New York Festival of Song Continues AFTER HOURS Series with A GOYISHE CHRISTMAS TO YOU!, 12/16

NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG continues its new series NYFOS AFTER HOURS with "A GOYISHE CHRISTMAS TO YOU!" Yuletide Classics by Jewish Songwriters.

From HENRY's Restaurant Owner Henry Rinehart:

"Goyishe Christmas is hands-down the best holiday show in town. Great songs performed by wonderful musicians to an adoring holiday crowd. In the warm atmosphere of Henry's Restaurant, 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' and 'Winter Wonderland' come to new life in off-the-walls interpretations. An ecumenical tradition now in its fourth season, A Goyishe Christmas to You is a smorgasbord of New York's finest voices, live and unplugged under the musical direction of Steve Blier."

New York Festival Of Song-the group whose performances "feel like dream dinner parties-the kind where a group of fascinating strangers come together to have wonderfully unexpected conversations" (Opera America)-continues its opening season of NYFOS After Hours cabaret concerts at HENRY's Restaurant with a NYFOS holiday classic: A GOYISHE CHRISTMAS TO YOU! on Monday, December 16 at 10:00pm.
The program-devised and premiered by Steven Blier at HENRY's in 2010, where it provoked a delirium of excitement-consists of Yuletide songs entirely written by Jewish composers, from classic to comic. From Frank Loesser's "Baby It's Cold Outside" to Adolphe Adam's "Oh Holy Night," Jay Livingston and Ray Evans' "Silver Bells" to Walter Kent's "I'll Be Home For Christmas," the popular Yuletide songbook is packed with countless contributions by Jewish songwriters on behalf of their goyishe counterparts.
Now in its fourth incarnation, a stunning caliber of artists including much of the original cast returns to join NYFOS Artistic Director and pianist Steven Blier for the intimate and playful occasion, including Broadway veteran and two-time Tony award winner Judy Kaye; soprano and comic actress Lauren Worsham, who is currently making her Broadway debut in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder; the gifted baritones John Brancy and Joshua Jeremiah; cantor Joshua Breitzer; and clarinetist Alan Kay providing a touch of Klezmer authenticity.

Cover is $10 and reservations are required: 212-866-0600.
Walk-ins are always welcome at the bar.

PROGRAM

(subject to change)

Joshua Jeremiah & Judy Kaye
Candle in My Window ("God Bless the Christmas Jews")
(Levitsky/ Miller)

John Brancy
I'll Be Home For Christmas
(Walter Kent/ Kim Gannon)

Joshua Jeremiah & Lauren Worsham
Baby, It's Cold Outside
(Frank Loesser)

Judy Kaye
Silver Bells
(Jay Livingston/ Ray Evans)

Joshua Jeremiah
What Makes Santa Run
(Ervin Drake)

Joshua Breitzer & Alan Kay
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
(Johnny Marks, arr. Kugelplex/Brietzer)

Lauren Worsham
I'm Naïve
(Jule Styne/Bob Merrill)

Joshua Jeremiah & John Brancy
Winter Wonderland
(Felix Bernard/ Richard B. Smith)

Joshua Breitzer & Lauren Worsham
Don't Let Gramma Cook Christmas Dinner
(Roy Zimmerman)

John Brancy
O Holy Night
(Adolphe Adam/ Placide Cappeau/ John Sullivan)

TBA
The Christmas Song
(Tormé/Tormé & Wells)

Judy Kaye
My Simple Christmas Wish
(David Friedman)

The Company
White Christmas
(Irving Berlin)

LISTEN & WATCH

LISTEN:
John Brancy sings O Holy Night live in 2011

WATCH:
NYFOS promotional video about the program from 2011

ABOUT NYFOS AFTER HOURS

The basis for After Hours is an informal series of concerts that began in February 2010, springing out of a close personal friendship between Blier and restaurant owner Henry Rinehart.

The new series of late night Monday cabarets blends past classic NYFOS programs with freshly created shows. Wrapped in the warm Arts & Crafts mahogany and unamplified intimacy of HENRY's restaurant on the Upper West Side, After Hours unites the best of the new crop of rising talent with some of New York's most beloved singers and actors, accompanied by Steven Blier at the piano.

The final After Hours program of the 2013-14 season is on May 5. Entitled The Land Where The Good Songs Go, it will be a celebration of P. G. Wodehouse's long partnership as lyricist for Jerome Kern, with a nod to his briefer collaborations with Porter and Gershwin.

NYFOS After Hours is presented as part of the restaurant's ongoing series, Sing for Your Supper @ HENRY's. Owner Henry Rinehart says: "All of us at HENRY's are thrilled to host this series with Steven Blier and NYFOS. NYFOS is one of New York's great cultural institutions and Steven is a dear friend. Together we will continue to present Broadway's most intimate night of song to packed houses."

ARTISTS

STEVEN BLIER

JOSHUA BREITZER

JOHN BRANCY

ALAN KAY

JUDY KAYE

JOSHUA JEREMIAH

LAUREN WORSHAM

ABOUT NYFOS

www.nyfos.org

"People have a primal need to be sung to and communicated with through song. The essential core of truth in each song-that part where you feel 'that's me, I've been there'-that's what we're always looking for." - Steven Blier

Now in its 26th 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 unforgettable evenings of compelling theater. Each seamless program entertains, educates and fosters community among artists and audiences. Everyone has a primal need to be sung to; NYFOS was made to meet that need.

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 high and low performance 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, featuring premieres and commissions of new American works. These include a 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. Soon to come: a CD of Spanish song-Basque, Catalan, Castilian, and Sephardic-on the GPR label, with soprano Corinne Winters accompanied by Steven Blier.

In November 2010, NYFOS began its latest programming venture with the debut of NYFOS Next, a mini-series for new songs, hosted by guest composers in intimate venues. For the 2013-2014 season, the series moves to Opera America's National Opera Center for all three concerts.

NYFOS also nurtures the artistry and careers of young singers in training residencies (current and past projects) with The Juilliard School's Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts (now in its 9th year), Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts (its 6th year in March 2014), San Francisco Opera Center (over 15 years as of April 2013), Glimmerglass Opera (2008-2010), and its newest project, NYFOS@North Fork in Orient, NY, successfully completed in August 2013.

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.

SEE A COMPREHENSIVE LISTING OF 25 YEARS OF NYFOS CONCERTS

"New York Festival of Song reinvented the song recital." - The New Yorker

Upcoming NYFOS 2013-14 Schedule

Tuesday, December 3, 8:00pm
Cubans in Paris, Cubans at Home
Reston Community Center, Reston, VA
NYFOS On Tour

Thursday, December 5, 8:00 pm
Cubans in Paris, Cubans at Home
Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center
NYFOS Mainstage

Monday, December 16, 10:00 pm
A Goyishe Christmas to You!
HENRY's Restaurant
NYFOS After Hours

Wednesday, January 15, 8:00 pm
NYFOS@Juilliard
The Land Where the Good Songs Go
Peter Jay Sharp Theater in NYC
NYFOS Emerging Artists
Tuesday, January 28, 7:30 pm
Mark Adamo & Friends
OPERA America's National Opera Center
NYFOS Next
Sunday, February 16, 1:30 pm
Warsaw Serenade
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA
NYFOS On Tour

Tuesday, February 18, 8:00 pm
Warsaw Serenade
Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center
NYFOS Mainstage

Tuesday, March 4, 7:30 pm
John Musto & Friends
OPERA America's National Opera Center
NYFOS Next
Sunday, March 16, 4:00 pm
Caramoor's Vocal Rising Stars
Ports of Call: An Itinerary of Song
Caramoor Center in Katonah, NY
NYFOS Emerging Artists
Tuesday, March 18, 7:00 pm
Caramoor's Vocal Rising Stars
Ports of Call: An Itinerary of Song
OPERA America's National Opera Center
NYFOS Emerging Artists
Wednesday, March 19, 7:00 pm
Caramoor's Vocal Rising Stars
Ports of Call: An Itinerary of Song
OPERA America's National Opera Center
NYFOS Emerging Artists

Tuesday, April 1, 7:30 pm
Harold Meltzer & Friends
OPERA America's National Opera Center
NYFOS Next

Monday, April 28, 7:00 pm
Remembering Lenny
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
Spring Gala

Monday, May 5, 10:00 pm
The Land Where The Good Songs Go
HENRY's Restaurant
NYFOS After Hours