All that holiday jazz with Corrine at Musikfest Cafe
BY DAVE HOWELL
Special to The Press
It’s Christmastime again at Bethlehem’s SteelStacks, with Christkindlmarkt continuing Thursday through Sunday through Dec. 21.
This year, there’s a holiday benefit for the Children’s Home of Easton.
The concert is “An Evening of Holiday Jazzy Pop with Corinne,” 7 p.m. Dec. 7, Musikfest Cafe, ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks.
The concert combines swinging versions of seasonal classics with Corinne Mammana’s own songs, including those from her just-released album, “Stories in Pink.”
She will be accompanied by Matt Gordeuk, guitar; Patrick Kerssen, piano; John Valinote, bass; Richie Pena, percussion, and Vernon Mobley, drums.
Her Musikfest Cafe concert will include songs from her holiday EP, “In the Christmas City,” and she will sing her single from last year, “Let’s Be In Love at Christmastime.”
Corinne did benefits for the Children’s Home in 2017, 2018 and 2019. After the Musikfest Cafe concert, she and her band will have a question and answer session with children from the Children’s Home about the music business and other topics.
She describes her music as “genre-bending:
“It’s ‘jazz crossover’ or ‘jazz into pop,’ with a bossa nova sound, and ‘cinematic.’ It has been called ‘standards that have never been heard before.’”
Corinne, who uses her first name as her stage name, says she is now highlighting her original material over singing the jazz standards she has been known for.
She says her new album’s theme “fits my vibe of the type of music I like to perform.”
“Stories in Pink” has all but one song written by her producer Eric Todd. The only cover is Edith Piaf ‘s “La Vie En Rose,” which inspired the album’s title.
“About ten years ago at Hotel Bethlehem, someone requested that I sing ‘La Vie En Rose’ for his daughter on her birthday. Since then, it has become my most requested song.
“‘Life in Pink’ is the English translation of the title. We found out that there is a documentary with that name, so we changed it to ‘Stories,’ which works better,” she says in a phone interview from her home in Palmer Township, where she lives with her husband Louis and their dog Oscar.
Corrine was born and raised in Plymouth Meeting, Montgomery County. She studied musical theater and received a Bachelor of Music from James Madison University.
For three years after graduation, she did professional and regional theater in the Philadelphia area and in Virginia. She moved to the Lehigh Valley in 2012.
She bases her performances in the Lehigh Valley and Manhattan, Her area concerts range from her 10th year at Musikfest to two times at Godfrey Daniels.
She performed at the Sellersville Theater with Erich Cawalla in the concert, “A Sunday Kind of Love.”
Corrine has videos for every song on ”Stories in Pink” on her website: www.corinnemusic.com
There is an electronica remix of her song “Ticked Pink” on YouTube.
She has expanded her social media presence to include TikTok.
“We are avoiding just playing to online algorithms and are trying to find true fans,” she says.
“An Evening of Holiday Jazzy Pop with Corinne,” 7 p.m. Dec. 7, Musikfest Cafe, ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem. Tickets: 610-332-3300, www.steelstacks.org








