NYFOS to Premiere COMPOSITORA: SONGS BY LATIN AMERICAN WOMEN at Merkin Hall

New York Festival of Song rounds out its Mainstage season on Tuesday, April 26, 2016 with Compositora: Songs by Latin American Women, a fascinating program that showcases the prodigious accomplishments of Latina composers. The concert takes place at 8:00 p.m. at Merkin Concert Hall (at Kaufman Music Center, 129 West 67th Street).

Breaking the long "culture of silence" imposed on Latin American women, composers like María Grever (Mexico), Violeta Parra (Chile), Odaline de la Martínez (Cuba), Ernestina Lecuona (Cuba), Chabuca Granda (Peru), Susana Baca (Peru), Joyce Morena (Brazil), and Beatriz Lockhart (Venezuela) have made an irreplaceable and exuberant contribution to the world of song.

The evening features two rapidly rising vocalists in their New York recital debuts-soprano María Valdés and baritone Efraín Solís, both lauded Adler Fellows for the past two seasons at San Francisco Opera. The pair are American singers of Latin American descent-Valdés (Cuba) and Solís (Mexico).

They are joined by NYFOS co-founders and pianists Michael Barrett and Steven Blier, along with percussionist Leonardo Granados and a guitarist, as this dazzling program ranges freely from the concert stage to the dance floor.

From NYFOS Artistic Director Steven Blier: "Knowing of my interest in Latin American music, a friend recently wrote me a note with a list of Cuban and South American composers I might want to investigate. I did a double-take: most of the musicians she cited were women. In North America songwriting has traditionally been a male-dominated field, especially popular music. Not so in the Caribbean and throughout Latin America, where a number of gifted women have risen to prominence. I am very excited to be exploring this repertoire: the pastoral, modal sounds of Rocío Sanz, the driving jungle beat of Odaline de la Martínez, the Castilian charm of Beatriz Lockhart, the passionate boleros and elegant waltzes of Violeta Parra and Chabuca Granda, and two gorgeous Brazilian composers, Clarice Assad and Joyce Moreno. I met both of the singers -- María Valdés and Efraín Solís -- at San Francisco Opera, where they have been frequently paired together onstage. (María calls Efraín her 'opera husband.') In tandem with two hot-blooded percussion players and a guitarist, Michael Barrett and I are looking forward to an evening of musical delights and surprises."

Tickets: $40-$55 for Single Tickets; $10 for Student Tickets; $20 for Real Deal Tickets. Visit nyfos.org/Compositora for more information.

PROGRAM:

(subject to change)

Classical:

A unos ojos (Rocío Sanz)
Canciones de Lorca (Odaline de la Martínez)
La guitarra (Beatriz Lockhart)
Canción del jinete (Lockhart)
El nacimiento de Cifar (Gabriela Lena Frank)
Encuanto a noite durar (Clarice Assad)
La casita (Dolores Castegnaro)

Popular Song:

Júrame (María Grever)
Fina estampa (Chabuca Granda)
No lo dudes (Ernestina Lecuona)
Margarita Lecuona TBD
Gracias a la vida (Violeta Parra)
Susana Baca TBD
Como la cigarra (Elena Walsh)
Joyce Moreno TBD
Cachito (Consuelo Velásquez)

ABOUT NYFOS (www.nyfos.org) - Now in its 28th 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. Founded by pianists Michael Barrett and Steven Blier in 1988, NYFOS continues to produce NYFOS MAINSTAGE, its flagship series of thematic song programs, drawing together rarely-heard songs of all kinds, overriding traditional distinctions between classical and popular performance genres, and exploring the character and language of other cultures. Since its founding NYFOS has particularly celebrated the wide spectrum of American music. Among many highlights is the double bill of one-act comic operas, Bastianello by John Musto and Lucrezia by William Bolcom, both with libretti by Mark Campbell, commissioned and premiered by NYFOS in 2008 and recorded on Bridge Records.

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. NYFOS's discography also includes Spanish Love Songs with Joseph Kaiser and the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson on Bridge Records. Its recently released CD on the GPR label, Canción amorosa, also focuses on Spanish song-Basque, Catalan, Castilian, and Sephardic-with soprano Corinne Winters accompanied by Steven Blier.

In 2010, NYFOS launched NYFOS NEXT, a series for new songs, hosted by guest composers in intimate venues. This season the series returns as a mini-festival during the month of February 2016 with all concerts presented at OPERA America's National Opera Center. In the fall of 2014, NYFOS officially introduced its unamplified cabaret seriesNYFOS AFTER HOURS at HENRY's Restaurant on the Upper West Side, drawing full houses and superlative voices accompanied by Blier at the piano.

NYFOS is passionate about nurturing the artistry and careers of young singers and through its NYFOS EMERGING ARTISTS program has developed professional training residencies around the country, including The Juilliard School's Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts (now in its 11th year); Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts (its 8th year in March 2016); San Francisco Opera Center (over 17 years as of March 2016); Glimmerglass Opera (2008-2010); and its newest project, NYFOS@North Fork in Orient, NY (3 years).

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.

Pictured: Soprano María Valdés / Baritone Efraín Solís