Nina Simone sings I Loves You, Porgy

Nina Simone sings I Loves You, Porgy

This week we’ve been surveying the Spaniards. But today I had an extraordinary discussion with my class at Hunter College. I teach a single class in the Theater department. It is called Singing. We sing of course, but today we had a deep discussion about race and...
Gershwin:  Summertime

Gershwin: Summertime

I’m honored to be invited to contribute to NYFOS’s Song of the Day for a second time. As summer gets into full swing, this week I wanted to feature a few songs that celebrate the season. Here to start us off are the incomparable Louis and Ella with...
George Gershwin:  My Cousin In Milwaukee

George Gershwin: My Cousin In Milwaukee

To celebrate NYFOS’s 30th Anniversary Season, Song of the Day is featuring some selections from our commercial recordings.  Longtime friend of NYFOS Judy Kaye really shows her range on NYFOS’s album He Loves and She Loves. Here’s “My Cousin In...
George and Ira Gershwin:  Boy Wanted

George and Ira Gershwin: Boy Wanted

Ella Fitzgerald sang the way the rest of us breathe.  Her vocal production, phrasing, diction and interpretive choices were so natural and effortless that it’s easy to take her work for granted.  A natural talent who had little if any formal musical training, she was...
George and Ira Gershwin:  The Lorelei

George and Ira Gershwin: The Lorelei

Who doesn’t love the famous Liszt song about the Lorelei?  There she is, that infamous temptress, combing her flaxen hair, singing her siren song to lure hapless sailors to their deaths upon the rocks… Well, long before I sang that great work (with Steve Blier at a...