New York Festival Of Song - Schubert Beatles (2025)

NYFOS Record’s latest release is Schubert / Beatles featuring baritone Theo Hoffman, pianists Steven Blier and Kunal Lahiry, and special guests soprano Julia Bullock and tenor Andrew Owens. First introduced to NYFOS audiences in NYC eight years ago as a thrilling live concert, this program pairs Schubert songs with Beatles songs on similar themes, and, in Blier’s words, “Lo and behold, the Holy of Holies sits comfortably next to the Oldie of Oldies.” Yesterday and Im Frühling are hymns to lost love, while Der Wanderer an den Mond and She’s Leaving Home tell contrasting stories of young people cast adrift into the world.

“On closer inspection, the Schubert-Beatles connection makes a lot of sense,” NYFOS Artistic Director Steven Blier continued. “Both had short careers: Schubert’s was truncated by his tragic death at age 31, while the meteor of the Beatles flamed out in a tangle of discord and exhaustion after just seven years of international fame. Both created art that captured their Zeitgeist for all time—the warmth of the early Romantic era, and the brash, swinging, psychedelic 60s. Above all, both explore young adulthood with literacy and depth: the confusions of early romances, first betrayals and break-ups, the sense of yearning for something unnamable and just out of reach.”

“Schubert/Beatles represents a truly authentic portrait of my artistic identity: the music of the Beatles, which inspired me to become a musician, and that of Schubert, which inspired me to become a classical singer,” notes Theo Hoffman. “Schubert represents the pop music of the day. Not initially presented in glittering concert halls, but in cozy parlors, for friends to share. The Beatles had similar humble beginnings in the taverns of Liverpool—intellectual artsy kids writing love songs for the people, coming straight out of the European song tradition. Schubert/Beatles was a project with a collaborative spirit from start to finish, and it has been one of the great honors of my life to release my debut album with NYFOS, an organization that has supported my career from the very beginning.”

Additional repertoire on the new album partners iconic Beatles favorites such as The Word, Julia, Taxman, and While My Guitar Gently Weeps with Schubert Lieder, including An Schwager Kronos, Du bist die Ruh, and Im Frühling, emphasizing the similarities and the genius of two distinct voices in songwriting over a century apart. “They might at first seem like an odd couple – but oh, what a beautiful marriage,” concludes Steven Blier about the musical pairing.

Tracklist:

01. The Word
02. Here, There and Everywhere
03. Die Taubenpost, D. 965A
04. Alinde, D. 904
05. Julia
06. Taxman
07. An Schwager Kronos, D.369
08. Licht und Liebe, D.352
09. If I Fell
10. Der Wanderer an den Mond, D. 870, Op. 80 No. 1
11. She's Leaving Home
12. Norwegian Wood
13. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
14. Du bist die Ruh, D. 776, Op. 59 No. 3
15. Yesterday
16. Im Frühling, D.882