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

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ORATORIO SOCIETY OF NEW YORK PRESENTS 
MENDELSSOHN’S ELIJAH
ON MAY 9 AT CARNEGIE HALL

Featuring Soprano Susanna Phillips, Mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford,
Tenor Isaiah Bell, Baritone Justin Austin, and Treble Zachary Whalen

www.osny.org

March 28, 2022, New York, NY — The Oratorio Society of New York (OSNY), led by Music Director Kent Tritle, presents Mendelssohn’s iconic Elijah on Monday, May 9, 2022 at 8:00pm at Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall. Featured artists include soprano Susanna Phillips, mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford, tenor Isaiah Bell, baritone Justin Austin, treble Zachary Whalen, and the Orchestra of the Society, with Kent Tritle conducting.

Elijah is the dramatic biblical tale of the unyielding prophet and his struggle against the wicked king Ahab who, with his duplicitous wife Jezebel, led the ancient Israelites astray from their true God. Mendelssohn’s setting of this righteous man’s defense of the Hebrew God over the Canaanite Baal includes frenzied pagan rituals, ecstatic hymns of praise, stirring choruses, and operatic arias which are masterfully woven into an emotional depiction of this ancient epic. The Oratorio Society of New York first performed Elijah in 1876. This 2022 concert marks the Society’s 39th performance of the piece.

OSNY’s 2021-22 season also includes the 45th annual Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition on April 9, 2022 at 1:30pm in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

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Concert Information
Mendelssohn’s Elijah
Monday, May 9, 2022 at 8:00pm
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, Carnegie Hall
Tickets: $25-$90
Link: https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2022/05/09/Oratorio-Society-of-New-York-0800PM

Kent Tritle, conductor
Susanna Phillips, soprano
Lucia Bradford, mezzo-soprano
Isaiah Bell, tenor
Justin Austin, baritone
Zachary Whalen, treble
Orchestra of the Society

MENDELSSOHN: Elijah

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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 501c3 corporation governed by a volunteer board of directors with a professional music staff.

About Kent Tritle
Kent Tritle is one of the leading choral conductors in the United States. During his tenure with the Oratorio Society of New York, he has led it in a wide variety of works, including the world premieres of the Paul Moravec/Mark Campbell oratorio Sanctuary Road and Juraj Filas’s Song of Solomon, and the New York premieres of Paul Moravec’s The Blizzard Voices and Marjorie Merryman’s Jonah. Under his direction members of the chorus have also performed in Europe and South America and in concerts presented by the New York Philharmonic.

Mr. Tritle is also Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where he directs the Great Music in a Great Space concert series, and is Music Director of Musica Sacra.

Highlights of events planned for the 2021-22 season include performances of selections from Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall with Musica Sacra and the Oratorio Society of New York, after a two-year absence; Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Oratorio Society; a program with Musica Sacra featuring works by Viktor Kalabis (on the eve of the Czech composer’s centennial) and Arvo Pärt and the world premiere of a commissioned work by Wang Jie; the Requiem mass of the Classical-era Afro-Brazilian composer José Maurício Nunes Garcia with the Cathedral Choir of St. John the Divine as well as Garcia’s Stabat Mater with the Manhattan School of Music Symphony and Symphonic Chorus; the local premiere of the Stabat Mater of Alissa Firsova; an a cappella program of music by Britten, Pärt, and Gabrieli with the Oratorio Society of New York at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; and Honegger’s King David with the forces of the Manhattan School of Music.

Kent Tritle led the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space series at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola from 1989 to 2011, and from 1996 to 2004 he was Music Director of the Emmy-nominated Dessoff Choirs. Kent hosted “The Choral Mix with Kent Tritle,” a weekly program devoted to the vibrant world of choral music, on New York’s WQXR from 2010 to 2014.

Kent Tritle’s discography features more than 20 recordings on the Telarc, Naxos, AMDG, Epiphany, Gothic, VAI and MSR Classics labels. Recent releases include the Grammy-nominated 2018 world premiere performance of the Paul Moravec/Mark Campbell oratorio Sanctuary Road with the Oratorio Society of New York; the 2016 performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 8, David Briggs's organ-choral version, and Eternal Reflections: Choral Music of Robert Paterson with Musica Sacra.

An acclaimed organ virtuoso, Mr. Tritle is the organist of the New York Philharmonic and the American Symphony Orchestra. He performs regularly in Europe and throughout the United States. Recital venues have included the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Zurich Tonhalle, the Church of St. Sulpice, Dresden’s Hofkirche, King’s College at Cambridge, and Westminster Abbey.

Mr. Tritle is on the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School, and is Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music, where he established a doctoral program in choral conducting and is on the faculty of the organ department. Tritle is renowned as a master clinician, giving workshops on conducting and repertoire; he was a featured conductor at Berkshire Choral International on several occasions, and currently leads the annual choral workshop at the Amherst Early Music Festival. In recent years he has also led workshops at Summer@Eastman and at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He was featured in the first season of the WIRED video series “Masterminds,” an installment titled, “What Conductors Are Really Doing.”  His website is kenttritle.com.

About Susanna Phillips
Alabama-born soprano Susanna Phillips continues to establish herself as one of today’s most sought-after singing actors and recitalists. Ms. Phillips is a recipient of The Metropolitan Opera’s 2010 Beverly Sills Artist Award. Known for her sparkling portrayal of Musetta in “La bohème”, Ms. Phillips has sung at the Met for 12 consecutive seasons in the roles of Musetta, Pamina, Donna Anna, Rosalinde, Antonia/Stella, Micaëla, Donna Elvira, and most recently as Countess Almaviva - a role very close to her heart. Role highlights at the Met include Fiordigili, which The New York Times called a “breakthrough night”, and Clémence in the Met premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s “L’amour de Loin”. Ms. Phillips was also a featured artist in the Met’s Summer Recital Series.

In 2005 Ms. Phillips won four of the world’s leading vocal competitions: Operalia (both First Place and the Audience Prize), the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the MacAllister Awards, and the George London Foundation Awards Competition. She has also claimed the top honor at the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition, and has won first prizes from the American Opera Society Competition and the Musicians Club of Women in Chicago. Ms. Phillips has received grants from the Santa Fe Opera and the Sullivan Foundation, and is a graduate of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center. She holds both a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School.

The start of Ms. Phillips’s career found her at the Zürich Opera as Donna Anna in “Don Giovanni”, Santa Fe Opera as Pamina in “Die Zauberflöte”, and Arminda in “La finta giardiniera”. As a member of the Ryan Opera Center, Ms. Phillips sang the female leads in “Roméo et Juliette” and “Die fledermaus”. Additional roles include Elmira in Reinhard Keiser’s “The Fortunes of King Croesus” and the title roles in “Lucia di Lammermoor” and “Agrippina”. Recently, Ms. Phillips paid tribute to Clara Schumann at the Library of Congress and collaborated with Jane Glover for Handel’s “Messiah” and “Rival Divas” program with Music of the Baroque. A frequent soloist at Carnegie Hall, Ms. Phillips debuted the U.S Premiere of the New Critical Edition of Brahms’s “A German Requiem” with The Oratorio Society of New York and performed in a concert staging as Stella in Previn’s “A Streetcar Named Desire” opposite Renée Fleming - a role Ms. Phillips went on to perform, to rave reviews, at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Ms. Phillips is dedicated to oratorio works with credits including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mahler’s Second and Fourth Symphonies, Mozart’s “Coronation Mass”, the Fauré and Mozart Requiems, and “Carmina Burana”. An avid chamber music collaborator, Ms. Phillips has worked frequently with pianist Myra Huang. Ms. Phillips also co-founded Twickenham Fest, a chamber music festival in her native Huntsville, Alabama alongside bassoonist and Huntsville native, Matthew McDonald.

The 2021-22 season sees Ms. Phillips returning to her native Huntsville, performing with the Orchestra of St. Lukes, engagements with OSNY and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and a world premiere of Picker’s “Awakenings” at OTSL. www.susannaphillips.com.

About Lucia Bradford
Mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford is a native of Brooklyn, N.Y. Ms. Bradford has performed a number of operatic roles including Carmen in Bizet’s La Tragedie de Carmen, Zita in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, La Principessa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, The Mother in Ravel’s L’Enfant des Sortileges, Mercedes in Bizet’s Carmen, Mrs. Quickly in Verdi’s Falstaff, The Sorceress in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Gertrude in Gounod's Romeo and Juliet, Hippolyta in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Miss Todd in Menotti’s Old Maid and the Thief, the Duchess of Plaza Toro in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers, Azelia Dessalines in the historic return of William Grant Still’s opera Troubled Island with New York City Opera at the Schomburg Center, Maria in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and the Mother of Paul Dunbar in the premiere of The Mask in the Mirror by Richard Thompson.

Ms. Bradford has had the privilege of singing and touring in Russia with the Krasnoyarsk Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and the Radio Orpheus Symphony Orchestra in Siberia, Dubna and Moscow presented by Opera Noire of New York City. She has also toured in parts of Spain, the Caribbean and throughout the United States.

In addition to opera, she enjoys performing in concert and recital settings. Namely, performing works of Schubert, Rossini and Moses Hogan at the prestigious Kimmel Center in the Verizon Hall in Philadelphia with the renowned Maestro Christoph Eschenbach at the piano, the alto soloist in Undine Smith Moore’s The Scene for the Life of a Martyr in Minnesota, appearing with chamber orchestras including the Harlem Chamber Players performing for their annual Bach series and the St Luke's orchestra. Ms. Bradford also enjoys singing new compositions. She appeared in New York City Opera's VOX concert series performing a new work called Crescent City by Anne LeBaron as Marie Leveau also in Yoav Gal’s work called Mosheh as Miriam.

Ms. Bradford also enjoys singing other genres such as gospel and jazz. She is a member of Opera Noire of New York City and the American Spirituals Ensemble under the direction of Doctor Everett McCorvey. www.luciabradford.com.

About Isaiah Bell
Isaiah Bell is a Classical tenor and an interdisciplinary theatre artist creating genre-bending touring work. The Canadian-American performs across North America (notably Rufus Wainwright’s Hadrian at the Canadian Opera Company, The Barber of Seville’s Almaviva for Vancouver Opera, Mark Morris’ production of Curlew River at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and regular appearances with the Toronto Symphony, Philharmonia Baroque, Opéra de Montréal, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Oratorio Society of New York) and enriches that practice with composition and writing for the theatre. Currently he combines these disciplines in his semi-autobiographical solo show The Book of My Shames, a co-creation with director Sean Guist around Isaiah’s own words and music. This intimate, unique theatre piece tours in orchestrated and cabaret versions (Tapestry Opera and Pride Toronto, Pacific Opera Victoria and Intrepid Theatre, Opera Kelowna and Living Things Festival, Regina Symphony), and has been described as “impossibly beautiful”, a “fascinating creation,” and a “comic, wrenchingly personal tour-de-force.”

During pandemic shutdowns, Isaiah created a diverse body of work, including translating, adapting, and performing Poulenc’s solo opera La voix humaine for a City Opera Vancouver filmed production (a “finely tuned performance, so perfectly married to his own sensitive and intelligent adaptation” — Opera Canada). He also designed hybrid concept recitals for Early Music Vancouver and Ottawa Chamberfest, which featured his own music and poetry alongside works from the Classical canon. For 200 days in 2020, Isaiah immersed himself into a large-scale daily art/music/poetry creation project inspired by the meditative practice of haiku writing. The results can be seen on Instagram @isaiahisaiahisaiahisaiahisaiah.

As a performer, Isaiah has established a particular relationship with the music of Britten, Handel, and Bach. He has appeared as many of Britten’s tenors (Albert Herring, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, War Requiem, Curlew River, Owen Wingrave, St. Nicolas) and has been seen across North America in Bach’s major works (including as the Passions’ Evangelists) and many cantatas. In addition to dozens of performances of Handel’s Messiah, Isaiah has sung both tenor roles in Acis and Galatea, as well as the tenors of Atalanta, Judas Maccabaeus, Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day, Joshua, and La resurrezione.

Isaiah is also deeply engaged with music education and creative-process training. He travels speaking and hosting master classes, and directs experimental concerts and stage productions for young artists (University of Victoria, Opera NUOVA, University of Toronto). Along with director Erik Thor he is researching oral/aural group co-creation in music-theatre with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Some of Isaiah’s upcoming projects include the world premiere of La beauté du monde at Opéra de Montréal, the world premiere of A Nation of Others with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall, and three hybrid recitals around the music of Schubert, Debussy, and Bach. He is also engaged for further dates with The Book of My Shames in new cities, and is in development with the team behind that show on an as-yet-untitled second co-creation. http://isaiahbell.com.

About Justin Austin
Praised in Opera News as “a gentle actor and elegant musician” and The Wall Street Journal for his "mellifluous baritone," Justin Austin has been performing professionally since age 4. Born in Stuttgart, Germany to professional opera singer parents, Austin began his singing career as a boy soprano performing at venues such as Teatro Real, Bregenzer Festspiele, Lincoln Center, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. While working with directors such as Götz Friedrich and Tazewell Thompson, Austin was able to realize his love for music and performance early on.

For the 2021/22 season Austin makes his Metropolitan Opera debut as Marcellus in Hamlet by Brett Dean. Austin also joins the Met covering the leading role of Charles Blow in Fire Shut Up In My Bones by Terrance Blanchard. Austin Joins the Lyric Opera of Chicago covering the role of Riolobo in Florencia en el Amazonas. Austin stars as George Armstrong in the return of Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage and Ricky Ian Gordon at Lincoln Center Theater. Austin makes his return to New York Festival of Song for their debut concert at Little Island in NYC. Austin will be presented in recital by the Park Avenue Armory. Austin returns to Carnegie Hall singing the title role in Mendelssohn's Elijah with Oratorio Society of New York. Austin also joins the Cecilia Chorus at Carnegie Hall as the baritone soloist in Ballad of the Brown King by Margaret Bonds. Austin will spend Summer 2022 with Des Moines Metro Opera reprising the role of Thomas Mckeller in American Apollo by Damien Geter and Lila Palmer.

As a multifaceted musician, Mr. Austin performs a wide range of repertoire from Jazz, R&B, and Musical Theatre, to Opera and Oratorio. Justin has collaborated with multiple groups and artists such as Aretha Franklin, The Boys Choir of Harlem, Mary J. Blige, Elton John, Lauryn Hill, The Roots, 30 Seconds to Mars, John Cale, Ricky Ian Gordon, Damien Sneed, Kanye West, and jazz legends Reggie Workman, Hugh Masekela, and Wynton Marsalis.

Justin strongly believes in utilizing his artistry to benefit music programs, new music projects, and community services around the world. To do so, he works with organizations such as MEND (Meeting Emergency Needs with Dignity), QSAC (Quality Services for the Autism Community), Holt International, and St. Mary's Children's Hospital to construct and perform benefit concerts. The proceeds of these projects supply emergent living essentials to those in need. Inspired by the importance of new music and collaboration, Mr. Austin has performed and recorded operatic, song, and oratorio world premieres by Wynton Marsalis, Avner Finberg, M. Roger Holland, Jack Perla, Peter Andreacchi, Damien Sneed, Odeline de la Martinez, and Ricky Ian Gordon.

Austin has won awards from organizations such as The Recording Academy, NAACP, George London Foundation, Opera Ebony, Gerda Lissner Foundation, Manhattan School of Music, NANM, Choir Academy of Harlem, and Laguardia Arts.

Justin is a proud graduate of the Choir Academy of Harlem, Laguardia Arts, Heidelberg Lied Akademie, and Manhattan School of Music holding the Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees. Mr. Austin is under the tutelage and mentorship of Catherine Malfitano. Learn more at www.justinaustin.org.

About Zachary Whelan
Zachary Whelan is a lifelong Harlem native and attends 8th grade at PS.333 - Manhattan School for Children. He has studied the cello with Nicole Johnson since the age of 6. From September 2020, Zachary spent a year abroad in his father's hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand where he discovered his love of singing as a student in the Special Music Program at Westburn School. While in New Zealand, Zachary performed as the boy soloist at the Christmas Mass with the Christchurch Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament Choir, and also portrayed the role of Colin Craven in Secret Garden with Enchanting Productions in the Great Hall of the Arts Centre, Te Matatiki Toi Ora. Upon his return to NYC in September 2021, Zachary joined the Schola Cantorum at St. John the Divine under the direction of Sam Kuffuor-Afriyie. Also an enthusiastic actor, Zachary recently performed with Creative Stage Collective in their Summer Shebang and Creative Stage Spectacular! at Symphony Space, Thalia Theater. Zachary is a cellist with the Riverside String ensemble. He lives with his parents, Madeline Bender and operatic bass Paul Whelan.

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