World Premiere of 'A Nation of Others' by Pulitzer Prize Winners Opens Oratorio Society of New York's 22-23 Season, 11/15 at Carnegie Hall

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katlyn Morahan | Morahan Arts and Media
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WORLD PREMIERE OF A NATION OF OTHERS
BY PULITZER PRIZE WINNERS
PAUL MORAVEC AND MARK CAMPBELL OPENS
ORATORIO SOCIETY OF NEW YORK’S 2022-23 SEASON

November 15 in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
at Carnegie Hall

New Commission Explores Immigrant Experiences at
Ellis Island on a Single Day in 1921

Program Also Includes Whitman’s America by Robert Paterson

Kent Tritle Conducts Soloists
Susanna Phillips, Maeve Höglund, Raehann Bryce-Davis,
Martin Bakari, Steven Eddy, and Joseph Beutel,
Together with the Chorus and Orchestra of the Society

September 13, 2022, New York, NY — The Oratorio Society of New York (OSNY), led by Music Director Kent Tritle, opens its 2022–23 season on Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 8:00 pm in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall with a newly commissioned World Premiere by Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell, the Pulitzer Prize-winning, composer / librettist team that created OSNY’s enormously successful Sanctuary Road. A Nation of Others explores the individual and collective experiences of immigrants – many of whom are refugees – coming through Ellis Island on a single day in 1921. The 55-minute-long oratorio follows the imagined stories of immigrants from Sicily, Ukraine, Ireland, Croatia, Sweden, Poland, Armenia, and Spain and shows the struggles immigrants can face, while celebrating the fusion of diverse cultures that give our country its identity.

Robert Paterson’s Whitman’s America, a “quasi-fantasia” of six poems from Whitman’s final version of Leaves of Grass, is also included in the program. The selected poems demonstrate the intimate directness, colorful descriptions, and sense of optimism found in many of Whitman’s works. With instrumentation designed to be identical to Brahms’ Requiem, Whitman’s America praises nature and the role humans play in it as both individuals and Americans.

Featured soloists joining OSNY for A Nation of Others include sopranos Susanna Phillips and Maeve Höglund, mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis, tenor Martin Bakari, baritone Steven Eddy, and bass-baritone Joseph Beutel, together with the Orchestra of the Society, led by Music Director Kent Tritle. Phillips and Eddy also join the Society’s chorus and orchestra in Whitman’s America.

OSNY’s 2022–23 season also includes: its 148th performance of Handel’s Messiah on Monday, December 19, 2022 at 8:00 pm with soprano Maria Brea, contralto Heather Petrie, tenor Joshua Blue, and baritone Jesse Blumberg; J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor on Monday, May 8, 2023 at 8:00 pm. with soprano Emily Donato, mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford, tenor Brian Giebler, and baritone Sidney Outlaw, together with the chorus and Orchestra of the Society; and the 46th annual Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition on Saturday, April 15, 2023 at 1:30 pm in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

"The honesty of Mark’s libretto voicing immigrant stories is powerfully embraced by Paul’s harmonies and captures the true essence of what being an American really is,” said soprano soloist Maeve Höglund on delving into the score of A Nation of Others. “It strikes a very personal chord to some of my own family’s history, many of whom immigrated alone and without many resources to start a new life.”

“My connection to OSNY and Kent goes back 25 years,” said Moravec on his collaborations with the Society. “They are on a mission to make great art in a complex medium. And their dedication to championing new music is incredible … this is my fourth collaboration with Kent and OSNY, and with every piece I write for them, I have the support and freedom to create something really special.

Event Information

A Nation of Others
Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 8:00 pm
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
57th Street and 7th Avenue
New York, NY 10019 
Link: https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2022/11/15/Oratorio-Society-of-New-York-0800PM

Kent Tritle, conductor
Susanna Phillips, soprano
Maeve Höglund, soprano
Raehann Bryce-Davis, mezzo-soprano
Martin Bakari, tenor
Steven Eddy, baritone
Joseph Beutel, bass-baritone 
Orchestra of the Society

MORAVEC / CAMPBELL: A Nation of Others 
PATERSON: Whitman’s America

Tickets, starting at $28, are available at carnegiehall.org. Subscriptions are available at a 15% discount through September 23 at osny.org. Tickets are also available via CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or at the Carnegie Hall Box Office at 57th and Seventh.

About the Oratorio Society of New York
The Oratorio Society of New York (OSNY.ORG) 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 New York holiday 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, Japan, 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.

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 native 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 prestigious Metropolitan Opera 2010 Beverly Sills Artist Award and holds both a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School.

She’s sung at the Met Opera for 12 consecutive seasons in roles including Musetta and, most recently, Countess Almaviva. Role highlights include Fiordigili, which The New York Times called a “breakthrough night”, and Clémence in the company’s premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s L’amour de Loin.

Desired by the world’s most renowned orchestras, Ms. Phillips has appeared with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Santa Fe Symphony, and Oregon Symphony. She is dedicated to oratorio works with credits including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and the Fauré and Mozart Requiems. Other career highlights include Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare and the title role of Agrippina with Boston Baroque, Stella in Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire opposite Renée Fleming, and Birdie in Blitzstein’s Regina.

A Huntsville native, Ms. Phillips frequently returns to her native state for recitals and orchestral appearances.

About Maeve Höglund
The New York Times praised Maeve Höglund as “a striking soprano,” and Opera News quoted her having “a wealth of dynamic control and formidable florid technique.”  Her current and future engagements include Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro (Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp), Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder (Oregon Symphony) and Vaughn Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem and Haydn’s The Creation (Grant Music Festival in Chicago). Recent work includes her Opera Philadelphia debut as Lola in the world premiere of David Hertzberg’s award-winning opera The Wake World, her Michigan Opera Theatre debut as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Leïla in Les pêcheurs de perles with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Lucia di Lammermoor (title role) with Maryland Lyric Opera, Susanna in Marriage of Figaro with Opera Maine, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Maryland Lyric Opera, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel with Oregon Symphony, Messiah with Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Mahler Symphony No. 4 with Portland Symphony Orchestra.

Recordings include: David Hertzberg’s opera, The Wake World, released by Tzadik Records, Stefan Weisman’s opera, Darkling, released by Albany Records, as well as a collection of works for the voice by Mira J. Spektor, Summer and Winter Songs, released by Navona Records.

Distinctions include winner of a Opera Awards Foundation Grant, Giulio Gari Foundation Scholarship, Gerda Lissner Award recipient and Bel Canto Vocal Scholarship Competition winner.

About Raehann Bryce-Davis
Raehann Bryce-Davis has been hailed by The New York Times as a “striking mezzo-soprano” and by the San Francisco Chronicle for her “electrifying sense of fearlessness.” In the 2021-2022 season, Ms. Bryce-Davis made notable house debuts at the Metropolitan Opera in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, at La Monnaie de Munt, Brussels, as La Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica, and at the Glimmerglass Festival singing Azucena in Il trovatore. Additionally, she returned to both Los Angeles Opera and the Staatstheater Nürnberg as Azucena in Il trovatore, and to Opera Ballet Vlaanderen as Der Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos. On the concert stage, she joined Chineke! for a BBC Proms performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony conducted by Kevin John Edusei, and sang solo recitals at both the Tuesday Musical Club in San Antonio, TX, with pianist Heeyoung Choi, and for the Merola Opera Program with pianist Jeanne-Minette Cilliers. Concert highlights include the world premiere of Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road at Carnegie Hall.

Bryce-Davis is a 2018 recipient of the prestigious George London Award at the George London Competition and holds a Master of Music and Professional Studies certificate from the Manhattan School of Music. Bryce-Davis has also produced and performed in critically acclaimed digital works, is a co-founder of the Black Opera Alliance, and is an advocate for social justice in opera. 

About Martin Bakari
Praised by Opera News as a "vocally charismatic" performer with a "golden tenor,” Martin Bakari's recent engagements include the title role in Charlie Parker's Yardbird (Atlanta Opera, Arizona Opera, Pittsburgh Opera), the tenor soloist in Carmina Burana (Cecilia Chorus of New York - Carnegie Hall), Don Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro (Seattle Opera and Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival), Goro in Madama Butterfly (Dallas Opera), Prince Claus in Mark Adamo's Becoming Santa Claus (Chicago Opera Theater), Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville (Intermountain Opera Bozeman), The Cartography Project (Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center), and a United Kingdom recital tour with Mirror Visions Ensemble. Internationally, he has also appeared at major venues in Dresden, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Tel Aviv, and Bari. Mr. Bakari’s 2022-23 season includes the tenor soloist in the world premiere of Paul Moravec’s A Nation of Others (Oratorio Society of New York - Carnegie Hall), Charlie Parker in Yardbird (New Orleans Opera and Dayton Opera), Frederic in Pirates of Penzance (Virginia Opera), the tenor soloist in Messiah (Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra), Pong in Turandot (Opera Colorado), Jalil/Wakil/Guard in A Thousand Splendid Suns (Seattle Opera), the tenor soloist in Carmina Burana (Symphony San Jose), and a recital at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall. In the 2023-24 season, Mr. Bakari will join Houston Grand Opera for two productions to be announced. A 2018 George London Competition award winner, Mr. Bakari's recording of Grigory Smirnov's Dowson Songs (Naxos) was featured by Opera News as a "Critic's Choice" album.

About Steven Eddy
An accomplished concert artist and Baroque music specialist, baritone Steven Eddy has garnered praise as a soloist and professional choral singer with such ensembles as Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Seraphic Fire, True Concord Voices and Orchestra, Spire Chamber Ensemble, Clarion Music Society, The Thirteen, Variant Six, American Classical Orchestra, Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, American Bach Soloists Academy, Choral Arts Philadelphia, Handel Choir of Baltimore, and Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity.

Equally adept on the opera stage, Mr. Eddy made his New York Philharmonic debut in the 2019 world premiere of David Lang’s prisoner of the state. Other roles in his repertoire include Raimbaud (Le comte Ory), Pablo Picasso (After Life), Dandini (La Cenerentola), Charlie (Three Decembers), Dancaïre (Carmen), Aeneas (Dido & Aeneas), Schaunard (La bohème), and Harlekin (Ariadne auf Naxos). He has had the pleasure of performing with such companies and festivals as Fort Worth Opera, Opera Saratoga, Opera Birmingham, LoftOpera, Chelsea Opera, Aspen Opera Theater Center, Tanglewood Music Center, American Lyric Theater, Center for Contemporary Opera, Arbor Opera Theater, and the Seagle Music Colony.

Mr. Eddy was the 1st Prize winner of the 2019 Oratorio Society of New York’s Lyndon Woodside Competition. He is also the winner of the 2015 Joy in Singing Music Sessions, which led to his New York solo recital debut at Merkin Hall, and was a Regional Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Mr. Eddy is currently an Adjunct Instructor of Voice at The College of New Jersey, and holds degrees from New York University, the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. 

About Joseph Beutel
"An imposing bass-baritone," as reviewed by Opera News, Joseph Beutel, is often praised for his "deep well-rounded tone," and overall richness of voice and versatility on stage. Making his career across 5 continents, Beutel enjoys performing traditional operas and originating roles in new and experimental works. He also has had the privilege of a concert career in oratorio and other concert works. Some roles of note include originating the role of the British Major in Silent Night, Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, and in 2018 originating the role of Sir  in Mila, an opera commissioned by Asia Society Hong Kong. Most recently he made his Figaro Debut in Marriage of Figaro with Intermountain Opera in Bozeman, MT. Beutel has performed with companies, which include Santa Fe Opera, NYCO, NY Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Company, English Concert, Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, and Sarasota Opera. He also enjoys performing musical theater with credits from Encores! at City Center and Live at Lincoln Center featured on PBS. Recordings include Grammy nominated Alexander Kastalsky’s Requiem, Memory Eternal to the Fallen Heroes, performed live on the 100th anniversary of the Armistice to WWI in National Cathedral, Washington D.C. on the Naxos label.

Photo at top of release by Brian Hatton

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