NYFOS Opens Its Mainstage Series with ART SONG ON THE COUCH Tonight

In conjunction with the 75th anniversary of Dr. Sigmund Freud's death, New York Festival of Song opens its 2014-15 Mainstage series at Merkin Concert Hall with Art Song on the Couch: Lieder in Freud's Vienna tonight, November 11, 2014 at 8:00 pm.

In the early years of the 20th century German Lieder took on a new psychological and musical complexity: Gustav Mahler had a life-changing encounter with Sigmund Freud; Richard Strauss's Ophelia-Lieder brought Shakespeare's heroine into the analyst's office; and German art song entered a new Golden Age fueled by dreams and hidden desires. Drawing on the evolving musical language of the era, the piano becomes the singer's unconscious mind in the music of Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg, Richard Strauss, Alexander von Zemlinsky, and others.

American soprano Janai Brugger, winner of both Placido Domingo's Operalia competition and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, makes her NYFOS debut. Opera News has described Brugger as "Gifted with a supple, beautifully shaded lyric soprano...who knows the value of economy and clarity," and Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times hailed her as "a rapturous Pamina ready for prime time."

Opposite Brugger is rising star John Brancy, an artist nurtured by NYFOS, who is the 2013 Winner of the Marilyn Horne Song Competition and has been hailed by The New York Times as "a vibrant, resonant presence" and a "dashing, strong voiced baritone."

The singers will be joined by NYFOS artistic director Steven Blier and associate artistic director Michael Barrett on piano.