Scottish fiddle tunes, alongside spirituals, Civil War songs, ragtime and classical music. Twain, who called tunes “remembrancers,” might have enjoyed these sometimes boisterous, sometimes reflective tunes, arising from community music making. Some remain powerfully lodged in the American subconscious and are still sung today, even as we re-examine the past. Jacqueline will talk about Twain’s deep connection to music and her own love for these tunes.

“Many Thousand Gone”— Reflections on the American Civil War presents beloved and poignant Union, Confederate, slave and anti-war tunes from our tumultuous Civil War that lingers with us yet. Jacqueline’s meditative performance of Dixie reflects its complex, troubled history and its current attribution to an African-American family from Ohio. She speaks of the tunes and her collaboration with Civil War filmmaker Ken Burns.

Building Bridges—Vintage Music of Latin America celebrates the sensual spirit, expressive melodies and pulsing dance rhythms of vintage habaneras, tangos, and waltzes, from Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Mexico. These styles were the forerunners of samba, salsa, and other Latin music of today. Jacqueline performs melodies by composers Ernesto Nazareth, Ernesto Lecuona, Ignacio Cervantes, Juan Jose Castro and more, in classical and personal arrangements.

Pack Up Your Troubles—American Music from “The War to End All Wars” reflects on music popular during or associated with the horrific Great War, “the war to end all wars.” Many are ironically cheerful, despite the war’s privations, horrors and unnecessary waste of life. Jacqueline performs patriotic pieces, along with Tin Pan Alley tunes, ragtime, a sentimental, “Titanic” set, an Appalachian folk tune, an elegiac classical piece, a Yiddish song, and a vintage society waltz.

Down Came an Angel—Reflections on Vintage American Holiday Music presents a “Christmas pianissimo” wreath of holiday music from Jacqueline’s quiet Down Came an Angel solo recording—reflective Appalachian folk carols, soul-filled holiday spirituals, and 19th-century holiday songs that remain standards, along with Chanukah songs, other vintage American music and perhaps a singalong.

True Blue Waltz—Spirit-Lifting Airs and Waltzes from Round the World features reflective and spirit-lifting waltzes and airs, from the contemporary, worldwide traditional music community and performed in concert arrangements.Waltzing transports dancers to a joyous, trance-like state. Jacqueline’s expressive, flowing concert arrangements explore different musical moods and styles (one listener wrote: “three composers at work”), all with her signature, evocative sound.