5BMF, NYFOS, And The Center Commemorate 50 Years Since The Stonewall Uprising With Two Concerts

Five Boroughs Music Festival (5BMF), in collaboration with the New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) and the LGBT Community Center (The Center), will celebrate WorldPride in two programs featuring LGBT composers and librettists, both commemorating 50 years since the Stonewall uprising:

• NYFOS NEXT: LAURA KAMINSKY & FRIENDS
• Tuesday, June 11, 2019 at 7:30 PM at The Center
• MANNING THE CANON: SONGS OF GAY LIFE
• Tuesday, June 25, 2019 at 7:30 PM at The Center

The first program, entitled NYFOS NEXT: LAURA KAMINSKY & FRIENDS, features a salon of contemporary art songs by women composers and librettists, curated by composer Laura Kaminsky. The concert includes the world premiere of After Stonewall, a song cycle by Kaminsky, Kayla Cashetta, Jennifer Higdon, Laura Karpman, Paula Kimper, and Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum, set to poems by Elaine Sexton. The program will also feature the New York premiere of Fierce Grace: Jeannette Rankin with libretto by Kimberly Reed and contributions by Kaminsky, Karpman, Kitty Brazelton, and Ellen Reid, performed by mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson and pianist Mila Henry.

The second program, entitled MANNING THE CANON: SONGS OF GAY LIFE, features a quartet of vocalists - Daniel Mcgrew (tenor), Scott Murphree (tenor), Efraín Solís (baritone), and Matt Bohler (bass) - in a musical portrait of life, love and loss in the world of gay men. The program, which originally premiered at 5BMF in 2009, includes songs by Poulenc, Tchaikovsky, Griffes, Bernstein, Porter, Blitzstein and more.

Tickets range from $15 to $50 and can be purchased at http://5bmf.org/nyfos-next-manning-the-canon/.