No single song from the classic American Songbook can stand on its own without a performer’s subtle interpretation. Those interpretations provide an endless stream of material to study and work from, and the Oregon Festival of American Music takes full advantage of it annually. From jazz to the classic American Songbook, OFAM has covered many interpretive bases through the years, and it will do it again this summer. This year’s 34th annual festival — My Star Dust Melody: The Jazz Standard & The Songbook, August 6 through 16 at The Shedd — examines and performs jazz musicians’ adaptation of songs from the classic Songbook, featuring Jerome Kern, Harry Warren and Jimmy Van Heusen, among others. It will also play source material originally written as jazz by the likes of Duke Ellington, Hoagy Carmichael and Louis Armstrong, and which became jazz standards and often Songbook standards as well. Chuck Redd returns as the music director, and the guest directors are Shirley Andress, the brothers Will and Peter Anderson, Lynnea Barry, Vanessa Greenway and Siri Vik. As always, there will be eight concerts, most with two performances, as well as sing-alongs with Amy Adams and film showings featuring music from this time period. — Dan Buckwalter

Oregon Festival of American Music — My Star Dust Melody: The Jazz Standard & The Songbook — is August 6 through 16 at The Shedd, 285 East Broadway. Tickets for the concerts range from $25 to $39. Film showings and community sing-alongs with Amy Adams are free. More information about OFAM’s schedule and tickets are at TheShedd.org.