Monday’s theme was, “Oh, how lovely, what a talented, harmonious cast, and look how much work they did on their music!” And it was true: this year’s ensemble is a gifted group with high-class sets of pipes and excellent training. The sky would seem to be the...
written by
Steven Blier
NYFOS@Caramoor 2025: Day 1
So much work goes into these Schwab Rising Star residencies at Caramoor before Bénédicte Jourdois (the Associate Director), the cast, and I ever set foot in the Music Room. The program idea has to be honed, the songs have to be chosen, and scanned, and sent, and...
Program Notes: Le Tour de France
Le tour de France is finally making its New York début after a four-year delay. The product of a collaboration between the pianist Bénédicte Jourdois and me, it received its initial outing at Caramoor as part of NYFOS’s annual Schwab Vocal Rising Stars program. We...
Program Notes: My Brother’s Keeper
JUSTIN AUSTIN, co-artistic director As a child, I was profoundly captivated by the Grammy-winning a cappella group Take 6, a remarkable ensemble of six young Black men whose music celebrated the transformative power of goodness and love. Years later, their artistry...
NYFOS@North Fork 2024: The Concert
Let’s not bury the lede: the hall was full (I feared that we’d have a sparse crowd), and the reception was rapturous. For once, that descriptor is not hyperbole. The hall in Orient is not large, and there is the palpable sense of a community coming together for a...
NYFOS@North Fork 2024: Day 6
Dress rehearsal? Well, it went smoothly enough. 95% of the lyrics were in place, a few of the numbers got their best performance yet, and everything was, as we say, at a level. Katherine, who had told us we wouldn’t be seeing the lights until the performance, managed...