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ANTONIA BENNETT
Even before training at the Berklee School of
Music, live performance was a part of Antonia
Bennett’s life. Since age she has serenaded
audiences in opera houses, casinos, jazz clubs,
and amphitheaters, performing with and for
such luminaries as Count Basie, Frank Sinatra,
Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, Rosemary Clooney,
Les Paul, and Ella Fitzgerald. Taking a page
from her father (Tony Bennett)’s book, Anto-
nia sought to become a complete entertainer
through formal dance and acting training at the
Strasburg Institute. She also similarly embraces
the timeless jazz standards and the American
Songbook, adding a modern, nuanced style to
appeal to audiences of her generation. Bennett
explains: “I take each of the songs that I do as a
story, with a beginning, middle and end—like a
monologue—and I try to do my best to tell that
story.
e way I grew up, if you were going to
take a song that was done by many of the great
artists, you should bring a piece of yourself into
it.” On her
debut recording,
Natural
, she
did just that, setting her renditions of “I Wish I
Were in Love Again,” “I Fall to Pieces,” “Love Is
a Battle eld,” “Soon,” “Putting on the Ritz,” and
“ e
rill Is Gone.” She has also appeared on
Tony’s
A Swingin’ Christmas
, singing a duet on
“I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm,” and most
recently she assembled a trio to record
Embrace
Me
, which is dedicated to further American
Songbook hits such as “Embraceable You” and
“ e Man I Love.” Bennett has played venues of
all sizes around the world, including Radio City
Music Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Umbria Jazz Fes-
tival, Newport Jazz Festival, e Greek eatre,
Royal Albert Hall, and Caesars Palace. She has
also performed at Ravinia several times with her
father, as she frequently does for his appearances
around the world.
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