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Lucia Bradford
After bringing “rich, burnished tone and fearsome low notes” (Opera News) to NYFOS’s 2017 performances of Bernstein’s Songfest, mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford returns this November in our Merkin Hall season opener: W.C. Handy and the Birth of the Blues. This October she is our Artist of the Month!
Logic: America
“America” is from the 2017 album “Everybody” by rap artist Logic. This track explores what it means to be an American citizen in today’s society, and makes references to the Trump administration, Kanye West, the Flint water crisis, and white supremacy, among other things.
Howard Ashman and Alan Menken: Be Our Guest
Though Sukkot continues for another few days, Moses and Miriam have burst onto the scene for day 5, providing a musical climax to our journey of songs which evoke the presence of sacred Jewish ancestors. These two siblings lead the Israelites in celebrating their freedom from Egypt on the other side of the sea, and I don’t know of a song that encapsulates singing, dancing, company, and cookery quite as well as this showstopper from the 1991 Disney animated classic.
Jack Yellen and Lew Pollack: My Yiddishe Momme
Jacob’s true love Rachel and favored child Joseph arrive just in time for the fourth day of Sukkot. Unlike our previous pairs this week, these two are mother and son, and are absolutely crying out for this vaudeville classic to be featured today.
Doron Medalie and Stav Berger: Toy
On the third day of Sukkot, Jews welcome the spirits of Jacob and his first wife Leah, the “baby momma” for most of his children and older sister of his true love Rachel (who visits us tomorrow). Rabbinic and scholarly commentaries across the centuries are rife with interpretations about Jacob’s relationship with his wives.
Alicia Keys: Fallin’
Isaac and Rebekah, the ushpizin (sacred ancestral spirits) Jews welcome on the second day of Sukkot, are notorious for the all-too human dimensions of their relationship. The Torah describes Rebekah atop a camel, beautifully dressed, on her way to meet Isaac for the first time. She is so smitten by him that she falls off the camel, a veritable victim of love at first sight.
Jacob Rappaport: Eilu D’varim
This week, Jewish communities all over the world are exhaling, having made it to the end of the High Holiday season. Today begins Sukkot, an eight-day festival filling a number of purposes: the Biblical account of surviving 40 years in the wilderness; the bounty of the fall harvest; and, perhaps most importantly, the miracle of life in all its fragile, temporal beauty.
Victor Jara: Manifesto
The last couple of months I spent a significant amount of time in South America, and the majority in Chile. Unsurprisingly, the legacy of the dictatorship is still very present in the politics and culture of the country, and specifically on the streets of Santiago where during the wintertime students and other activists take to the streets.
Sara Bareilles: Seriously
This is a song called “Seriously” written by Sara Bareilles and performed by Leslie Odom Jr. It’s supposed to be an imagining of what then president Barack Obama might have been thinking during the 2016 election but was not at liberty to say.
Lin-Manuel Miranda: History Has Its Eyes On You
This is a song from the Hamilton Mixtape, which I believe is pretty well known and popular at the moment. (I don’t even totally know, I live in Europe!) It’s a song that is sung by George Washington in the original show and is an insightful, touching song about how history is written.
Hanns Eisler: Abortion is Illegal
For my first song I’d love you to listen to “Abortion Is Illegal by Hanns Eisler/Brecht. For me it is shocking that this was written in the 1930s, not because it was necessarily so ahead of its time, but because it could have been written today as well.
Joshua Jeremiah
Returning to New York Festival of Song this month in two tour performances of...
Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez: Remember Me
Anyone who glances at my social media platforms will quickly realize that my...
London Thumakda: Queen
Three hours in NYC never fails to be exciting endeavor, one with no shortage of music. Journeying from Grand Central to Times Square/Port Authority, I heard no less than five new performers and ten different pop hits of today and yesteryear. There is an almost overwhelming fusion of marketing, visual art and music throughout the city that pierces all the senses synonymously.
Gabriel Kahane: Opera Scene
Orient proved to be the rejuvenating oasis of my dreams. There was no shortage of rolling waters, crisp breezes, ample slices of lemon pie and unforgettable musical moments. The bright toned yippings of dogs were accompanied by rehearsals overflowing with not only beauty but unending laughter. Much of that laughter came from the antics and theatrical genius of the one and only Johnathan McCullough.