Oratorio Society Of New York Presents The 45th Annual Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition Finals At Carnegie Hall, April 9

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katlyn Morahan | Morahan Arts and Media
katlyn@morahanartsandmedia.com | (646) 378-9386

THE ORATORIO SOCIETY OF NEW YORK PRESENTS THE
45TH ANNUAL LYNDON WOODSIDE
ORATORIO-SOLO COMPETITION FINALS CONCERT
ON APRIL 9 AT CARNEGIE HALL

www.osny.org

March 9, 2022, New York, NY — The Oratorio Society of New York, led by Music Director Kent Tritle, is presenting the 45th Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition Finals Concert at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, April 9, 2022 at 1:30pm. 

Eight emerging classical singers (to be selected from a pool of semifinalists) will perform major oratorio arias with piano accompaniment. OSNY’s Music Director Kent Tritle and a panel of distinguished judges to be announced will choose the winners and award cash prizes. The Solo Competition was inaugurated in 1977 to encourage the art of oratorio singing and to give young singers an opportunity to advance their careers.

Prizes include the Holly McCracken Award (first place, $7,000), the Meyerson/Zwanger Award (second place, $5,000), and the Janet Plucknett Award (third place, $3,000). Additional prizes include the Esther Korshin Award (fourth place, $2,500), the Watson Family Award (fifth place, $1,500), the William Grogan Award (sixth place, $1,000), the Robert and Winifred Connelly Green Award (seventh place, $1,000) and the Jody Spellun Award (eighth place, $1,000).

OSNY’s 2021-22 season concludes with Mendelssohn’s Elijah on May 9, 2022 at 8:00pm in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, featuring Susanna Phillips, Lucia Bradford, Isaiah Bell, Justin Austin, and Zachary Whalen.

Concert Information
The 45th Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition Finals Concert
Saturday, April 9, 2022 at 1:30pm
Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall
154 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019
Tickets: $30
Link: https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2022/04/09/Lyndon-Woodside-Oratorio-Solo-Competition-Finals-0130PM

Artists and repertoire to be announced

Please note: to support a safe reopening for in-person events and in accordance with the advice of medical and public health experts, all artists, visitors, and staff will be required to show proof of full vaccination against COVID19 with a vaccine approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to enter Carnegie Hall. It is also highly recommended that all attendees receive boosters, based on eligibility determined by the CDC. While inside Carnegie Hall, all guests must wear a properly fitting mask over their nose and mouth except when eating or drinking in designated areas.

About the Oratorio Society of New York
The Oratorio Society of New York (OSNY) is one of the oldest musical organizations in the United States and has become New York City’s standard for grand choral performance. Founded in 1873 by Leopold Damrosch, the Society has played an integral role in the musical life of the city. In its early years, the Society established a fund to finance the building of a new concert hall, a cause taken up in earnest by the Society’s fifth president, Andrew Carnegie. In 1891, and under the direction of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, the Society helped inaugurate this new Music Hall, which would be renamed Carnegie Hall several years later.

The Society continues to perform several times each season at Carnegie Hall. Its annual performances of Handel’s Messiah, a tradition unbroken since 1874, have become a holiday favorite with New York audiences. In addition to its collaborations with the New York Philharmonic and Orchestra of St. Luke’s, as well as other performing arts institutions, the Society performs internationally every few years – including recent concerts in Japan, Uruguay, Germany, Italy, and Brazil.

The Society is also committed to commissioning and championing new works, including most recently Pulitzer prize-winning composer, Paul Moravec and Grammy Award-winning librettist, Mark Campbell’s Grammy nominated recording Sanctuary Road, available from Naxos Records.

The OSNY membership consists of avocational and professionally trained singers as well as non-singing members. Auditions are held twice annually at the beginning of the fall and winter terms. OSNY is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation governed by a volunteer board of directors with a professional music staff.

About Kent Tritle
Kent Tritle is one of America’s leading choral conductors. In addition to being Music Director of the Oratorio Society of New York, he is Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City and Music Director of Musica Sacra, New York’s longest continuously performing professional chorus.

In addition, Kent is Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music and is a member of the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School. An acclaimed organ virtuoso, he is also the organist of the New York Philharmonic.

Called “the brightest star in New York's choral music world” by The New York Times, Kent Tritle founded the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space concert series at New York’s Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, and led it to great acclaim from 1989 to 2011. From 1996 to 2004, he was Music Director of New York’s The Dessoff Choirs. He hosted “The Choral Mix with Kent Tritle,” a weekly program on New York’s WQXR, from 2010 to 2014. Kent Tritle has made more than 20 recordings on the Telarc, Naxos, AMDG, Epiphany, Gothic, VAI and MSR Classics labels. www.kenttritle.com.

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