New York Festival of Song To Release New Album MY BROTHER'S KEEPER
Baritone Justin Austin and pianist Steven Blier co-produce the six-vocalist recording.
On Friday, May 29, 2026, New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) will release a new album, My Brother's Keeper, on NYFOS Records.
Co-produced by baritone Justin Austin along with pianist and NYFOS's GRAMMY-nominated Artistic Director Steven Blier, the recording brings together six of today's leading Black male vocalists in a resounding collection of works celebrating the commitment of Black men in support of one another.
Tenors Joshua Blue and Chaz'men Williams-Ali; baritones Will Liverman, Joseph Parrish, and Jorell Williams; and bass-baritone Alan Williams are featured alongside Blier on piano, in solo and combined performances of works handpicked by the artists for their cultural and personal resonance.
Selections include works by Margaret Bonds, Steve Lutvak, H. Leslie Adams, William Grant Still, Johannes Brahms, Harry Revel, "Lead Belly" Huddie Ledbetter, Rachel J. Peters, Richard Rodgers (arr. Will Liverman), and the duo of Bobby Scott and Bob Russell - along with two original works by Jorell Williams and a setting of the scripture-based Come Unto Me by the Black men's vocal ensemble Take 6. My Brother's Keeper brings them together in a portrait of Black brotherhood, expressing how Black men stand by one another in solidarity and mutual uplift amid struggle and injustice. For NYFOS, the new recording represents the follow-up to last year's Schubert/Beatles, released on NYFOS Records and nominated for a 2025 GRAMMY Award.
The album's 11th track, Huddie Ledbetter's Sylvie, will be released as a single on May 8, 2026.
My Brother's Keeper was first presented by NYFOS and New York's Kaufman Music Center as a live program featuring the same performers in 2024. Co-producer Justin Austin calls the project "a gathering of six remarkable Black men who inspire me daily, presented by New York Festival of Song, an organization that has nurtured me since my student days. On this record, we aim to showcase our mutual love and support, and hope to encourage all who witness our journey - regardless of race or creed - to embrace the profound importance of selfless love for one another."
In the album's opening track, the full ensemble performs Take 6's arrangement of Come Unto Me, infusing biblical text from the Book of Matthew into intricate jazz harmonies ringing with love, support, and solace in the midst of life's burdens.
Immediately following is Margaret Bonds' "Three Dream Portraits," a three-part song cycle expressing themes of social justice, resilience, and identity. Liverman is featured on Minstrel Man, Bonds' poignant reflection on the pain underlying the jolly façade expected of Black performers. Jorell Williams performs Dream Variation, depicting the contrast between the wish for freedom and the reality of oppression. The cycle's final song, I, Too, Am America, draws on the poetry of Langston Hughes in its vision of inclusion for Black Americans within the national identity.
Jorell Williams is featured on his own original composition Americana, a duet for two pianos reimagining the African-American spiritual Go Down, Moses as a reflection on personal and societal brokenness, with a call to rethink the narratives we take for granted. "After George Floyd's tragic death in 2020, I felt compelled to pour my heart into a piano arrangement of Go Down, Moses," Williams recalled, describing the work's evolution into "a powerful juxtaposition that mirrors both the fractures in my own spirit and those in our nation's fabric."
The full ensemble performs on Beware the Anger of Soft-Spoken Men, arranged in tribute to late composer Steve Lutvak, a sardonic commentary on the hidden dangers of those who do not explode with rage, but seethe quietly beneath the surface.
Joshua Blue is featured on Sence You Went Away, H. Leslie Adams' setting for poetry by James Weldon Johnson. Exploring the sorrow of separation caused by incarceration, the work is dedicated to men whose lives have been deeply affected by systemic injustice.
In William Grant Still's A Black Pierrot, also adapting the words of Langston Hughes, Alan Williams performs in a layered portrait of a sad clown, melding a lament for unrequited love with the image of a Black man in a clown's white face paint. Infusing blues and jazz harmonies to evoke Black melancholy, the work uses this twist on "minstrelsy" to depict both the history of debasement in the African-American experience and the beauty of resiliency.
Reimagining a work by Brahms, Chaz'men Williams-Ali and Alan Williams duet in Die Brüder ("The Brothers"), a takeoff on Brahms' original Die Schwestern ("The Sisters"). After setting a playful and affectionate tone, the work evokes a delicate sense of strain as the brothers fall for the same sweetheart - becoming a study in bittersweet tension in close relationships.
In Guiding Me Back Home, Chaz'men Williams-Ali and Joseph Parrish combine for a performance celebrating enduring ties to roots and family. Composed in 1928, the work reflects the collaboration of Jewish immigrant composer Harry Revel and Black lyricist Noble Sissle, whose combined musical insights resonate across cultures.
The full ensemble performs on "Lead Belly" Huddie Ledbetter's Sylvie - the composer's transformation of a traditional "work song" into a light, swinging piece that's full of charm. Its simplicity, wit, and rhythmic vitality inspired this program's celebration of Black male artistry.
Jorell Williams is featured again on Rachel J. Peters' 2011 work Santa Ain't Black, a witty, teasing response to holiday conventions that finds incisive musical commentary in the debate over the racial identity of Santa Claus.
Will Liverman performs his own arrangement of Richard Rodgers' Some Enchanted Evening, originally composed for the musical South Pacific and transformed by Liverman into a stunning and unexpected work of musical re-creation.
The full ensemble is showcased in Chaz'men Williams-Ali's arrangement of He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother, Bobby Scott and Bob Russell's statement on the weight we willingly carry in support of those we love. As performed for My Brother's Keeper, it captures themes of solidarity and brotherhood among artists who share the burdens of their journey in music and in life.
The album concludes with a bonus track: Jorell Williams' original work Hold Fast, performed by the full ensemble in a closing vow to stand shoulder to shoulder and hold fast to dreams, remaining steadfast in the face of whatever challenges may come.
The album is produced by Justin Austin, Steven Blier and GRAMMY nominated producer and mixing engineer Jonathan Estabrooks. It is co-produced by Claire Molloy, engineered by Ken Feldman and mastered by GRAMMY nominated mastering engineer Jennifer Nulsen.
My Brother's Keeper Track List
1. Traditional - Come Unto Me (arr. Take 6) [3:29]
Margaret Bonds - "Three Dream Portraits"
2. Minstrel Man [2:03]
3. Dream Variation [2:10]
4. I, Too, Am America [1:51]
5. Jorell Williams - Americana [4:31]
6. Steve Lutvak - Beware the Anger of Soft-Spoken Men [3:46]
7. H. Leslie Adams - Since You Went Away [4:58]
8. William Grant Still - A Black Pierrot [2:35]
9. Johannes Brahms - Die Schwestern (Die Brüder) [2:25]
10. Harry Revel - Guiding Me Back Home [3:50]
11. "Lead Belly" Huddie Ledbetter - Sylvie [4:52]
12. Rachel Peters - Santa Ain't Black [3:45]
13. Richard Rodgers - Some Enchanted Evening (arr. Will Liverman) [4:00]
14.Bobby Scott and Bob Russell - He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (arr. Chaz'men Williams-Ali) [7:27]
15. Jorell Williams - Hold Fast - BONUS TRACK [3:48]
Total Time: 55:30
Joshua Blue, tenor
Will Liverman, baritone, piano
Joseph Parrish, baritone, piano
Alan Williams, bass-baritone, guitar
Jorell Williams, baritone, piano
Chaz'men Williams-Ali, tenor, piano
Steven Blier, piano
Producers: Justin Austin, Steven Blier, Jonathan Estabrooks
Co-Producer: Claire Molloy
Executive Producers: Lucy Friedman, William Friedman
Mixing Engineer: Jonathan Estabrooks
Engineer: Ken Feldman
Assistant Engineer: Nicole Bien
Mastering: Jennifer Nulsen
Recorded live on November 19-20, 2024 at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center, New York, NY
Design: Gillian Riesen
About New York Festival of Song
Now in its 38th season, New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) is dedicated to creating intimate song concerts of great beauty and originality. Weaving music, poetry, history, and humor into evenings of compelling theater, NYFOS fosters community among artists and audiences. Each program entertains and educates in equal measure. Founded by pianists Michael Barrett and Steven Blier in 1988, NYFOS continues to produce its series of thematic song programs, drawing together rarely-heard songs of all kinds, overriding traditional distinctions between musical genres, exploring the character and language of other cultures, and the personal voices of song composers and lyricists.
Since its founding, NYFOS has particularly celebrated American song. Among the many highlights is the double bill of one-act comic operas, Bastianello and Lucrezia, by John Musto and William Bolcom, both with libretti by Mark Campbell, commissioned and premiered by NYFOS in 2008 and recorded on Bridge Records. In addition to Bastianello and Lucrezia and the 2008 Bridge Records release of Spanish Love Songs with Joseph Kaiser and the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, NYFOS has produced five recordings on the Koch label, including a GRAMMY Award-winning disc of Bernstein's Arias and Barcarolles, and the GRAMMY-nominated recording of Ned Rorem's Evidence of Things Not Seen (also a NYFOS commission) on New World Records. In 2014, Canción Amorosa, a CD of Spanish song - Basque, Catalan, Castilian, and Sephardic - was released on the GPR label, with soprano Corinne Winters accompanied by Steven Blier.
In January of 2022, NYFOS Records issued its first album, From Rags to Riches, with Stephanie Blythe and William Burden. In January of 2025, they released their sixth album, Schubert/Beatles, with Theo Hoffman, Julia Bullock, Kunal Lahiri, and Mr. Blier, which was nominated for a 2026 GRAMMY Award. The new CD joins NYFOS Records's burgeoning discography, alongside A Picnic Cantata (2022), the first stereo recording of a hidden gem by Paul Bowles and James Schuyler; Black & Blue (2023), the debut solo album of British-American tenor Joshua Blue collaborating with Steven Blier; Mi País: Songs of Argentina (2023) featuring bass-baritone Federico De Michelis and pianist and Steven Blier; and NYFOS Records: The Singles, Vol. 1 (2024), a wide-ranging compilation drawn from over 20 years of archival material, including tracks featuring Michael Spyres, Justin Austin, and Bernarda Fink. NYFOS Records has reached rapidly growing audiences in over 100 countries, with well over 2.5 million streams to date.
In November 2010, NYFOS debuted NYFOS Next, a mini-series for new songs, hosted by guest composers in intimate venues, including OPERA America's National Opera Center, National Sawdust, the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, and the Ann Goodman Recital Hall at Kaufman Music Center. Pianist and new music specialist Nathaniel LaNasa has served as series curator since 2022, when NYFOS Next found its current home, the former Rubin Museum space in Chelsea.
NYFOS is passionate about nurturing the artistry and careers of young singers, and has developed training residencies around the country, including with The Juilliard School's Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts (now in its 18th year); Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts (its 18th year in March 2026); San Francisco Opera Center (over 20 years as of February 2018); Glimmerglass Opera (2008-2010); and its newest project, NYFOS@North Fork in Orient, NY.
NYFOS's concert series, touring programs, radio broadcasts, recordings, and educational activities continue to spark new interest in the creative possibilities of the song program and have inspired the creation of thematic vocal series around the world.
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