The Grammarians — Three Scenes

Cathleen Schine is the author of the internationally best-selling novels The Love Letter, which was made into a movie starring Kate Capshaw, and Rameau’s Niece, which was also made into a movie (The Misadventures of Margaret), starring Parker Posey. Schine’s other novels are Alice in Bed, To the Bird House, The Evolution of Jane, She is Me, The New Yorkers, The Three Weissmanns of Westport, Fin & Lady, They May Not Mean To, But They Do, and her latest novel The Grammarians. In addition to novels she has written articles for The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, and The New York Times Book Review, among other publications. Her essays have been included in Best American Essays 2005, Fierce Pajamas, an Anthology of New Yorker Humor, and The Big New Yorker Book of Dogs. She grew up in Westport, CT and lives in Venice, CA.  

Nan Schwartz is a Grammy®-winning (Natalie Cole) and five-time nominated Grammy arranger, as well as a seven-time Emmy nominee for her compositions for television and film (In The Heat of the Night).  In 2018, a symphonic album of her orchestral compositions was released on Divine Art Records; these works are now being performed live around the U.S.  As a conductor and orchestrator, Nan has worked on such major Hollywood films as Mank, Harry Potter, Argo, Benjamin Button, and Julie & Julia. She produces and writes songs for the Latin market,  and has conducted her music with an all-star cast and a 17-piece orchestra in three sold-out concerts at Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Jazz Grill.  Nan teaches annually in Vienna, Austria.  

A proponent of melodic, harmonically-rich music, Nan’s unique style, diversity and depth of experience– from synthesizer projects to hundred-piece orchestras–have helped create her sterling reputation as one of the world’s most talented composer/arrangers.   

Lorraine Feather was born in Manhattan. She is the daughter of jazz writer Leonard Feather and the goddaughter of Billie Holiday. Lorraine studied acting and performed on and off Broadway, but spent most of her 20s waitressing. She began singing in clubs, joined the vocal group Full Swing,  and started writing lyrics, which became the primary creative focus of her life.  Lorraine has released 12 albums featuring her lyrics and vocals, first focusing on adaptations of music by Fats Waller and Duke Ellington. She then began writing with living jazz composers. Her albums have earned five Grammy® nominations. She is also a seven-time Emmy nominee as a lyricist, primarily for her work in animation with Mark Watters, and a Critics’ Choice nominee for the Feather/Eddie Arkin song “The Rules Don’t Apply,” featured in Warren Beatty’s Rules Don’t Apply. Lorraine’s new album, My Own Particular Life, will be released this year.