Dina Kuznetsova, Jeff Picon Returns for NYFOS' 26th Season, Beg. Tonight

New York Festival of Song announces its 26th Season for 2013-14.

Artistic Director Steven Blier talks about the new season: "I feel invigorated by the 26th Season of New York Festival of Song, a perfect blend of new projects and the return of some cherished colleagues. In our Mainstage series, we're bringing Dina Kuznetsova, Joseph Kaiser, Kate Lindsey, Ricardo Herrera, and Jeff Picón back after several seasons' absence, along with the visionary Andrew Garland and sublime Corinne Winters. Our concerts delve into songs from three of my favorite musical hotspots: America, Poland, and Cuba-very rich terrain.

Our Emerging Artists series now has a new addition: a residency on the North Fork of Long Island at the most beautiful time of the season, late August. NYFOS Next features three contemporary composers who have a longstanding importance to us: John Musto, Mark Adamo, and Harold Meltzer. And we're adding a new cabaret series to our season, NYFOS After Hours at HENRY's Restaurant. It is a lovely spot to hear popular song-unamplified!-at its very best.

We are spreading our wings: NYFOS is the hippest way to hear songs in the concert hall; NYFOS is New Music; NYFOS nurtures the finest young singers in America; NYFOS kicks back and offers popular song in a relaxed environment."

Now in its 26th 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 seamless theater, each program engages and fosters community among artists and audiences.

Founded by pianists Michael Barrett and Steven Blier in 1988, NYFOS continues to produce its series of thematic song programs, drawing together rarely-heard songs of all kinds, overriding traditional distinctions between classical and popular performance genres, exploring the character and language of other cultures, and the personal voices of song composers and lyricists. NYFOS also nurtures the artistry and careers of young singers in training residencies with The Juilliard School (in its 9th year), Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts (in its 6th year), San Francisco Opera (in its 16th year) and Glimmerglass Opera (2008 - 2010).

Since its founding, NYFOS has particularly celebrated American song, featuring premieres and commissions of new American works, including a double bill of one-act comic operas, Bastianello and Lucrezia, by John Musto and William Bolcom with libretti by Mark Campbell. Commissioned and premiered by NYFOS in 2008, they were released on Bridge Records in 2011. NYFOS's other recordings include the 2008 Bridge Records release of Spanish Love Songs with Joseph Kaiser and the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and five recordings on the Koch label, including the Grammy Award-winning disc of Bernstein's Arias and Barcarolles. Their Grammy-nominated recording of Ned Rorem's Evidence of Things Not Seen (also a NYFOS commission) is on New World Records.

In 2011, NYFOS's 13-segment, nationally syndicated radio show, hosted by Frederica von Stade, debuted on WFMT, producer of radio programs for the New York Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Wigmore Hall and many others. 2011 also saw the debut of NYFOS Next, NYFOS's mini-series for new songs, hosted by guest composers in intimate venues.

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.

NYFOS 2013-14 Season-at-a-Glance:

Sunday, August 25, 5:00 pm
NYFOS@North Fork
Off to the Island
Orient, NY
NYFOS Emerging Artists

Monday, September 23, 10:00 pm
Autumn in New York
HENRY's Restaurant
NYFOS After Hours

Friday, November 1, 8:00 pm
Ned is Ninety
Brown University, Providence, RI
NYFOS On Tour

Saturday, November 2, 11:00 am
Masterclass
Brown University, Providence, RI
NYFOS On Tour

Sunday, November 3, 1:30 pm
Ned is Ninety
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA
NYFOS On Tour

Tuesday, November 5, 8:00 pm
Ned is Ninety
Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center
NYFOS Mainstage

Tuesday, December 3, 8:00pm
Cubans in Paris, Cubans at Home
Reston Community Center, Reston, VA
NYFOS On Tour

Thursday, December 5, 8:00 pm
Cubans in Paris, Cubans at Home
Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center
NYFOS Mainstage

Monday, December 16, 10:00 pm
A Goyishe Christmas to You!
HENRY's Restaurant
NYFOS After Hours

Wednesday, January 15, 8:00 pm
NYFOS@Juilliard
The Land Where the Good Songs Go
Peter Jay Sharp Theater in NYC
NYFOS Emerging Artists

Tuesday, January 28, 7:30 pm
Mark Adamo & Friends
OPERA America's National Opera Center
NYFOS Next

Sunday, February 16, 1:30 pm
Warsaw Serenade
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA
NYFOS On Tour

Tuesday, February 18, 8:00 pm
Warsaw Serenade
Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center
NYFOS Mainstage

Tuesday, March 4, 7:30 pm
John Musto & Friends
OPERA America's National Opera Center
NYFOS Next

Sunday, March 16, 4:00 pm
Caramoor's Vocal Rising Stars
Ports of Call: An Itinerary of Song
Caramoor Center in Katonah, NY
NYFOS Emerging Artists

Tuesday, March 18, 7:00 pm
Caramoor's Vocal Rising Stars
Ports of Call: An Itinerary of Song
OPERA America's National Opera Center
NYFOS Emerging Artists

Wednesday, March 19, 7:00 pm
Caramoor's Vocal Rising Stars
Ports of Call: An Itinerary of Song
OPERA America's National Opera Center
NYFOS Emerging Artists

Tuesday, April 1, 7:30 pm
Harold Meltzer & Friends
OPERA America's National Opera Center
NYFOS Next

Monday, April 28, 7:00 pm
Remembering Lenny
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
Spring Gala

Monday, May 5, 10:00 pm
The Land Where The Good Songs Go
HENRY's Restaurant
NYFOS After Hours