NYFOS Next

Three Spanish Songs (for soprano and piano)

The New York Festival of Song is reconfiguring its important NYFOS Next series this year, presenting it as a compact festival of contemporary vocal music rather than a series with concerts spread throughout the season. This year’s installment will run Feb. 3 to 17 at Opera America’s National Opera Center.

The festival’s opening concert will include songs from musicals in progress by Adam Guettel and George Steel – the general manager and artistic director of the New York City Opera in its last days – as well as recent works by Gabriel Kahane, Jonathan Dove and Juantio Becenti (Feb. 3).

A second concert will include excerpts from a new operatic setting of “The Shining” – yes, the Stephen King novel – by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec, a work scheduled to have its premiere at the Minnesota Opera in 2016. The program will also include music by James Primosch, Christopher Theofanidis and Paola Prestini.

The final concert is built around excerpts from Bright Sheng’sopera-in-progress, “Dream of the Red Chamber,” which will have its premiere at the San Francisco Opera in 2016. Mr. Sheng’s program will also include music by Mr. Sheng’s mentors, Leonard Bernstein and George Perle, as well as three of his students, Brandon Scott Rumsey, Iman Habibi and Matthew Tommasini.

The full schedule is available at nyfos.org/next.