New York Festival of Song Presents Annual Gala on May 12, 2025

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

NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG HOSTS ANNUAL GALA
EASY TO LOVE: NYFOS DOES COLE PORTER

Festive Event Held at A Private Club in Manhattan 
on Monday, May 12

Featuring Performances by Julie Benko, Bobby Conte,
Lucia Bradford, Jason Yeager, and Steven Blier

www.nyfos.org

April 14, 2025 (New York, NY) — New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) hosts its annual spring gala, Easy to Love: NYFOS Does Cole Porter, on Monday, May 12, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. at a private club on Park Avenue. In support of NYFOS’s programming and unique engaging concerts, the evening includes cocktails, dinner, and performances celebrating the music of Cole Porter.

The gala features Broadway stars Julie Benko (Funny Girl) and Bobby Conte (Company), NYFOS favorite Lucia Bradford, jazz pianist Jason Yeager, as well as NYFOS’s own Steven Blier as pianist and host. The show will celebrate the unparalleled wit and musical allure of one of America’s greatest songwriters.

Proceeds from the NYFOS Gala directly underwrites our programming and enables all the uniquely engaging concerts that are our hallmark.

Event Information
Easy to Love: NYFOS Does Cole Porter
Monday, May 12, 2025 at 6:30 p.m.
Ticket Link: https://nyfos.org/gala/ 

With performances by:
Julie Benko
Bobby Conte
Lucia Bradford
Jason Yeager

Hosted by:
Steven Blier

About Julie Benko
Julie Benko is an actor, singer, and writer based in New York City. She recently marched her band out on Broadway as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, skyrocketing to fame and joining the annals of theatrical lore for her sensational understudy-to-star trajectory in the show. Between her tenure as the standby, alternate, and full-time Fanny, she played the role over 180 times (1 in every 3 performances!) and received numerous accolades for her interpretation, including Theatre World's Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence in the Theatre. She was named the 2022 Breakout Star for Theater by The New York Times, included in Variety's 10 Broadway Stars to Watch in 2023, honored as one of 40 Under 40 for Crain's New York Business, hailed by CBS Mornings as "Broadway's breakout star," and profiled in numerous national media outlets such as The New York Times and Time. In the fall of 2023, she originated her first role on Broadway, playing Ruth in the long-gestating Barry Manilow/Bruce Sussman musical Harmony. She has played leading roles in off-Broadway and regional productions across the nation, including the title role in Jane Eyre (streaming details to be announced soon!), Girl in Once, and many more. She will make her film debut in the upcoming full-length feature Caravan. Visit her website, www.JulieBenko.com, or follow her on Tiktok/Instagram @Jujujuliebee to discover more.

About Bobby Conte
Bobby Conte is a New York-based actor and vocalist most recently seen on Broadway as Cousin Kevin in the 2024 revival of The Who’s Tommy. He had the honor of singing “Another Hundred People” by the late Stephen Sondheim in Marianne Elliott’s gender-bent revival of Company, and made his Broadway debut originating the role of Calogero in A Bronx Tale, directed by Robert De Niro & Jerry Zaks. Select theatre: 50th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass at the Kennedy Center; My Fair Lady (dir. Michael Arden); A Funny Thing… Forum (dir. Jessica Stone); Starting Here, Starting Now (dir. Richard Maltby, Jr.); world premiere of Ken Ludwig's A Comedy of Tenors; three seasons at The Muny. Film/TV: If Beale Street Could Talk; Intervenors; “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”; “Madam Secretary”; “The Code.” As a concert artist, he has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Carolina Philharmonic and as Tony in Oakland Symphony’s concert version of West Side Story. His debut solo album, Along the Way, is available on Broadway Records. Training: University of Michigan; RADA. Full bio at bobbyconte.com  

About Lucia Bradford
Mezzo-soprano, Lucia Bradford is a native of Brooklyn, N.Y. Ms. Bradford has performed a number of operatic roles including Carmen in Bizet’s La Tragedie de Carmen, Zita in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, La Principessa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, The Mother in Ravel’s L’Enfant des Sortileges, Mercedes in Bizet’s Carmen, Mrs. Quickly in Verdi’s Falstaff, The Sorceress in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Gertrude in Gounod's Romeo and Juliet, Hippolyta in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Miss Todd in Menotti’s Old Maid and the Thief, the Duchess of Plaza Toro in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers, Azelia Dessalines in William Grant Still’s opera Troubled Island, Douglas Tappin’s I dream as Grandma, Mary Watkins’ Emmett Till as Mamie Till and Maria in The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. 

Lucia's concert works include Mozart's Vesperae solennes de Confessore, Hadyn's Lord Nelson Mass, De Falla’s El amor Brujo, William Grant Still’s And they lynched him, Nathanial Dett’s The Ordering of Moses, Julia Perry’s Stabat Mater, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart Requiem, Durufle Requiem, Bach B minor Mass with the Voices of Ascension, Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of N.Y.

Ms. Bradford has had the privilege of singing at Carnegie Hall, the Kimmel Center, Merkin Hall and touring in Russia, Budapest, Spain, the Caribbean and throughout the United States. She also enjoys performing a variety of genres including contemporary opera, jazz, gospel and blues. 

Upcoming events include Handel’s Messiah with National Philharmonic at Strathmore, Porgy and Bess with Opera Carolina and North Carolina Opera, St John’s Passion and Bach’s B minor Mass at Carnegie Hall.

About Jason Yeager
Jason Yeager recently released two highly acclaimed recordings: Hand in Hand (Club44 Records) with his Broadway actress-singer spouse, Julie Benko; and Unstuck in Time: The Kurt Vonnegut Suite (Sunnyside Records) with his eponymous septet and special guest Miguel Zenón. Highlighted in The New York Times Fall Pop & Jazz preview, Hand in Hand has been hailed as “exquisite” (Times Square Chronicles) and “an impressive outing” (BroadwayWorld). Meanwhile, Unstuck in Time was described as “both complex and highly accessible” (JazzTimes) and “an elaborate valentine to Vonnegut” (Downbeat).

Inspired by the social activism and vision of his mentor, Danilo Pérez, Yeager released the acclaimed 2019 album New Songs of Resistance (Outside in Music), which includes reimagined nueva canción protest songs from South America and original compositions that address contemporary social issues. New York Music Daily called the release “one of the best albums of 2019 in any style of music.” Prior to this album, he released All At Onceness (called a "compelling new album" by the Boston Globe) with musical polymath Randal Despommier; United (named a Best Album of 2017 by Downbeat) with violin virtuoso Jason Anick; and a pair of trio albums, Affirmation and Ruminations.

Originally from the Boston area and now based in New York City, Jason is an active performer on the international scene, having performed across five continents at such venues and festivals as Carnegie Hall, the Blue Note, Smalls Jazz Club, Birdland Jazz Club, Berklee Performance Center, Qintai Concert Hall, Panama Jazz Festival, Festival Internacional de Jazz de Costa Rica, and more. 

In addition to his seven albums as a leader, Jason has performed on 25 more as a side musician. He’s performed and recorded with the likes of Luciana Souza, Ran Blake, Sean Jones, Ayn Inserto, Ben Monder, Steve Wilson, George Garzone, Jason Palmer, Noah Preminger, and Aubrey Johnson. He regularly gigs around NYC and beyond with artists like Fleur Seule, Randal Despommier, and Jason Anick.

Yeager was the first-place winner of the 2022 Jazz WaHi Jazz Composition Competition, for which he was commissioned to write a five-movement suite based on literature set in or associated with the New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights. He was also the 2nd-place winner of the 2022 Ravenscroft Jazz Piano Competition, and a two-time Finalist of the Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition (formerly Great American Jazz Piano Competition). 

Mentored in music by generous and inspirational teachers, Jason is now a committed educator in his own right. He is Assistant Professor of Piano at Berklee College of Music, where he has taught since 2012. He also teaches at the New York Jazz Academy and through his private studio. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude from the Tufts University/New England Conservatory Double Degree Program, and earned a Master of Music, summa cum laude, from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute.

Originally from Framingham, MA, Yeager was first mentored by extraordinary artist-teachers, including Milton Academy's jazz director, bassist Bob Sinicrope, and pianists Dan Loschen and Kyle Aho. He has since studied with some of the foremost musicians in the world, including Fred Hersch, Danilo Pérez Sophia Rosoff, Ran Blake, Terri Lyne Carrington, John Patitucci, Vijay Iyer, Joe Lovano, and Jerry Bergonzi.

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. 

In January of 2022, NYFOS Records issued its first album, From Rags to Riches, with Stephanie Blythe and William Burden. At the end of January they are set to release their sixth album, Schubert/Beatles, with Theo Hoffman, Julia Bullock, Kunal Lahiri, and Mr. Blier. The new CD joins NYFOS Records’s burgeoning discography, alongside A Picnic Cantata (2022), the first stereo recording of a hidden gem by Paul Bowles and James Schuyler; Black & Blue (2023), the debut solo album of British-American tenor Joshua Blue collaborating with Steven Blier; 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 wide-ranging compilation drawn from over 20 years of archival material, including tracks featuring Michael Spyres, Justin Austin, and Bernarda Fink. NYFOS Records has reached rapidly growing audiences in over 100 countries, with well over 2.5 million streams to date. 

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.

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.

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