…superbly disciplined and highly responsive…
- The Baltimore Sun, June 29, 2009
…stunning in their impact…
- The New York Observer, July 8, 2009
Welcome to The Dessoff Choirs’ 2009-2010 season, celebrating 85 years of passionate music-making in New York City. Fresh off two thrilling collaborations with the New York Philharmonic this past June, our 85th year marks a few significant milestones. In August, Dessoff welcomed Jessica Silver, a seasoned arts management professional, as our first Executive Director. This fall we look forward to the release of our second CD, Glories on Glories, a live recording of American song ranging from Billings to Ives. And in spring, we are sad to note, James Bagwell will be leaving his post as Music Director to follow in the footsteps of his mentor Robert Shaw as he assumes leadership of Collegiate Chorale. Save the date for our spring benefit – February 9, 2010 – when we will pay tribute to James’s tenure as music director.
Our 85th season kicks off in dramatic fashion, as we present Ernest Bloch’s stirring Sacred Service on November 12th in the ideal setting of Congregation Rodeph Sholom. One week later, on November 19th and 20th, The Dessoff Chamber Choir backs Ray Davies and his band in a reprise of classic Kinks hits at The Town Hall. On March 6th, we return to Merkin Concert Hall to premiere exciting new works by Kyle Gann and Harold Farberman, along with Lukas Foss’s tender Psalms. March 28th, we make a Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series appearance with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under the direction of Iván Fischer in Beethoven’s inimitable Symphony No. 9. And the season draws to a close on May 8th, with a fascinating look at Bach’s compositional roots. We hope you’ll join us for what promises to be a dynamic year!
Highlights from last season include acclaimed, sold-out performances of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 at Avery Fisher Hall with the New York Philharmonic in Lorin Maazel’s last appearances as music director. Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, the capstone of the Philharmonic’s live recording of the Complete Mahler Symphonies, features The Dessoff Symphonic Choir and is now available for download on iTunes. Other recent highlights include a performance of Mahler’s Symhony No. 3 at Carnegie Hall benefiting victims of pediatric AIDS, an exploration of the musical legacy of Biblical hero David, and the rich American program recorded in March and captured on our soon-to-be released CD.
For more information on individual concerts, and to purchase tickets, click
Thursday, November 12, 2009 8:00 pm
BLOCH: SACRED SERVICE
James Bagwell, conductor
Charles Perry Sprawls, bass-baritone
Paolo Bordignon, organ
The Dessoff Choirs
From Swiss-born American composer Ernest Bloch (1880-1959) comes a dynamic work for chorus, baritone, and organ. Finished in 1933, this movingly spiritual setting of Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service) renders the Saturday morning Sabbath liturgy in dramatic fashion. Bloch himself described the work as a “cosmic poem” with timeless appeal.
Congregation Rodeph Sholom
7 West 83rd Street
Manhattan
Tickets: $35 Preferred Seating, $25 General Admission
$15 Senior/Student, 12 & Under (Free)
Available at the door!
Thursday, November 19 & Friday, November 20, 2009 8:00 pm
DAVIES: THE KINKS CHORAL COLLECTION
David Temple, conductor
Ray Davies and his band
The Dessoff Chamber Choir
The songwriting prowess of Ray Davies is showcased as he and his band reinvent classic Kinks hits. Come hear exciting renditions of Celluloid Heroes, Waterloo Sunset, All Day and All of the Night, and more.
The Town Hall
123 West 43rd Street
Manhattan
Tickets available via Ticketmaster or at The Town Hall box office.
Saturday, March 6, 2010 8:00 pm
GANN • FOSS • FARBERMAN
James Bagwell, conductor
The Dessoff Choirs
Don’t miss James Bagwell’s final trip to the podium as Dessoff’s music director, as we celebrate the new with thrilling works by three contemporary American composers. Both Kyle Gann’s Transcendental Sonnets (New York Premiere) and Lukas Foss’s Psalms call for two pianos and chorus, and Harold Farberman’s Talk (World Premiere) is for piano, chorus, and percussion.
Merkin Concert Hall
129 West 67th Street
Manhattan
Tickets: $35 Preferred Seating, $25 General Admission ($20 advance sale)
$15 Senior/Student, 12 & Under (Free)
Available at the Merkin Hall box office!
Sunday, March 28, 2010 3:00 pm
BEETHOVEN’S NINTH
Iván Fischer, conductor
Lisa Milne, soprano
Jorma Silvasti, tenor
Kristinn Sigmundsson, bass
The Dessoff Symphonic Choir
Budapest Festival Orchestra
Symphony No. 6 in F major (“Pastoral”)
Symphony No. 9 in D minor
The finale of Lincoln Center’s “Beethoven Then and Now: The Complete Symphonies” series, a five-day Beethoven extravaganza, featuring Iván Fischer leading the Orchestra of Enlightment on period instruments and the masterful Budapest Festival Orchestra translating these works for today. This fascinating project offers never-before-heard side-by-side accounts of how these beloved symphonies may have sounded in the composer’s time as well as presenting them to the contemporary audience.
Avery Fisher Hall
Lincoln Center
Manhattan
Sunday, March 28, 2010, 3:00pm
Tickets available at Lincoln Center box office.
Patrick Dupré Quigley, guest conductor Looking back to the rich musical tradition from which Johann Sebastian Bach emerged, this program offers rarely performed works by Hassler, Schütz, Handl, and others, as well as some famous motets by the master himself. St. George’s Church Tickets: $35 Preferred Seating, $25 General Admission ($20 advance sale) Available at the door!
Saturday, May 8, 2010 8:00 pm
The ROOTS of BACH & BEYOND
The Dessoff Choirs
E.16th St.at Rutherford Place, east of Third Ave
Manhattan
$15 Senior/Student, 12 & Under (Free)