Laura Bernay

An evening with Laura Bernay is a trip to Paris, heard two ways. Half the program comes from the city's own singers, Edith Piaf, Charles Trenet and Dalida. The other half is Paris as American songwriters imagined it, through Cole Porter, Gershwin and Rodgers and Hart, with Poulenc for the classical side. She sings in fluent French, having studied it at UWA and the Alliance Française, and she was once French coach for West Australian Opera. Her voice is bright and flexible, and it moves between jazz, cabaret, classical and world music. Her band is the Mike Nelson Quartet, with Matt Styles on reeds, Chris Tarr on drums, Murray Wilkins on bass and Mike himself at the piano. It's a fine choice for a French-themed dinner or a cabaret night in Perth.