Steven Blier
Steven Blier (born November 25, 1951) is an American pianist, recital accompanist, and musicologist. Since 1992, he has been a faculty member in the Department of Vocal Arts at Juilliard. He is the artistic director and co-founder of the New York Festival of Song (NYFOS), which he started in 1988 with Michael Barrett. NYFOS presents themed recitals by young singers and aims to make songs from Brahms to Broadway to the Beatles accessible and engaging. Blier has produced more than 140 NYFOS recitals and is known for his thoughtful program notes, translations of lyrics, and his entertaining onstage presence.
Blier grew up in New York City and earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in English at Yale University, where he studied piano with Alexander Farkas. He later studied in New York with Martin Isepp, Paul Jacobs, and Janine Reiss. He has also worked as a casting adviser for the New York City Opera and performs at venues such as Wolf Trap and Caramoor. He supports young artists through summer programs at Wolf Trap, Ravinia, the Santa Fe Opera, and the San Francisco Opera Center, and has written for Opera News and The Yale Review.
He is married to James S. Russell, an architecture writer and critic. Blier lives with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy and supports the FSHD Society. Critics have praised his deep knowledge of singing and his ability to connect music to emotion and ideas.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 01:23 (CET).