Met Opera singers in "Fugitives"

New York Festival of Song Presents
Fugitives
Concert, Theater, and Film Music by Composers Fleeing Hitler's Europe:
Kurt Weill, Erich Korngold, and Many Others

November 18 and 20 at Merkin Concert Hall

Artists: Metropolitan Opera's Joseph Kaiser and Kate Lindsey, pianist/host Steven Blier

New York Festival of Song, whose recent A Bernstein/Bolcom Celebration was performed with "Comic and dramatic flair," (The New York Times) presents Fugitives, songs by composers who fled Hitler's Europe, on November 18 and 20 at the newly restored Merkin Concert Hall. The program will feature music from Broadway, the concert stage and Berlin cabaret by Kurt Weill, Erich Korngold, Alexander Zemlinsky, Arnold Schoenberg and many others.


Fugitives will be sung by two of the Metropolitan Opera's rising young stars. Tenor Joseph Kaiser currently appears as Narraboth in Salome and was last season's Romˆ©o opposite Anna Netrebko. Mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey will be featured in Met productions of The Magic Flute, Rusalka and The Ring Cycle, and makes her guest artist debut with the New York Philharmonic in a concert performance of L'enfant et les sortilˆ®ges, conducted by Lorin Maazel. Once again, New York Festival Of Song Artistic Director Steven Blier, a "national treasure when it comes to the art of song," (The New York Times) will be the pianist/host for the evening.

Curtain time for both concerts is 8 PM. Tickets for Fugitives are $40 - $55. Call (212) 501-3330, or visit www.kaufman-center.org. Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center is at 129 West 67tg Street, New York, NY 10023. There are also a limited number of $15 student tickets available by calling (646) 230-8380. For more information about New York Festival Of Song (NYFOS), please visit their website at www.nyfos.org.

Program

Altdeutsches Minnelied (Old German Love Song) Alexander von Zemlinsky
Meeraugen (Eyes of the Sea) Zemlinsky
Gefasster Abschied (Calm Departure) Erich Korngold
Sommer (Summer) Korngold
Unendliche Liebe (Eternal Love) Franz Schreker
Rosentod (The Death of Roses) Schreker
The Lottery Agent's Tango (from Silbersee) Kurt Weill
Waldsonne (Sun in the Forest) Arnold Schoenberg
Erwartung (Expectation) Schoenberg
Wenn der alte Motor wieder takt (When the old car starts
up again) Friedrich Hollaender
Die Ballade von Wasserad (The Song of the Water Wheel) Hanns Eisler
ˆÑndere die Welt, sie braucht es
(The World is in Need of Change) Eisler

O schˆ�ne Hand, Kelch, dessen Duft Musik  (Oh lovely                                      Viktor Ullmann hand, chalice of music's scent)      

Fˆºnf Lieder (Five Songs) Hans Krˆ°sa
Ihr Mˆ§dchen seid wie die Gˆ§rten (Your Girl is like a Garden)
An die Brˆºder (To a Brother)
Mach, dass etwas uns geschieht! (Pray that something happens to us!)
Die Liebe (Love)
Vice versa
The Sleepless Lady Kurt Tucholsky

How Can You Tell an American,
from Knickerbocker Holiday Weill
O mistress mine Korngold
Elend (Misery) Zemlinsky
Black Market Frederick Hollaender
Love Song, from Love Life Weill
Wie lange noch? (How much longer?) Weill
Arizona Marsch, from Arizona Lady Emmerich Kˆ°lmˆ°n

(Program subject to change)


Canadian-born tenor JOSEPH KAISER starred as Tamino in the Kenneth Branagh film adaptation of The Magic Flute. This season he will make two highly anticipated debuts: at the Los Angeles Opera as Tamino under the baton of James Conlon, and at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Jen fa. He returns to the Salzburg Festival as Septimius in a new Christoph Loy production of Handel's Theodora. His concert schedule includes performances of the Berlioz Requiem under Marek Janowski, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Christoph von Dohnˆ°nyi and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Mendelssohn's Elijah with Yannick Nˆ©zet-Sˆ©guin and the Orchestre Mˆ©tropolitain du Grand Montrˆ©al. Mr. Kaiser has appeared at the Caramoor Festival in a joint program with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, which was presented under the auspices of the New York Festival of Song (available on Bridge Records), in Chicago at the Chicago Humanities Festival, in Montreal with the Andrˆ© Turp Society, and on the Debut Series of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

KATE LINDSEY made her debut this summer at the Tanglewood Festival in a concert version of Les Troyens conducted by James Levine, and appeared in two other chamber music concerts at the festival. Other recent engagements have included appearances at the Metropolitan Opera as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro (opposite Bryn Terfel) and Stˆ©phano in Romˆ©o et Juliette (with Mr. Kaiser and Anna Netrebko); debuts with the Boston Lyric Opera as Cherubino, the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a new commission by John Harbison conducted by James Levine, the Cleveland Orchestra in performances of Haydn's Harmoniemesse conducted by Franz Welser-Mˆ�st, and the Met Chamber Ensemble in Zankel Hall. She also appeared as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Stˆ©phano at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Angelina in La Cenerentola at the Wolf Trap Opera.


NYFOS Artistic Director STEVEN BLIER also enjoys an eminent career as an accompanist and vocal coach. Among the many artists he has partnered in recital are Renˆ©e Fleming, Cecilia Bartoli, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade, Jessye Norman and Samuel Ramey. He has performed throughout North America and Europe, including recitals at Carnegie Hall, La Scala, Milan, and a Live From Lincoln Center telecast. Mr. Blier co-founded the New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) in 1988 with Michael Barrett. Since the Festival's inception he has programmed, performed, translated and annotated over one hundred vocal recitals with repertoire spanning the entire range of song. His discography includes the premiere recording of Leonard Bernstein's Arias and Barcarolles (Koch International), which won a Grammy Award; the NYFOS discs of Blitzstein, Gershwin, and German Lieder (Unquiet Peace); Gershwin's Lady Be Good! (Nonesuch Records); four albums of songs by Charles Ives in partnership with baritone William Sharp (Albany Records); first recordings of music by Busoni and Borodin with cellist Dorothy Lawson (Koch International); and Spanish Love Songs with Joseph Kaiser and the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (Bridge Records). In December, Bridge will release the original cast recording of Bastianello / Lucrezia, the acclaimed John Musto and William Bolcom operas with libretti by Mark Campbell, commissioned and premiered by NYFOS.