No Song is Safe From Us

No Song Is Safe From Us - The NYFOS Blog
 |  NYFOS@North Fork

“Steal me, sweet thief” has been one of my favorite arias since I heard it about 2 years ago. I only started singing it recently because my usual English aria, “No Word from Tom” from Stravinsky’s opera The Rakes Progress (another must-listen), wasn’t quite doing it for me anymore. “Steal me” is one of the only well known arias by Menotti.




 |  NYFOS@North Fork

The song is “Simply Second Nature” from the 2013 musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. I heard it for the first time as an undergraduate student, when I was just beginning to delve into the world of musicals. As a classical musician since childhood, I found that I really didn’t know much at all about Broadway. And recently, I’d started to try my own amateur hand at some composition, so I needed all the guidance I could get.




 |  NYFOS@North Fork

Before coming to Orient for NYFOS@North Fork I spent two months in Europe. My adventures began with a week in Ireland. It was my second time visiting the Emerald Isle but this time around I really fell in love with the country and became fascinated with its compelling history. After a week in the Irish moors and probably enough pints for a year, I trekked off to Vienna for the Franz Schubert Institut where, lo and behold, I met an Irishman and we became fast friends! Between our escapades into the German Lied, my new friend Seán Boylan would introduce me to his favorite Irish bands and singers.




 |  NYFOS@North Fork

A final post from our 2015 NYFOS@NorthFork cast, then Song of the Day is on break until Labor Day. Here are some selections from baritone Dimitri Katotakis to enjoy in these last few weeks of summer! When we were preparing the “Latin Lovers” concert, Steven and I stumbled upon a question that neither of us […]




 |  NYFOS@North Fork

Under the wire, here is our Song of the Day for August 28th from NYFOS@North Fork Emerging Artist Amanda Lynn Bottoms: When Steve asked me to join the Orient Point residency, my familiarity with Cuban, Brazilian, Argentinian and Latin music as a whole was…limited. So I did what any logical millennial would do and headed […]




 |  NYFOS@North Fork

Alex McKissick with the Song of the Day for August 27th: As the Orient residency tenor soloist, I feel it is my duty to introduce, or for the more well-informed out there, to further explore the life of a fabulous Spanish tenor, Miguel Fleta. Mr. Fleta was an operatic superstar back in the early 20th […]




 |  NYFOS@North Fork

August 26th’s Song of the Day, coming from NYFOS@NorthFork soprano Anna Dugan. Thanks, Anna! ‘Dugan’ doesn’t exactly scream Spanish, so people rarely guess that I hail from Spain (half of me, at least). Performing on the “Latin Lovers” concert was a special gift for me, as it is rare that I get to sing music […]




 |  NYFOS@North Fork

This week’s Songs-of-the-Day are being written by the cast of our NYFOS@North Fork project. Today’s entry is from our ace percussionist Josh Vonderheide. He describes how he got ready for the concert: To get prepared for the “Latin Lovers” concerts that NYFOS presented last weekend in Long Island, I had to immerse myself in the […]