The Dessoff Choirs Presents Major Works by Leading Composers Gregg Smith and John Rutter

Malcolm J. Merriweather, music director & conductor

The Dessoff Choirs & Pianist Steven Ryan

What: The Sprig of Thyme
Who: The Dessoff Choirs & Pianist Steven Ryan
When: Saturday, February 29, 2020, 4:00-6:00 p.m., pre-concert talk 3:15 p.m.
Where: Union Theological Seminary, 3041 Broadway, New York, NY, Train: 1 to 125^th Street
Tickets: $20-40 in Advance. $25-45 at Door. To purchase, visit dessoff.org.

 New York City, NY (For Release 01.09.20) — Hailed as “one of the great amateur choruses of our time” (New York Today) for its “full-bodied sound and suppleness” (The New York Times), the 50-member Dessoff Choirs continues its 95^th season with a program dedicated to two of choral music’s most influential composers, Britain’s John Rutter and American Gregg Smith. Accompanied by pianist Steven Ryan, Dessoff performs two unforgettable choral gems: Rutter’s The Sprig of Thyme, a collection of charming British folk songs for chorus, and Smith’s The Continental Harmonist along with spirituals by Florence Price and Margaret Bonds sung by Dessoff’s maestro, Malcolm J. Merriweather.

“The Dessoff Choirs is thrilled to be performing works by two of the greatest composers of choral music of all time,” explains Malcolm J. Merriweather, ninth Music Director and conductor of The Dessoff Choirs. “Both Rutter’s and Smith’s music speaks from the heart to the heart. When Dessoff performs their works, we feel in the safest of hands. They have both raised the already exceptionally high choral standards.”

Gregg Smith (1931-2016) set the standard for professional choirs when he established the Gregg Smith Singers and was widely admired for his contributions to the field of contemporary choral composition through interpretation, commissioning, and recording. “He is remembered for his masterful conducting that inspired several generations of singers including myself, and for his advocacy for contemporary composers and their choral music,” says Merriweather. “Gregg Smith was one of the most caring, humble, gracious, and loving individuals that I have ever met.”

Dessoff performs the two-piano version of Smith’s The Continental Harmonist (1978) based on compositions by early American composer William Billings (1746-1800). Billings was the best known and the most prolific composer of choral music in 18^th century America, having composed over 100 pieces for chorus published in six collections between 1770 and 1794. He was the first American published composer of psalms and hymns and the inventor of “fusing songs,” and he organized the first church choir in America.

The latter half of the program comes from across the pond with The Sprig of Thyme (1994) by John Rutter (b.1945), “the most successful and well-known composer of choral music in recent British history” (BBC Music Magazine). A beautiful cycle of 11 folk-song settings, The Sprig of Thyme offers a selection of traditional songs of the British Isles, drawing together long-standing favorites such as the Willow Song and The Miller of Dee with such lesser-known gems as O can ye sew cushions and The Sprig of Thyme. According to AllMusic, Rutter is “the sunny optimist of contemporary British choral music.”

Known for “singing with conviction, expressivity, and passion” (New York Arts), The Dessoff Choirs continues to wow audiences with its absorbing programming and inspiring performances. Its season-opening concert was hailed by New York Classical Review as “a deeply felt performance…a warm, colorful sound, and performed with the welcome feeling that they are personally embracing what they sing.”

About The Dessoff Choirs            

The Dessoff Choirs, one of the leading choruses in New York City, is an independent chorus with an established reputation for pioneering performances of choral works from the Renaissance era through the 21^st century. Since its founding in 1924, Dessoff’s mission is to enrich the lives of its audiences and members through the performance of choral music. Its concerts, professional collaborations, community outreach, and educational initiatives are dedicated to stimulating public interest in and appreciation of choral music as an art form that enhances the culture and life of our times. With repertoire ranging over a wide variety of eras and styles, Dessoff’s musical acumen and flexibility has been recognized with invitations from major orchestras for oratorios and orchestral works. Past performances include Britten’s War Requiem and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Lorin Maazel in his final performances as Music Director with the New York Philharmonic. Over the course of its 94-year history, Dessoff has presented numerous world premieres, including pieces by Virgil Thomson, George Perle, Paul Moravec, and Ricky Ian Gordon, as well as the first American performance in nearly 100 years of Montemezzi’s opera La Nave with Teatro Grattacielo; and the American premieres of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 5, and Sir John Tavener’s all-night vigil, The Veil of the Temple. In November 2019, Dessoff released its newest recording, MARGARET BONDS: The Ballad of the Brown King & Selected Songs on AVIE Records. This project is the premiere recording of the composer’s magnum opus. Other CDs include Reflections, featuring music by Convery, Corigliano, Moravec, and Rorem, and Glories on Glories, a collection of American song featuring composers ranging from Billings to Ives. Please visit dessoff.org for more information.

About Malcolm J. Merriweather

Confuctor Malcolm J. Merriweather is Music Director of New York City’s The Dessoff Choirs, founded in 1924 and known for path-breaking performances of choral works from the pre-Baroque era through the 21st century. An Assistant Professor, he is Director of Choral Studies and Voice Department Coordinator at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York, Artist-in-Residence at Union Theological Seminary, and Artistic Director of Voices of Haiti, a 60-member children’s choir in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, operated by the Andrea Bocelli Foundation. He is also in demand as a baritone soloist, often performing throughout the United States.       

Highlights of Merriweather’s 2019-20 season include the release of two major recordings. With Dessoff, Merriweather conducts and performs selected songs on Margaret Bonds: The Ballad of the Brown King & Selected Songs released by AVIE Records in November 2019; this project is the premiere recording of the composer’s magnum opus. In this new arrangement, Merriweather scored Bonds’ 1954 work for orchestra for strings, harp, and organ. He is also featured as the baritone soloist in the Oratorio Society of New York’s recording of Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell’s Sanctuary Road released on the Naxos label.

During Dessoff’s 95th season, Merriweather conducts the group in performances of Faure’s Requiem, Rutter’s The Sprig of Thyme, Gregg Smith’s The Continental Harmonist, and the New York premiere of Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard. He also conducts a variety of concerts and events at Brooklyn College and Union Theological Seminary. As a baritone soloist, he will sing Britten’s War Requiem at the Eastern Division American Choral Directors Association Conference in Rochester, NY; Bob Chilcott’s Requiem, also in Rochester, NY; and Sanctuary Road, with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio, and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra in Chautauqua, NY.       

Last season included Merriweather’s Mostly Mozart debut, conducting the West Choir in the world premiere of John Luther Adams’s In the name of earth, and appearances with Andrea Bocelli and “Voices of Haiti” at Madison Square Garden. He conducted three world premieres by composers Eve Beglarian, Douglas Geers, and Matthew Aucoin as The Dessoff Choirs celebrated the bicentennial of American poet Walt Whitman. Other season conducting highlights included Ildebrando Pizzetti’s Requiem and Margaret Bonds’s The Ballad of the Brown King with The Dessoff Choirs; Handel’s Messiah at Brooklyn College and the Harvard Club of New York; and William Grant Still’s They Lynched Him on a Tree with Grace Chorale of Brooklyn. Solo engagements for 2018-19 included Bach’s St. Matthew Passion; and Handel’s Messiah with the Worcester Chorus and New Jersey Masterworks Chorus at Carnegie Hall. During the summer of 2017, Merriweather lead Voices of Haiti in performances with Andrea Bocelli at Teatro del Silenzio in Lajatico, Italy, and for Pope Francis at the Vatican. He is a recipient of the Lotus Foundation Prize and the Outstanding Full-Time Faculty Teaching Award from Brooklyn College. Dr. Merriweather has earned degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and Syracuse University (summa cum laude). Please visit www.malcolmjmerriweather.com for more information. Connect with him on Twitter and Instagram @maestroweather.

About Steven Ryan

Steven Ryan has been Dessoff’s accompanist and keyboard soloist since 1997, including featured performances in all of Dessoff’s Midwinter Festivals. In February 2017, Dessoff’s “French Fête” concert was a celebration of his 20th anniversary with the group. In recent years, Ryan has performed in Russia, Austria, France, and Italy. In 2014, he was featured in the “Voices Across the Pacific” festival in Sydney, Australia, playing a solo concert and working with choirs. He has performed several solos with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and the Greater Trenton Symphony Orchestra. Ryan is a regular accompanist at Montclair State University, with the choirs and in both the voice and string studios. In April 2017, he performed Olivier Messiaen’s Oiseaux exotiques with Montclair State University’s Wind Symphony. Last summer he toured with Montclair in Austria and Germany.

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For more information about The Dessoff Choirs, please visit dessoff.org.