Australian soprano Ali McGregor is no stranger to stylistic crossover. A classically trained singer with a flair for cabaret and jazz, she’s now joining forces with Germany’s Signum Saxophone Quartet for Hollywood Songbook – a new project produced by Musica Viva Australia that reimagines classic mid-century songs through the prism of saxophone textures and European émigré aesthetics.

Ahead of Hollywood Songbook‘s Australian tour, which begins in Canberra on 3 May, McGregor talks to Limelight about the collaboration, the repertoire, and the glamour (and grit) beneath the Hollywood sheen.

Ali McGregor. Photo © Claudio Raschella

Ali McGregor meets Hollywood Songbook, that seems very in-the-ballpark for you. But backed by a sax quartet? That’s fresh.

This whole thing is a brainchild of [Musica Viva Australia’s Artistic Director] Paul Kildea and I take my hat off to him for it. I think it makes complete sense. The saxophone straddles worlds – classical and pop and jazz – which is a space I also love to exist in. It feels like a natural fit. And Signum are incredible, I’m so...