May 14, 2011:
DANCE ON! Music for Choir, Pianos & Percussion
Saturday, May 14, 2011 8:00 pm
DANCE ON! Music for Choir, Pianos & Percussion
Tickets are available at the door.
Christopher Shepard, conductor
Steven Ryan & Dmitri Korneev, piano
The Dessoff Choirs
BERNSTEIN Chichester Psalms
GÓRECKI Totus Tuus
CONTE Invocation and Dance
IVES Circus Band (arr. Dashnaw)
BARBER Sure on this Shining Night, Under the Willow Tree
WALKER White Horses, My Love Walks in Velvet
JAMESON Night Journey
DOVE The Passing of the Year
BRAHMS Liebeslieder Walzes (selections)
Although the piano is sometimes seen as an adjunct to the choral rehearsal—the instrument that stands in for the symphony orchestra—much wonderful music has been composed especially for piano and choir. This concert features 20th-century pieces written for one or two pianists, percussion, and choir, including Bernstein’s high-voltage Chichester Psalms, David Conte’s lyric Invocation and Dance, a set of quintessential American works by Charles Ives, Samuel Barber and Gwyneth Walker, plus a selection of Brahms’s most beloved Liebeslieder waltzes. From England comes Jonathan Dove’s The Passing of the Year, commissioned in 2000 by the London Symphony Chorus. The combination of lyrical voices, virtuoso pianists, and brilliant percussion is irresistible.
Read the program notes by Chris Shepard.
St. George’s Church
209 East 16th Street at Rutherford Place, east of Third Avenue
Manhattan
Tickets (available at the door):
$35 Preferred Seating, $25 General Admission
$15 Senior/Student, 12 & Under (Free)
February 25, 2011: Music of Arvo Pärt
Tickets Available at the Door
PÄRT: Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem
The Dessoff Choirs
Christopher Shepard, conductor
Jesus: Mark Sullivan, bass-baritone
Pilate: Luke Redmond, tenor
Evangelist quartet:
Ilana Davidson, soprano
Sarah Rose Taylor, mezzo-soprano
Daniel Neer, tenor
Michael Conley, bass
Church of St. Mary the Virgin
145 West 46th Street (6th/7th Aves.)
Manhattan
Friday, February 25, 2011, 8:00 pm
"Behind the Music" Pre-Concert Talk, 7:30
$35 Preferred Seating
$25 General Admission
$15 Senior/Student
Age 12 & Under (Free)
A devout Eastern Orthodox Christian, Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is best known among choral enthusiasts for a group of large-scale religious works from the 1980s and ’90s, the first of which is his beautiful and haunting Passion from 1982. Through the use of chant-like lines traded among soloists, chamber players, and choir, Pärt weaves a mesmerizing musical tapestry that tells the story of Jesus’ crucifixion.
Beethoven for the Indus Valley
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Dessoff/Nézet-Séguin/Juilliard Orchestra - Dec. 13, 2010
The Dessoff Choirs joins French-Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, recently named as The Philadelphia Orchestra’s new music director, as he leads the Juilliard Orchestra for the first time in a free concert on Monday, December 13 at 8 PM in Alice Tully Hall. The program includes Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3; and Ravel’s complete Daphnis et Chloe featuring a 60-voice choir from The Dessoff Choirs, prepared by their music director, Christopher Shepard.
[Yannick Nezet-Seguin photo by Marco Borggreve.]
Standby tickets only!
For further information, call (212) 769-7406 or go to www.juilliard.edu.
IN PARADISUM: French Masters from Josquin to Duruflé
Saturday, November 20, 2010 8:00 pm Manhattan
Sunday, November 21, 2010 4:00 pm Brooklyn
IN PARADISUM: French Masters from Josquin to Duruflé
Christopher Shepard, conductor
Krista River, mezzo-soprano
Dimitrie Lazich, bass-baritone
Christopher Barrett Jennings, organ
The Dessoff Choirs
FAURÉ Cantique de Jean Racine
DEBUSSY Trois Chanson de Charles d’Orléans
POULENC Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël
Selected Madrigals & Chansons by Josquin, Certon, d’Indy, Janequin, Passereau
DURUFLÉ Requiem, Op. 9
Some of the most glorious choral music ever written has been penned by French composers: madrigals from the courts of French royalty, motets for the Catholic Church, and intimate choral pieces from the modern era. This program draws from that vast repertoire, including works like Cantique de Jean Racine by Fauré and Poulenc’s Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël, before culminating in Maurice Duruflé’s moving Requiem, perfect for showcasing the new Schoenstein organ at St James’ Church. Tickets are available at the door.
St. James' Church
Madison Avenue at 71st Street
Manhattan
Old First Reformed Church
729 Carroll Street at 7th Avenue
Brooklyn
Tickets:
$35 Preferred Seating
$25 General Admission
$15 Senior/Student, 12 & Under (Free)
$75 Season subscription (Nov. 20 or 21, Feb. 25*, & May 14* *includes preferred seating)
Tickets available at the door.
Make Music New York - Monday June 21, 5:45pm
Thomas Tallis’ tour de force of Renaissance choral polyphony, the amazingly intricate 40-part a cappella motet “Spem in Alium”, will be performed by members of The Dessoff Choirs and friends under the baton of Michel Galante as part of Make Music New York’s free concerts on Monday June 21, 5:45pm at the R.C. Church of St. Andrew in lower Manhattan, 20 Cardinal Hayes Place, and repeated next door at 6:15pm under the arches of the Municipal Building at 1 Centre Street (by Chambers Street). Come hear this rarely performed masterpiece of devotional choral music by one of Britain’s greatest composers, sung here in the varied acoustical settings of church and outdoor colonnade. Each rendition will last approximately 10 minutes.
See the listing for MMNY, and a mention of Dessoff, in The New York Times (6/18).
For info on all participating musicians, go to Make Music New York's website.
Saturday, May 8, 2010, 7:30pm
The ROOTS of BACH & BEYOND
Patrick Dupré Quigley, guest conductor
The Dessoff Choirs
Led by one of the hottest young conductors on the Miami choral scene, this program looks back to the rich musical tradition from which Johann Sebastian Bach emerged, offering rarely performed works by Mendelssohn, Schütz, Kuhnau, Frescobaldi, and others, as well as famous motets — Singet dem Herrn and Jesu, Meine Freude — by the master himself.
St. George’s Church
E.16th St.at Rutherford Place, east of Third Ave
Manhattan
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
Tickets available at Lincoln Center box office.
Saturday, March 6, 2010 8pm, 7:30 pre-concert talk
GANN • FOSS • FARBERMAN
James Bagwell, conductor
Megan Taylor, soprano
Jeffrey Hill, tenor
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.
7:30 pre-concert talk with Music Director James Bagwell, and composers Harold Farberman and Kyle Gann, moderated by Miriam Lewin
Read the program notes!
Merkin Concert Hall
129 West 67th Street
Manhattan
Tickets: $35 Preferred Seating, $25 General Admission
$15 Senior/Student, 12 & Under (Free)
Available at the Merkin Hall box office!
2009-2010 Season
…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