FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Katlyn Morahan
Morahan Arts and Media
katlyn@morahanartsandmedia.com
(646) 378-9386

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NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG ANNOUNCES 2022–23
MAINSTAGE PROGRAMMING AT MERKIN HALL

Season Celebrates Artistic Director Steven Blier’s
50th Anniversary Onstage

Featured Artists for 35th Anniversary Season
Include Kara Dugan, Kate Lindsey, Naomi O’Connell, John Brancy,
Justin Austin, Federico De Michelis, Charles Yang,
Peter Dugan, Sari Gruber, and Others

Season Additionally Includes NYFOS Next Festival, And
Performances at Caramoor, Juilliard, and Orient, New York

www.nyfos.org

July 12, 2022, New York, NY — New York Festival of Song (NYFOS), led by Artistic Director Steven Blier, today announces its 2022–23 season of performances, including four Mainstage Series programs at Merkin Hall, co-presented by Kaufman Music Center, with subscriptions now on sale and single tickets going on sale August 15. The organization celebrates its 35th anniversary this season in addition to Steven Blier’s 50th anniversary as a professional pianist.

NYFOS kicks off its Mainstage season at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center on Wednesday, September 28, 2022 at 8:00 p.m. Heroes, a tribute to the mythical figures as well as the contemporary men and women who inspire us, includes music by Schubert, Gluck, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, and others. It features soloists mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan, baritone John Brancy, violinist and vocalist Charles Yang, and pianist Peter Dugan, together with Steven Blier at the piano.

The Mainstage season continues on Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 8:00 p.m. with Kabarett, which highlights songs from Berlin’s fabled nightspots during the Weimar era, featuring music by Hollaender, Spoliansky, Bienert, Tucholsky, and others. Soprano Sari Gruber, Irish mezzo-soprano Naomi O’Connell and baritone Justin Austin join Mr. Blier at the piano.

On Wednesday, February 15, 2023 at 8:00 p.m., NYFOS offers Amor, a concert in honor of Artistic Director Steven Blier, who is celebrating 50 years as a professional musician. The program will be a collection of Blier’s favorites, performed by mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford, mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, bass-baritone Federico De Michelis, and additional artists to be announced together, with Mr. Blier at the piano. Selections include music by Piazzolla, Kurt Weill, Fauré, Fats Waller, and more.

NYFOS concludes its Mainstage season with Mediterranean on Tuesday, March 14, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. The program is a musical voyage around the Mediterranean Sea from Spain to Greece, with stops in France, Italy, Israel, Lebanon, and Egypt, and featuring the five young artists (four singers and one pianist) chosen to participate in Caramoor’s 2023 Schwab Vocal Rising Stars residency which takes place March 6 to 12 at the Caramoor Center for the Arts. Joining Mr. Blier as co-coach and co-pianist is Bénédicte Jourdois. An additional performance of Mediterranean takes place at Caramoor on March 12, 2023 at 3:00 p.m.

Additional performances include: 

-NYFOS’ series for new song, the NYFOS Next Festival, slated to return Fall 2022. Programming and dates to be announced. 

-South of the Border, a NYFOS@North Fork concert at Poquatuck Hall in Orient, New York on August 28, 2022 at 3:00 p.m., featuring music from Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia performed by soprano Shelén Hughes and tenor César Andrés Parreño, together with Mr. Blier.

-NYFOS@Juilliard in the Willson Theater on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 and Thursday, May 4, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. Program and artists are to be announced.

"NYFOS’s 35th season is devoted to the idea of resilience," said Artistic Director Steven Blier. "Songs have a way of sustaining us during difficult times, and each of our shows offers a window into the beauty of endurance—and the power of resistance. We invite you to join us as we reunite with some cherished colleagues and tour the globe in song, from America to Europe to Greece and Israel."

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.

NYFOS Mainstage is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

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Concert Information

Heroes
September 28, 2022 at 8:00 p.m.
Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center
Link: https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/event/new-york-festival-of-song-heroes/

Kara Dugan, mezzo-soprano
John Brancy, baritone
Charles Yang, violin 
Peter Dugan, piano 
Steven Blier, piano

Program: 
Works by SCHUBERT, GLUCK, BOB DYLAN, STEVIE WONDER, and others.

Tickets: $20-$70 Single tickets; $10 Students; Subscriptions available for $160-$260

Kabarett
November 16, 2022 at 8:00 p.m.
Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center 
Link: https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/event/new-york-festival-of-song-kabarett/

Sari Gruber, soprano
Naomi O’Connell, mezzo-soprano
Justin Austin, baritone 
Steven Blier, piano

Program: 
Works by HOLLAENDER, SPOLANSKY, BIENERT, TUCHOLSKY, and others 

Tickets: $20-$70 Single tickets; $10 Students; Subscriptions available for $160-$260

Amor
February 15, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.
Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center 
Link: https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/event/new-york-festival-of-song-amor/

Lucia Bradford, mezzo-soprano
Kate Lindsey, mezzo-soprano
Federico De Michelis, bass-baritone
Steven Blier, piano

Additional artists to be announced.

Program: 
Works by PIAZZOLLA, KURT WEILL, FAURÉ, FATS WALLER, and others. 

Tickets: $20-$70 Single tickets; $10 Students; Subscriptions available for $160-$260

Mediterranean
March 14, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.
Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center 
Link: https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/event/new-york-festival-of-song-mediterranean/

2023 Schwab Vocal Rising Stars 

Steven Blier, piano
Bénédicte Jourdois, piano

Tickets: $20-$70 Single tickets; $10 Students; Subscriptions available for $160-$260

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About New York Festival of Song
Now in its 35th 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. They also issue a monthly single, with archival performances by artists like Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Bernarda Fink, and newly recorded songs by Joshua Blue and Sasha Cooke. NYFOS Records has reached rapidly growing audiences in over 100 countries, with well over 100,000 plays since its inception in November of 2021. 

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, and now the Ann Goodman Recital Hall at Kaufman Music Center.

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 16th year); Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts (its 14th year in March 2022); 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 140 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 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 Stephanie Blythe, Joseph Kaiser, Sasha Cooke, Paul Appleby, Dina Kuznetsova, Corinne Winters, Julia Bullock, 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 release is From Rags to Riches with Stephanie Blythe and William Burden, on NYFOS Records. His writings on opera have been featured in Opera News and the Yale Review. 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. 

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