Western WInd in 'Certain Dragons & Other Beasts, Fearsome, Delightful, & Strange'

WHERE AND WHEN:

Saturday, October 9, 2021 at 7:00 PM

Church of St. Luke in the Field, 487 Hudson Street (between Christopher and Barrow Streets at the intersection of Grove Street, West Village)

Tickets: $25 Gen. Adm., $15 students & seniors, $100 ($75 deductible) Patron, $50 ($25 deductible) Friend.

In-person tickets: http://www.westernwind.org/concerts.html, 212-873-2848.

Live broadcast and streaming on-demand tickets: https://www.musae.me/westernwind/experiences/1179/certain-dragons, 212-873-2848.

Ensemble's website: www.westernwind.org

Running time: 75 min. including intermission – reception follows live concert

Pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4K7H39XxMwnDzNKx9

Reviewers are invited.

 

NEW YORK – The Western Wind Vocal Sextet has add on-demand streaming tickets for its world premiere concert, "Certain Dragons & Other Beasts, Fearsome, Delightful, & Strange," which will be presented on October 9 at 7:00 PM at Church of St. Luke in the Field, 487 Hudson Street, NYC (West Village).

 

After a nearly two-year hiatus from in-person performance, the Grammy-nominated ensemble ensemble is thrilled to unite again with live audiences. But it has added streaming tickets in order to accommodate the nationwide virtual audience it has stitched together since March 28, 2020, when an earlier version of this concert had to be canceled due to the Covid shutdown.

 

The concert is a journey through the natural (and supernatural) world featuring the world premiere of "Certain Dragons" by Martha Sullivan, a multi-movement work created for The Western Wind. Its five movements are settings of texts from John Keats, W.B. Yeats, Siegfried Sassoon, African-American Spirituals, and Sullivan herself, all referencing dragons. With its signature eclectic range of repertoire, Western Wind will also delve into the deeps of the sea, the highest soaring heights of the air, and everything in between with works by Josquin, Janequin, Weelkes, Monteverdi, Purcell, Billings, Stanford, Dennis, and others--works that are both grave and fanciful, well-known and unknown, very old and very, very new.

 

"Certain Dragons..." is made possible by the Chamber Music Classical Commissioning Program with generous funding provided by The Andrew Mellon Foundation.

 

The Western Wind singers are sopranos Linda Lee Jones and Elizabeth van Os, countertenor Eric S. Brenner, tenors Todd Frizzell and David Vanderwal and bass Steven Hrycelak.

 

Since 1969, the Grammy nominated Western Wind has devoted itself to the special beauty and variety of a cappella music. The New York Times has called them "A kaleidoscopic tapestry of vocal hues." The ensemble's repertoire reveals its diverse background, from Renaissance motets to Fifties rock'n'roll, medieval carols to Duke Ellington, complex works by avant-garde composers to the simplest folk melodies. Visit them at http://www.westernwind.org.

 

Tickets to "Certain Dragons & Other Beasts, Fearsome, Delightful, & Strange" are $25 general admission and $15 students/seniors. Patron tickets are $100 ($75 tax deductible) and Friend tickets are $50 ($25 tax deductible). For in-person tickets, go to http://www.westernwind.org/concerts.html. For live broadcast and streaming on-demand tickets, go to: https://www.musae.me/westernwind/experiences/1179/certain-dragons. For more concert information, please call 212-873-2848 or e-mail: info@westernwind.org.

 

B A C K G R O U N D

 

ABOUT COMPOSER MARTHA SULLIVAN

Martha Sullivan (b. 1964) composed her first works for voice during the seven years she sang with the Gregg Smith Singers and has become a sought-after New York composer of music for voices.  In 2018, she was awarded a Chamber Music America Composer's Commission award to create "Certain Dragons." In its December, 2019 concert at Church of St. Luke in the Fields, The Western Wind debuted her "Lazarus," a setting of Emma Lazarus' "The New Colossus" that is found on the Statue of Liberty.

 

She has won international competitions sponsored by the Sorel Organization (the Sorel Medallion for Women Composers, 2016) and the Dale Warland Singers (Choral Ventures, 2003), as well as various choral commissioning competitions. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Music Composition at Rutgers, exploring various genres, including music for dance, instrumental chamber music, electronic music, and music for theater. She composed all the incidental music for Rutgers’ production of "Cyrano de Bergerac" in 2013.

 

Sullivan sings, composes, and conducts in C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective. In addition to her composing and her professional singing work, she has taught at Westminster Choir College, Rutgers, and New York University, and has presented her theoretical research (specializing in topic theory, music semiotics, and feminist approaches to music analysis) at several major academic conferences. Her commissions as a composer include music for groups around the country as well as in Glasgow, Tokyo, and Zurich. Her works have been recorded by The Esoterics (Seattle, WA), Chicago A Cappella, and C4. She is published by G. Schirmer, Laurendale, and See A Dot.

 

WESTERN WIND: SIGNATURE PERFORMANCES AND RECORDINGS

In the United States, Western Wind has appeared in many distinguished venues, including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, ArtPark, Ordway Theater, the Metropolitan Museum, the Frick Museum, the Jewish Museum, Folger Shakespeare Library, Library of Congress, and Cleveland Museum of Art.

 

In Europe, the sextet has appeared at the Geneva Opera, performing works it commissioned: "Batéy" by Tania León and Michel Camilo and "De Orishas" by Tania León. The Western Wind has also recorded early and contemporary American vocal music for the German National Radio at Cologne and made several triumphant tours of northern Italy, performing Italian Renaissance as well as American music. The group has appeared with the RAI Orchestra and Chorus of Rome at the Rome Opera and at Venice's legendary opera house, Teatro La Fenice. In 1985, The Western Wind premiered Cesar Franck's opera, "Stradella," for La Fenice in an outdoor Venetian setting. At the request of the State Department (USIA), The Western Wind has also performed American and Latin American music throughout East Asia. In March 2012 The Western Wind was invited to inaugurate the first Australian Jewish Choral Festival, performed widely in the Sydney area and created a special program for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

 

In 2007, The Western Wind won the ASCAP-Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music. In addition to their many live performances, The Western Wind appears frequently on radio, television, film and CD. A series of public radio holiday specials by The Western Wind has been broadcast nationwide since 1989 and the group has been televised on The Today Show (NBC). On film, the ensemble sings music by Philip Glass in the movies "Koyaanisqatsi" (Nonesuch Records) and "Candyman."

 

Public Radio holiday programming includes "Chanukkah in Story & Song," narrated by Leonard Nimoy, "The Birthday of The World: Music and traditions of the High Holy Days, narrated by Leonard Nimoy and "Holiday Light: Singing Angels, Silver Bells," narrated by Roma Downey, which have all become public radio perennials. Award-winning recordings include "I Am the Rose of Sharon: Early American Vocal Music" (Grammy nominee, 1973) and "The Happy Journey" (both Early American Vocal Music), "Christmas in the New World" and "Holiday Light" (Christmas); "Mazal Bueno, A Portrait in Song of the Spanish Jews," narrated by Tovah Feldshuh; "Taste of Eternity, A Musical Shabbat," "The Passover Story," narrated by Theo Bikel; "Blessings and Batéy," featuring music by David Darling, Tania León, and Michel Camilo; "My Funny Valentine" (Pop and Jazz) and "Man in The Moon: music of Robert Dennis." A CD featuring two works written for The Western Wind by Meredith Monk and Eric Salzman was chosen album of the week by WQXR Q2. Western Wind's latest release is "We Are Still Here – The Holocaust Through Music & Memory." A version of this program, narrated by Danny Burstein and Jessica Hecht, is distributed to public radio stations by Public Radio International.

 

The Western Wind presents workshops in ensemble singing at Smith College and other venues in Washington, DC and Vermont. The ensemble is in residence at several New York City public high schools, providing intensive instruction in ensemble and solo repertoire as well as interdisciplinary lecture demonstrations. (www.westernwind.org)

 

SINGERS OF THE WESTERN WIND VOCAL SEXTET

Eric S. Brenner (countertenor) has been hailed for his "penetrating eloquence" (NY Times), "astonishing musicality" (NY Classical Review) and "Mr. Roboto majesty" (Stage Mage). You may recognize him as the angry monk just to Madonna's right in footage from the 2018 Met Gala. Brenner is countertenor soloist in recent performances and recording of Hannah Lash's "Requiem" (Naxos) and Du Yun's Pulitzer Prize winning "Angel's Bone" (VIA Records). Other engagements include: alto soloist in Vivaldi's "Introduction & Gloria" at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue; soprano and alto soloist in Handel's "Messiah" at Avery Fisher (Geffen) and Alice Tully Hall; Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms" at St. Thomas Church, St. John the Divine, and St. Ignatius Loyola; soprano in collaborative concerts with Les Canards Chantant and the Folger Consort at the National Cathedral; Doodle in "Scarlet Ibis" by Stefan Weisman and David Cote; and Poet in Virko Baley's "Holodomor" in Ukraine. Brenner is also co-composer with Matt Shloss of music for Rob Reese's Yahweh's Follies. He writes fiction and persists in being an incorrigible Mets fan. (www.ericsbrenner.com)

 

Todd Frizzell (tenor) was reared in Denver Colorado. He has spent the last 25 years performing in San Francisco, Hawaii, and New York City. He has been featured on ABC-TV's Nightline, singing music from a Mass written in the first millennium which he also performed in Limoges, France in May 2001. He has performed internationally with New York's Ensemble for Early Music. He serenaded Dame Judi Dench in June 2000 at Broadway's Ethyl Barrymore Theater. He was the tenor soloist in Handel's "Israel in Egypt" at Avery Fisher Hall with the National Chorale and soloist at Alice Tully Hall with the National Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with the Choir of St. Luke in the Fields, The New York Virtuoso Singers, Musica Antica at St. Bart's and the New York Concert Singers and has appeared at the Bard College Festival.

 

Steven Hrycelak (bass) hails from Rochester, NY and is equally at home performing early and very new music. He has degrees in Music from Yale (where he sang with the world-renowned Whiffenpoofs) and Vocal Performance from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. He appears regularly with Blue Heron, Pegasus, NYS State Baroque, Publick Musick, Meridionalis, and the Yale Choral Artists and is a member of the Grammy-nominated Choir of Trinity Wall Street. In new music, he performs with Ekmeles, Toby Twining Music, the New York Virtuoso Singers and the SEM Ensemble, among others. As an opera singer, he has performed with Bard Summerscape, Opera Omnia, Musica Nuova, and Union Avenue Opera. He is also a vocal coach/accompanist.

 

Linda Lee Jones (soprano), raised in New Orleans, is a soprano, teacher and massage therapist in New York City and Central New Jersey. She has performed with prominent choral groups including Musica Sacra, the New York Choral Artists, St. Ignatius Loyola Church and the Mostly Mozart Festival as well as with some of the world's finest orchestras and conductors. Ms. Jones is a member of the professional Chorale of the Carmel Bach Festival in Carmel, CA and sings regularly with the choir of Trinity Wall Street. As a soloist, she has appeared with the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans, the Louisiana Vocal Arts Chorale, the Masterwork Chorus of NJ and the Argento Chamber Ensemble in New York. Before relocating to New Jersey, she served as Director of Music for Munholland United Methodist Church in New Orleans, where she worked with choristers of all ages. Ms. Jones hold a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance from Loyola University.

 

Elizabeth van Os (soprano) is one of New York City's most dynamic performers, making waves not only as soloist and ensemble member but also as a co-founder of the non-profit Pleiades Project. Opera-zine parterre noted her "striking impression" and Voce di Meche praised her "lovely, affecting" voice and "justifiable passion." Born Elizabeth Smith, she holds performance degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Brigham Young University in Idaho. (www.elizabethvanos.com)

 

David Vanderwal (tenor) hails from Portland, Oregon. He has performed as a soloist with The American Bach Soloists, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, New York Collegium and Tafelmusik. Recently Mr. Vanderwal performed in Handel's "Messiah" with the St. Paul's Cathedral Choirs of Buffalo, NY, Pax Christi of Toronto, ON, Danbury (CT) Symphony Orchestra, The Mendelssohn Choir (CT) and First Congregational Church of Greenwich, CT. He performed Bach's "Easter Oratorio" and a new concert, "Mass of John Tavener," with the Choir of St. Thomas Church in New York. Mr. Vanderwal appeared at the Carmel Bach Festival in California and taught at the International Bachakademie's Stuttgart Festival in Überlingen, Germany. He also presents a set of song recitals throughout the year.

 

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COVID POLICY:

You must show proof of vaccination to attend the live performance.

Masks are required at all times for all live audience members.

Performers will not be masked.