Blier, Kaye, Graae, Aylmer and Martin Head January 31 Fats and Fields Concert

The New York Festival of Song, with Artistic Director Steven Blier and Associate Artistic Director Michael Barrett, continues its 18th season on Tuesday January 31st with FATS AND FIELDS, a tribute to the song legacies of brilliant lyricist Dorothy Fields and prodigious piano virtuoso/singer/songwriter Fats Waller—tracing their wide-ranging, occasionally crisscrossing musical paths from the Cotton Club to Broadway to Hollywood, via Tin Pan Alley. The concert will take place at 8 p.m. at Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center, 129 West 67th St.

Artists include pianist Steven Blier, Judy Kaye, Jennifer Aylmer, Jason Graae and James Martin.

Now in its eighteenth season, the New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) was founded in 1988 by pianists Michael Barrett and Steven Blier. NYFOS is dedicated to offering uniquely beautiful, intimate concerts that override traditional distinctions between "high" and "low" performance genres, entertaining, educating and creating community among audiences and performers. Each concert centers on a theme; Blier and Barrett use this theme to draw together a dazzling variety of songs, and to pull these songs into dialogue with each other, as the musical performance grows, song by song, into a dynamic evening of theater. Poetry, monologue and story are added to the mix, transporting listeners to many regions of the globe, and into the personal, creative worlds of song composers and lyricists.

ARTISTS

Steven Blier, co-founder and artistic director of The New York Festival of Song enjoys an eminent career as an accompanist and vocal coach. Among the many artists he has partnered in recital are Samuel Ramey, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade, Jessye Norman, Wolfgang Holzmair, Susanne Mentzer, Sylvia McNair and Arlene Augér. Mr. Blier co-founded the New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) in 1988 with Michael Barrett. Since the Festival's inception he has programmed, performed, translated and annotated over ninety 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. In the 2003-2004 season, the series began a new partnership with the Kaufman Center's Merkin Concert Hall, where all six concerts played to sold-out houses.

Michael Barrett, co-founder and associate artistic director of The New York Festival of Song, is Chief Executive and General Director of the Caramoor Festival and also the musical director and founder of the Moab Music Festival in Utah. He has guest conducted with major orchestras here and abroad in symphonic, operatic and dance repertoire. Mr. Barrett served as the director of the Tisch Center for the Arts at the 92nd Street Y and is currently music advisor to the Leonard Bernstein estate. His recording, The Joys of Bernstein, features Mr. Barrett playing solo piano with Maestro Bernstein conducting.

Jennifer Aylmer, soprano, most recently appeared as Norina in Don Pasquale with Michigan Opera Theatre, Emilia in Handel's Flavio with the New York City Opera and Nanetta in Act III of Falstaff with the Brooklyn Philharmonic. In recital, Ms. Aylmer performed at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts presented by the Jose Iturbi Foundation; at Merkin Hall with baritone Troy Cook; and Bradford, Pennsylvania for the Marilyn Horne Foundation; and returned to the New York Festival of Song this season for Lyrics by Shakespeare. Judy Kaye is currently starring in Souvenir, the story of Florence Foster Jenkins for The York Theatre. Ms. Kayes's multifaceted, nearly four-decade long career has taken her from Broadway to the nation's leading theaters, opera houses and concert halls. Her Broadway credits include Mamma Mia!, Ragtime, On the Twentieth Century, and Phantom of the Opera, for which she won a Tony Award for best featured actress in a musical. Included among her numerous stage performances are leading roles in The Pajama Game and Brigadoon (New York City Opera) and Annie Get Your Gun (Paper Mill Playhouse). She has starred in concert at Town Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Carnegie Hall. Jason Graae, has recently appeared as Dennis on HBO's "Six Feet Under," and was featured in "On Stage at The Kennedy Center - Marvin Hamlisch's Holiday Concert for the Troops"(with The National Symphony) and in Washington Opera's Die Fledermaus in the role of Frosch, both for PBS. In 2004 he was also featured in Jerry Herman's Mack and Mabel at Lincoln Center and toured with Jerry Herman and Co. in Hello, Jerry! as well as in his one man show. His Broadway credits include A Grand Night for Singing, Falsettos, Stardust, Snoopy! and Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? He has been seen Off-Broadway in Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh, for which he received a Drama Desk nomination as Best Actor in a Musical, Forever Plaid, Olympus on My Mind, and All in the Timing. James Martin, baritone, makes his home in New York City. He received his Bachelor of Music from Illinois Wesleyan University and his Master's degree from The Juilliard School as a student of Cynthia Hoffmann. While at Juilliard he was also a member of The Juilliard Opera Center and received such honors as the William Schuman award, the SONY Elevated Standards award, the Theodore Presser award, and the Irene Diamond Scholarship. He has performed opera and concert throughout the United States and parts of Europe, apprenticing with the Santa Fe Opera, San Francisco's Merola program and Western Opera Theater Tour, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and educational work with the New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera Guild. Recently he made his Den Norske Opera debut as Don Giovanni in Oslo, and with L'opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg, as Junius in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and Matt of the Mint in The Beggar's Opera.

 

NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG PROGRAM INFORMATION
Fats and Fields
Tuesday, January 31st at 8:00pm
Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center, 129 W 67th St., Broadway & Amsterdam Ave.

*Program and artists subject to change

TICKET INFORMATION
All concerts begin at 8 p.m.
Tickets are available by phone at 212-501-3330 or at the Merkin Concert Hall Box Office, 129 West 67th Street.

Visit the NYFOS website at www.nyfos.org or Kaufman Center website www.ekcce.org.