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Nora York, deemed an " ingenious, radical, extravagant talent " by The New Yorker magazine, has three CDs in release and a new project POWER/PLAY on her website www.norayork.com live streaming. Her 2006 Cd WHAT I WANT was reviewed by BILLBOARD magazine : "Since emerging from New York's Knitting Factory jazz scene in the late '90s, Nora York has ignored musical boundaries. Like sister in song Nellie McKay, she has no use for the words "musical genre." On her third album, the aurally delicious "What I Want," York stands tall and proud at the intersection of Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Jane Siberry and Norah Jones. York had a hand in writing the bulk of the songs here, such as the buoyant title track. "Artificial Paradise" manages to bridge the gap between Mitchell's "Hejira" and "Dog Eat Dog" -- no easy feat, for sure. In York's worldview, desire and redemption share the same stage. A cover of Tammy Wynette's "Stand by Your Man" lacks luster, but a reading of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday," stripped of any excess, is, in a word, beautiful." Michael Paoletta. Check out all her stuff on her site at (www.norayork.com).

Voice has been at the center of Nora York’s expression and creative invention, engaging diverse disciplines of musical composition, live performance and visual and multimedia arts. The resulting body of work merges musical and conceptual genres.

In 2002, York received New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) Composers Commission to complete a song cycle called Breaking Tradition. Breaking Tradition had its genesis in 1998 as commissioned live performances at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in conjunction with the exhibition, Masters of Color and Light: Homer, Sergent and the American Watercolor Movement. York’s 3rd CD What I Want ’05-’06 is the result of that NYSCA supported initiative. She has 3 other CDs in release, To Dream The World ’93-‘95, Alchemy’04-’08-- a collaboration with jazz composer Maria Schneider, and Power/Play ‘07. Power/Play was a concert commissioned ’02 by The Brooklyn Academy of Music to accompany a film series entitled, From Hanoi To Hollywood. Power/Play. It was also performed to celebrate Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Riverside Baptist Church NYC ‘03, and went on to Penn State University as part of their Anderson Endowment Series. Other concert works include: I Dreamed I Saw: Music of Hendrix and Foster, for New Sounds Live at Merkin Hall NYC ’02.

Beginning in the late 1980s, York began performing regularly at the Knitting Factory and now, for the past 9 years, Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater in NYC is the laboratory for her new work. October ‘08 The Public Theater in New York City will produce the first workshop of her theatrical collaboration with artist Kiki Smith and director JoAnne Akalaitis, Furtiva Lagrima.

York has performed at music festivals throughout the U.S. and internationally including Ottawa Jazz Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Festival of Song at the Asia Society NY, JVC Jazz festival NYC, Newport Jazz Festival, and TED. In 2005, music historian W. Royal Stokes profiled York in “Visionaries and Eclectics”, Growing Up With Jazz, Oxford University Press (pp. 214-226).

York’s work with visual artists include: FOXFIRE, w/ artist Nancy Spero, ‘98, and Swing Low w/ artist Jerry Kearns, ‘99 at Exit Art NYC; Leon Golub, ‘02 at New York Kunsthalle; and a selection from Power/Play was performed for “The Peace Tower (1966/2006)” at Whitney Museum of American Art 2006 Biennial: Day for Night. In ‘98 York was awarded a Future of Present Grant by the Franklin Furnace to present FOXFIRE on the World Wide Web. In May ‘05, York’s collaboration with Indian Dancer Rajika Puri was presented at the Asia Society NYC.

Her work in film includes music for German director Doris Dorrie’s Paradis, Me and Him, Geld, and The Fisherman’s Wife, ‘05 (soundtrack album on Virgin Records/EMI). She has contributed music for various television programs on A&E, Granada UK, Showtime and PBS. Michel Negroponte featured York’s work in his HBO Documentary Methadonia ‘05. The film played on T.V. and was selected to premiere at the New York Film Festival ’05. York has appeared on many NPR and Pacifica radio programs.

In 1998, York was invited to help develop the first voice program at the Tisch School of Drama at New York University, where she continues to teach.