PHILADELPHIA -- Music instruction, voice coaching and acting lessons will be presented as performance art when playwright, composer and Steinway concert artist Hershey Felder visits the University of Pennsylvania to teach a music-performance master class. Currently starring in the hit production "George Gershwin Alone" at the Prince Music Theater, Felder will conduct the class before an audience in the Amado Recital Hall on the Penn campus Sept. 26 from 3 to 5 p.m.

The small group of students who auditioned for the class will showcase their talents as Felder helps them hone their stage presence.  Felder will also offer the students career guidance on how to improve as performers as well as producers, connecting the artistic and business sides of their craft.  The master class, sponsored by Penn's Music Department and the Student Activities Council, will be free and open to Penn Card holders.

Felder's "George Gershwin Alone" is the first stage presentation of the life and music of Gershwin.  The show, described as "furiously dramatic" by The New York Times, has been staged on Broadway, internationally and had record-breaking engagements across the country.

Felder has won acclaim for his stage roles, conducting credits and television appearances.  He is the president of Eighty-Eight Entertainment and an artistic advisor for the Centre for Arts and Culture in Boston.