New York Festival of SongFour-Concert Mainstage Series Co-Presented with Kaufman Music Center at Merkin Hall Begins November 19

New York, NY (June 24, 2024) — New York Festival of Song (NYFOS), led by Artistic Director Steven Blier, today announces its 2024-25 season of performances, including four Mainstage Series programs at Merkin Hall, co-presented with Kaufman Music Center. The season also includes residencies in Orient, NY and at The Juilliard School, the NYFOS Next Festival at the Rubin Museum of Art, and the return of NYFOS’s fan-favorite holiday program, A Goyishe Christmas To You!

"Each concert this season offers the kind of cultural richness that has marked our performances for the last four decades,” said NYFOS Artistic Director, Steven Blier. “One of our oldest mottos was, ‘No two alike!,’ and that guideline is at its peak this season. The range of music, the charisma of the performers, and the exploration of beauty in all its variety will make for a potent season of song. We can’t wait to share it all with you!”

NYFOS kicks off its Mainstage season at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center on Tuesday, November 19, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. with My Brother’s Keeper. Conceived by baritone Justin Austin, this program tells a story of brotherly love, caretaking, and community among Black men in America through art song, soul, gospel, and opera. My Brother’s Keeper features a stellar team of Black American male singers, including Austin, tenor Joshua Blue, baritone Will Liverman, bass-baritone Joseph Parrish, baritone Jorell Williams, and tenor Chaz'men Williams-Ali, alongside NYFOS's own Steven Blier.

The concert arose from a vivid dream Justin Austin had last fall in which he saw himself onstage with his four colleagues alongside his longtime mentor Steven Blier. “It was a NYFOS concert,” Austin said to Blier, “I just had to call you–I know it’s crazy, but…” “We’re doing it,” replied Blier instantly. Miraculously, there was one week when all six busy singers could make themselves available. Since many of them are also accomplished pianists and composers, “the Steinway will get a real workout that night,” Blier said. 

The Mainstage season continues on Wednesday, February 26, 2025 at 8:00 p.m. with Le tour de France, a musical voyage to the four corners of France including a deluxe stay in Paris. The program includes songs by Francis Poulenc, Joseph Canteloube, André Caplet, Gustav Mahler, Michel Legrand, Charles Trénet, and others, featuring the superb vocal talent of soprano Nicoletta Berry, mezzo-soprano Erin Wagner, tenor Daniel McGrew, and baritone Samuel Kidd, with pianists Steven Blier and Bénédicte Jourdois.

On Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 8:00 p.m. NYFOS offers Beginner's Luck: The Artist’s Journey, highlighting the brilliant young talents of Caramoor's 2025 Schwab Vocal Rising Stars program. A wide-ranging playlist, from German Lieder to Bob Dylan, explores that chaotic decade between adolescence and adulthood, filled with seemingly endless possibility and endless peril. A cast of five brilliant young artists, all in their 20s, will join co-directors Bénédicte Jourdois and Blier in this intriguing musical journey.

NYFOS concludes its Mainstage season at Merkin Hall with Other Worlds: Songs of Fantasy on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 8:00 p.m. as mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan, baritone John Brancy, Grammy Award-winning clarinetist Mark Dover in his NYFOS debut, and pianist Peter Dugan join NYFOS's Steven Blier for a new program of songs that explore all that lurks in the depths of the forest, the ocean, and the skies with songs by Schumann, Spohr, Sibelius, and many others. 

NYFOS continues to release albums and singles throughout the season on its in-house label, NYFOS Records. Their newest CD, Schubert/Beatles, based on an adventurous 2016 NYFOS program, will drop in September 2024; the cast includes baritone Theo Hoffman, soprano Julia Bullock, and pianists Kunal Lahiri and Steven Blier. Later in the season, the label will release Road Trip, a journey across America in song with an all-star cast including sopranos Ying Fang, Kelli O’Hara, and Julia Bullock, mezzo-sopranos Susan Graham, Joyce di Donato, Kate Lindsey, and Sasha Cooke, baritenor Michael Spyres, baritones Justin Austin, John Brancy, and Will Liverman, and bass-baritone Christian van Horn with Blier at the piano. These new recordings follow in the wake of The Singles, Vol. 1 (2024), a collection of treasured performances spanning over 20 years of NYFOS’s history; and Mi país: Songs of Argentina (2023) a dive into the spellbinding delicacy of Argentina’s art songs and tangos with bass-baritone Federico De Michelis and Steven Blier. Both albums received rave reviews and thousands of streams online. 

Additional performances include:

–A weeklong residency in Orient, NY from August 19-25 with a concert titled Happily Ever After: A Modern Person’s Guide to Operetta on Sunday, August 25, 2024 at 3:00 p.m. at Poquatuck Hall. For decades, operetta charmed audiences across the globe with the promise of happy endings and the allure of sweet melodies. Its perfume is still potent - and surprisingly varied, from the wit of Gilbert and Sullivan, to the opulence of Lehár, to the grit of masters like Sondheim, Kurt Weill, and Astor Piazzolla. Happily Ever After is not just a feast for the ears but also a bracing exploration of popular culture from eight countries. Sung by a brilliant cast of artists featuring baritone Philip Stoddard, tenor Scott Rubén La Marca, and soprano Adriana Stepien, the show reunites Steven Blier with one of his favorite collaborators, the stage director Katherine M. Carter. 

–NYFOS’s series for new song, the NYFOS Next Festival at the Rubin Museum of Art with concerts on Sunday, September 29, 2024 at 3:00 p.m. and Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 3:00 p.m., curated by Nathaniel LaNasa.

–The return of NYFOS’s fan-favorite holiday show A Goyishe Christmas To You! on Tuesday, December 17, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. The annual holiday tradition features soprano Lauren Worsham, mezzo-sopranos Donna Breitzer and Rebecca Jo Loeb, tenor Alex Mansoori, Cantor Joshua Breitzer, and baritone Joshua Jeremiah, with Alan R. Kay on clarinet and Steven Blier as pianist and host.

–The annual NYFOS@Juilliard concert on Wednesday, January 15, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater. 

All NYFOS programming is funded, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

The NYFOS Mainstage and the NYFOS Next series are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Concert Information
NYFOS@North Fork 
Sunday, August 25, 2024 at 3:00 p.m.
Poquatuck Hall | 1160 Village Lane | Orient, NY 11957
Tickets: On sale from https://www.poquatuckhall.org later this summer (date TBA)
Link: http://nyfos.org/24-25season/

Program:
JOHANN STRAUSS: Saffi’s aria from Zigeunerbaron 
FRANZ LEHÁR: Gern hab’ ich die Frauen geküßt, from Paganini 
KÁLMÁN: Lichtreklamen, Riesenlettern, from Die Herzogin aus Chicago  
KURT WEILL: The Lottery Agent’s Tango, from Silverlake 
PIAZZOLLA: Milonga carrieguera from María de Buenos Aires 
MAURI: Perdida para siempre, from La esclava 
SULLIVAN: If we’re weak enough to tarry, from Iolanthe 
PUCCINI: Chi il bel sogno di Doretta, from La rondine 
KERN: There Isn’t One Girl in the World for Me, from Sitting Pretty 
SONDHEIM: The Glamorous Life, from A Little Night Music 
MESSAGER: J’ai deux amants, from L’amour masqué 
SOROZÁBAL: Quién es usté, from La del manojo de rosas

Artists:
Adriana Stepien, soprano 
Scott Rubén La Marca, tenor 
Philip Stoddard, baritone
Katherine M. Carter, staging director
Steven Blier, Piano
____________________________________________

NYFOS Next Series at the Rubin Museum of Art
Sunday, September 29, 2024 at 3:00 p.m. 
Rubin Museum of Art | 150 W 17th St | New York, NY 10011
Tickets: 2-Concert Subscriptions: $40; Single Tickets: $25
Link: Subscription pre-orders are available now from nyfos.org/24-25season

Program:
Kamala Sankaram - A Certain Age (2022) for mezzo soprano, bassoon, and piano
LJ White - Shuffled Notes from A Guide to Drag Kinging (2018) for soprano and bassoon
White - Music Library Love Song (2024) for soprano and piano 
More selections to be announced.

Artists:
Steven Palacio, bassoon
Blythe Gaissert, mezzo soprano
Britt Hewitt, soprano 
Nathaniel LaNasa, piano
____________________________________________

NYFOS Next Series at the Rubin Museum of Art
Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 3:00 p.m.
Rubin Museum of Art | 150 W 17th St | New York, NY 10011
Tickets: 2-Concert Subscriptions: $40; Single Tickets: $25
Link: Subscription pre-orders are available now from nyfos.org/24-25season

Program:
Hannah Kendall - Rosalind (2020) for soprano, baritone, piano}
Songs by Sarah Kirkland Snider, Isabella Gellis, and Joe Rubinstein 

Artists:
Robin Steitz, soprano
Greg Feldmann, baritone 
Nathaniel LaNasa, piano
____________________________________________

My Brother's Keeper
Tuesday, November 19, 2024 at 8:00 p.m.
Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center | 129 W 67th St | New York, NY 10023
Tickets: $20 - $79; Students $10
Link: Subscription pre-orders are available now from nyfos.org/24-25season; Single tickets go on sale from the Merkin Hall website Thursday, August 1, 2024

Program:
A story of brotherly love, caretaking, and community among Black men in America through art song, soul, gospel, and opera. 

Artists:
Joshua Blue, tenor
Chaz'men Williams-Ali, tenor
Justin Austin, baritone
Will Liverman, baritone
Jorell Williams, baritone
Joseph Parrish, bass baritone
Steven Blier, piano
____________________________________________

A Goyishe Christmas To You!
Tuesday, December 17, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST) | 130 West 30th Street | New York, NY 10001
Tickets: $45
Link: https://nyfos.org/goyishe-christmas/   

Program:
Favorite Yuletide tunes (performed with a twist) and specialty material by Jewish composers

Artists:
Lauren Worsham, soprano 
Donna Breitzer, mezzo-soprano 
Rebecca Jo Loeb, mezzo-soprano
Alex Mansoori, tenor 
Cantor Joshua Breitzer, tenor 
Joshua Jeremiah, baritone 
Alan R. Kay, clarinet 
Steven Blier, pianist and host
____________________________________________

NYFOS@Juilliard
Wednesday, January 15, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.
Peter Jay Sharp Theater | 155 W 65th St | New York, NY 10023
Tickets: On sale from the Juilliard box office in late fall (date TBA)
Link: http://nyfos.org/24-25season/ 
____________________________________________

Le tour de France
Wednesday, February 26, 2025 at 8:00 p.m.
Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center | 129 W 67th St | New York, NY 10023
Tickets: $20 - $79; Students $10
Link: Subscription pre-orders are available now from nyfos.org/24-25season; Single tickets go on sale from the Merkin Hall website Thursday, August 1, 2024

Program:
A musical voyage to the four corners of France before a deluxe stay in Paris, the City of Light, with songs by Francis Poulenc, Joseph Canteloube, Michel Legrand, Charles Trénet, and others. 

Artists:
Nicoletta Berry, soprano
Erin Wagner, mezzo-soprano
Daniel McGrew, tenor
Samuel Kidd, baritone 
Steven Blier, piano
Bénédicte Jourdois, piano
____________________________________________

Beginner's Luck: The Artist’s Journey 
Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 8:00 p.m.
Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center | 129 W 67th St | New York, NY 10023
Tickets: $20 - $79; Students $10
Link: Subscription pre-orders are available now from nyfos.org/24-25season; Single tickets go on sale from the Merkin Hall website Thursday, August 1, 2024

Program:
The brilliant young talents of Caramoor's 2025 Schwab Vocal Rising Stars program perform songs about new beginnings in life, love and art by Busoni, Strauss, Bernstein, Schubert and many others.

Artists:
Caramoor's 2025 Schwab Vocal Rising Stars
Steven Blier, piano 
Bénédicte Jourdois, piano
____________________________________________

Other Worlds: Songs of Fantasy
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 8:00 p.m.
Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center | 129 W 67th St | New York, NY 10023
Tickets: $20 - $79; Students $10
Link: Subscription pre-orders are available now from nyfos.org/24-25season; Single tickets go on sale from the Merkin Hall website Thursday, August 1, 2024

Program:
Songs that explore all that lurks in the depths of the forest, the ocean, and the skies, with music by Schumann, Spohr, Sibelius, and many others. 

Artists:
Kara Dugan, mezzo-soprano 
John Brancy, baritone 
Mark Dover, clarinetist 
Peter Dugan, piano
Steven Blier, piano

About New York Festival of Song
Now in its 37th season, New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) is dedicated to creating intimate song concerts of great beauty and originality. Weaving music, poetry, history, and humor into evenings of compelling theater, NYFOS fosters community among artists and audiences. Each program entertains and educates in equal measure. 

Founded by pianists Michael Barrett and Steven Blier in 1988, NYFOS continues to produce its series of thematic song programs, drawing together rarely-heard songs of all kinds, overriding traditional distinctions between musical genres, exploring the character and language of other cultures, and the personal voices of song composers and lyricists.

Since its founding, NYFOS has particularly celebrated American song. Among the many highlights is the double bill of one-act comic operas, Bastianello and Lucrezia, by John Musto and William Bolcom, both with libretti by Mark Campbell, commissioned and premiered by NYFOS in 2008 and recorded on Bridge Records. In addition to Bastianello and Lucrezia and the 2008 Bridge Records release of Spanish Love Songs with Joseph Kaiser and the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, NYFOS has produced five recordings on the Koch label, including a Grammy Award-winning disc of Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles, and the Grammy-nominated recording of Ned Rorem’s Evidence of Things Not Seen (also a NYFOS commission) on New World Records. In 2014, Canción Amorosa, a CD of Spanish song—Basque, Catalan, Castilian, and Sephardic—was released on the GPR label, with soprano Corinne Winters accompanied by Steven Blier.

Their latest endeavor is NYFOS Records, which released its first album (From Rags to Riches, with Stephanie Blythe and William Burden) in January of 2022. Since then, NYFOS Records has released Paul Bowles’s A Picnic Cantata (2022) featuring the vocal talent of sopranos Amy Owens and Chelsea Shephard, mezzo-sopranos Amanda Lynn Bottoms and Naomi Louisa O’Connell, and percussionist Barry Centanni, together with NYFOS Artistic Director Steven Blier and co-founder Michael Barrett on piano; Black & Blue (2023), the debut solo album of British-American tenor Joshua Blue performing together with Steven Blier on piano; Mi País: Songs of Argentina (2023) featuring bass-baritone Federico De Michelis and pianist and Steven Blier; and NYFOS Records: The Singles, Vol. 1 (2024), a compilation of guest artists performing together with Steven Blier, spanning over 20 years of memorable moments and voices. NYFOS Records has reached rapidly growing audiences in over 100 countries, with well over 2.5 million streams to date. 

In November 2010, NYFOS debuted NYFOS Next, a mini-series for new songs, hosted by guest composers in intimate venues, including OPERA America's National Opera Center, National Sawdust, the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, the Ann Goodman Recital Hall at Kaufman Music Center, and now the Rubin Museum in Chelsea.

NYFOS is passionate about nurturing the artistry and careers of young singers, and has developed training residencies around the country, including with The Juilliard School’s Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts (now in its 17th year); Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts (its 17th year in March 2025); San Francisco Opera Center (over 20 years as of February 2018); Glimmerglass Opera (2008–2010); and its newest project, NYFOS@North Fork in Orient, NY.

NYFOS’s concert series, touring programs, radio broadcasts, recordings, and educational activities continue to spark new interest in the creative possibilities of the song program, and have inspired the creation of thematic vocal series around the world.

About Steven Blier
Steven Blier is the Artistic Director of the New York Festival of Song (NYFOS), which he co-founded in 1988 with Michael Barrett. Since the Festival’s inception, he has programmed, performed, translated and annotated more than 150 vocal recitals with repertoire spanning the entire range of American song, art song from Schubert to Szymanowski, and popular song from early vaudeville to Lennon-McCartney. NYFOS has also made in-depth explorations of music from Spain, Latin America, Scandinavia and Russia. New York Magazine gave NYFOS its award for Best Classical Programming, while Opera News proclaimed Blier “the coolest dude in town” and in December 2014, Musical America included him as one of 30 top industry professionals in their feature article, “Profiles in Courage.”

Mr. Blier enjoys an eminent career as an accompanist and vocal coach. His recital partners have included Michael Spyres, Renée Fleming, Cecilia Bartoli, Samuel Ramey, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Susan Graham, Jessye Norman, and José van Dam, in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to La Scala. He is also on the faculty of The Juilliard School and has been active in encouraging young recitalists at summer programs, including the Wolf Trap Opera Company, the Steans Institute at Ravinia, Santa Fe Opera, and the San Francisco Opera Center. Many of his former students, including  Julia Bullock, Stephanie Blythe, Sasha Cooke, Paul Appleby, Dina Kuznetsova, Corinne Winters, and Kate Lindsey, have gone on to be valued recital colleagues and sought-after stars on the opera and concert stage. In keeping the traditions of American music alive, he has brought back to the stage many of the rarely heard songs of George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Kurt Weill and Cole Porter. He has also played ragtime, blues and stride piano evenings with John Musto. A champion of American art song, he has premiered works of John Corigliano, Paul Moravec, Ned Rorem, William Bolcom, Mark Adamo, John Musto, Richard Danielpour, Tobias Picker, Robert Beaser, Lowell Liebermann, Harold Meltzer, and Lee Hoiby, many of which were commissioned by NYFOS.

Mr. Blier’s extensive discography includes the premiere recording of Leonard Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles (Koch International), which won a Grammy Award; Spanish Love Songs (Bridge Records), recorded live at the Caramoor International Music Festival with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Joseph Kaiser, and Michael Barrett; the world premiere recording of Bastianello (John Musto) and Lucrezia (William Bolcom), a double bill of one-act comic operas set to librettos by Mark Campbell; and Quiet Please, an album of jazz standards with vocalist Darius de Haas, and Canción amorosa, a CD of Spanish songs with soprano Corinne Winters. His latest releases for NYFOS Records include Black & Blue (2023), with British-American tenor Joshua Blue; Mi País: Songs of Argentina (2023) with bass-baritone Federico De Michelis; and NYFOS Records: The Singles, Vol. 1 (2024), a compilation of guest artists performing together with Steven Blier, spanning over 20 years of memorable moments and voices.

A native New Yorker, he received a Bachelor’s Degree with Honors in English Literature at Yale University, where he studied piano with Alexander Farkas. He completed his musical studies in New York with Martin Isepp and Paul Jacobs. Mr. Blier is a Yamaha Artist.

###

Image by Cherylynn Tsushima