Yesterday, I was going on about Dave Frishberg, and mentioned “My Attorney Bernie”. I don’t expect anyone actually looked it up, so I’ll make it easy for y’all. Here’s Dave performing that song on the Tonight Show when Johnny Carson was the host.
Read MoreDave Frishberg. Urbane, pianist extraordinaire, a real lyricist, and a musician who gets us other musical cats. Here is “I Want To Be A Sideman”. At NYFOS, we bring in sidemen all the time. Clarinetists, guitarists, percussionists, whatever the music calls for. And playing the piano for singers—well, sometimes you ARE the sideman.
Read MoreOh It’s Summer! And time for all of our many summer music festivals! I’m in Santa Fe where they are offering up Candide, Madama Butterfly, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Dr. Atomic, among other goodies. Their production of Candide is closer to Voltaire than the Americanized jokey versions I’ve seen in our country lately.
Read MoreThe 2017-2018 season was (is) our 30th at the New York Festival of Song. We’ve managed to cover quite a bit of ground. There were early celebrations of Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday in the fall and the winter (the Lenny celebrations officially began on his 99th birthday), and one of NY’s only acknowledgement’s of William Bolcom and John Corigliano 80th birthdays.
Read MoreOn April 24 we are celebrating the NYFOS 30th Anniversary with a concert at Merkin Hall at 8:00. Tenor Paul Appleby, a NYFOS regular over the past decade will be with us singing Schubert, Lennon and McCartney, and several other things. Paul has an enviable international career by now, and we don’t get to see him very often, so this this will be a treat for Steve Blier and myself.
Read MoreI’ve been trying to absorb the fact that NYFOS is approaching the end of our 30th season. It’s a little beyond me, I admit. I’m the kind of person who might take a half day off after a big project, but after that, it’s on to the next. But celebrating a 30th anniversary is maybe a good time for some reflection.
Read MoreAlong with our April 24th 30th Anniversary concert, NYFOS will end our season (I don’t think our season really ends, but maybe it does on paper) with the last installment of NYFOS Next featuring Clarice Assad.
Read MoreAt NYFOS we are coming into the home stretch of our 30th anniversary season. Up next on April 24 at Merkin Hall will be our 30th Anniversary Concert with a bevy of marvelous singers. These guys all have burgeoning careers. Soprano Julia Bullock has a solo recital at Carnegie hall next week. Paul Appleby is our leading young American tenor and sings the world over. Mary Testa is a bona fide Broadway star; Theo Hoffman is rocking it at the L.A. Opera; Lauren Worsham is a star in everything she touches and already has an Emmy nomination; and baritone John Brancy just delivered a spectacular recital at Alice Tully Hall a few nights ago.
Read MoreIt’s the big Bernstein year. Steven Blier and I have already done a passel of LB shows, with more to come this winter and next fall. But here’s a beautiful rarity from his Peter Pan. Most folks don’t know it, since it didn’t have a big run on B’way. He wrote half a dozen songs for Boris Karloff’s show (he was Hook, of course), but as always, Lenny delivered some keepers.
Read MoreJesu, meine Freude. Jesus, my Joy. Johann Sebastian Bach. It’s fair to say that classical musicians agree that Bach at the very top of creative geniuses. His music seems in a class by itself. And he wrote lots and lots of music. It seemed to just pour out of him. I’m amazed at how personal his music sounds to me. It’s full of emotional feeling, belief, hope, and tragedy. On a snowy day like this, when I hope to stay in, listening to Bach is like having a private religious ceremony. This is a church I actually want to attend.
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