During my recent trip to Brazil, and having been a fan of Brazilian Bossa Nova/Samba since being introduced to it by Steve a number of years ago, I was eager to hear what BRAZILIANS listen to in BRAZIL. None of this Gringo mess. Turns out they listen to the Gringo mess but ALSO quite a […]
Read MoreIf any of you saw the newest A Star Is Born, you may have walked out humming one of the many romantic, tear-jerker power ballads crooned throughout the evening. I however was taken with a song only briefly sung by Bradley Cooper’s character towards the beginning of the film. It walks the line between 60s […]
Read MoreGiven the current political climate I feel it would be remiss of me to not include at least one good political song. For some reason this choral piece I sang at the University of Michigan popped into my head and I gave it a little re-listen and was pleased that I found it as impactful […]
Read MoreI love me a good cover, and I found this particular cover (not to mention the many other covers found on this album) to be some of the more interesting, jazzy, clever, and gaudy covers I’ve heard in recent memory. I chose “In my room” not only cause, well, I particularly like it, but because […]
Read MoreOur final subscription concert is set for March 17. It’s called The Art of Pleasure, a show I first devised at Wolf Trap and later repeated in Long Island. This time it will come out of our collaboration with Caramoor’s Vocal Rising Stars program, an annual art song zen-retreat in Katonah. I’ve just completed casting, […]
Read MoreOur continuing preview of this year’s concerts continues with a peek at Tain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do: Songs of Gay Harlem, set for December 12. After the dizzying success of last year’s tribute to W. C. Handy, I wanted to get the team together again as soon as possible. And I almost succeeded: vocalists […]
Read MoreContinuing my preview of our fall concerts: Silverlake and No For an Answer, November 19 at Merkin Hall. Michael and I both had a hankering to revive NYFOS’ tradition of presenting rare theater pieces in concert versions. Kurt Weill’s “Silverlake” was a feature of the last NYFOS@Juilliard evening, and the three songs we did whetted […]
Read MoreNYFOS’s 32nd season is upon us, our Lapis Anniversary, and I thought I’d preview our four mainstage concerts this week. Of course, choosing just one song from each is a kind of sweet torture, so I decided just to close my eyes and point. Opening night—October 16—will be an updated reprise of NYFOS’ very first concert, Lyrics […]
Read MoreLast week there was a wonderful interview with Linda Ronstadt and at the end she says she wished she had recorded “Paloma Negra”. I read this just the day after my husband Henry had sung the song to a friend of ours for her birthday so the song has been in my head for awhile. […]
Read MoreThis is a song about ecstasy and abandon. My favorite section of it is: Io vedo il cielo sopra noiChe restiamo quiAbbandonatiCome se non ci fosse piùNiente, più niente al mondo What an amazing feeling and what joy to sing about it!!! My husband Henry and I do a party trick where he plays and […]
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