Gabriel Kahane Hosts New York Festival of Song 11/16

NYFOS Next is the latest innovation from the NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG (NYFOS), now in its 23rd season, focusing on contemporary songs that defy easy categorization and redefine the boundaries of the song genre. The inaugural NYFOS Next concert on November 16 at 7 p.m. is co-hosted and co-curated by the dynamic young composer-performer Gabriel Kahane, with NYFOS's Steven Blier, Michael Barrett and Benjamin Sosland (program and singers TBA). The second concert in the series will be hosted by composer PHIL KLINE and friends.

Performances will take place at Baryshnikov Arts Center's Howard Gilman Performance Space
at 450 West 37th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues.

For tickets and more information visit http://www.nyfos.org/.

Kahane has been critically acclaimed for his eclectic style that has him equally at home in the worlds of concert music, musical theater, and pop. He has selected new songs that will take the audience into the future of contemporary song. Discovery is at the heart of any NYFOS concert; whether it's hearing a lost or neglected song from an earlier time or a song written last year, each show offers fresh ideas and opens ears.

Kahane is at the vanguard of a generation of new composers who shatter stereotypes. The New Yorker's Alex Ross says: "His music absorbs everything from 1920s neoclassicism to bluegrass and modern indie pop, with potent melodies bridging the disparate styles." With Kahane as guide, NYFOS Next will be a creative hothouse for song, as composers and performers spontaneously share their art with audiences.

NYFOS Next is presented by The Movado Hour, a series of free hour-long concerts that take place in an intimate, salon-like setting. It is one of three ground-breaking initiatives for NYFOS in its 23rd season, along with Bastianello / Lucrezia, a 2-disc CD release on Bridge Records featuring the two operas NYFOS commissioned from John Musto and William Bolcom; and No Song is Safe From Us, a nationally syndicated radio series produced by Chicago's famed WFMT and hosted by Frederica von Stade, which will air starting in January 2011. Drawing upon NYFOS's extensive archives and recordings, the radio series includes two programs featuring the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson.