The Crossing Performs World Premiere of John Luther Adams’s 'Vespers of the Blessed Earth' with The Philadelphia Orchestra

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR Contact: Leah Rankin | Morahan Arts and Media
leah@morahanartsandmedia.com | 646.378.9386

The Crossing Performs World Premiere of John Luther
Adams’s Vespers of the Blessed Earth with
The Philadelphia Orchestra Led by Yannick Ne´zet-Se´guin

Performances Include Three Concerts in Philadelphia at
The Kimmel Center on March 30, April 1 & 2;
Concert in New York City at Carnegie Hall on March 31

"Such is their radiant sound and the vibrancy of the repertory they’ve cultivated, it’s gotten to the point I’d hear anything this Philadelphia vocal ensemble sings." – The New York Times

www.crossingchoir.org

Philadelphia, PA (March 2, 2023) — Currently celebrating their third Grammy Award, The Crossing, led by conductor Donald Nally, collaborates for the first time with Yannick Ne´zet-Se´guin conducting The Philadelphia Orchestra for the world premiere performances of John Luther Adams’s Vespers of the Blessed Earth on Thursday, March 30, 2023 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 1, 2023 at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday, April 2, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. at The Kimmel Center; and on Friday, March 31, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. in The Crossing’s debut at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. 

Written for The Crossing and The Philadelphia Orchestra, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams’s Vespers of the Blessed Earth offers a meditation on humanity’s impact on the Earth. With an overall theme of extinction, at the work’s core are the “Litanies of the Sixth Extinction,” a sung list of several hundred endangered and vanished living things. This is preceded by “A Brief Descent into Deep Time,” which reminds us that our species occupies a nearly unnoticeable blip in the awesome, wondrous time/space expansion of which we are a part.

John Luther Adams has had a longstanding relationship with The Crossing, with the choir featured in several of the composer’s works including Canticles of the Holy Wind and most recently on his Grammy-nominated album Sila: The Breath of the World, released on September 23, 2022 on Cantaloupe Music.

In February The Crossing, led by Donald Nally, won its third Grammy Award in the Best Choral Performance category for Born: Music of Edie Hill and Michael Gilbertson. Released on Navona Records on August 12, 2022, this nomination marked The Crossing’s eighth Grammy nomination in seven consecutive years in the Best Choral Performance category. With this nomination, The Crossing tied Robert Shaw’s legendary streak with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus for the most consecutive nominations in this category. (Shaw and Atlanta also had eight consecutive nominations in that streak.) After its release, Born gained national attention with Operawire describing the recording as a “breathtakingly beautiful expedition,” and Musical America praising The Crossing and conductor Donald Nally as “one of the most fruitful commissioners of new choral music around."

Performance Details

Vespers of the Blessed Earth
The Crossing
Donald Nally, artistic director
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Ne´zet-Se´guin, conductor
Thursday, March 30, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 1, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 2, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.
The Kimmel Center | 300 S. Broad Street | Philadelphia, PA 19102
Tickets: $22-$148
Link: https://www.crossingchoir.org/events/2022-23/vespers-philadelphia

Program:
John Luther Adams - Vespers of the Blessed Earth (World Premiere)
Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring

Vespers of the Blessed Earth is commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra for The Crossing and The Philadelphia Orchestra

Vespers of the Blessed Earth
The Crossing
Donald Nally, artistic director
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Ne´zet-Se´guin, conductor
Friday, March 31, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
881 7th Ave. | New York, NY 10019
Tickets: $60-$140
Link: https://www.crossingchoir.org/events/2022-23/vespers-nyc

Program:
John Luther Adams - Vespers of the Blessed Earth (NY Premiere)
Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring

Vespers of the Blessed Earth is commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra for The Crossing and The Philadelphia Orchestra

About The Crossing
The Crossing is a Grammy-winning professional chamber choir conducted by Donald Nally and dedicated to new music. It is committed to working with creative teams to make and record new, substantial works for choir that explore and expand ways of writing for choir, singing in choir, and listening to music for choir. Many of its nearly 160 commissioned premieres address social, environmental, and political issues.

The Crossing collaborates with some of the world’s most accomplished ensembles and artists, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, Lyric Fest, Piffaro, Beth Morrison Projects, Allora & Calzadilla, Bang on a Can, Klockriketeatern, and the International Contemporary Ensemble. Similarly, The Crossing often collaborates with some of the world’s most prestigious venues and presenters, such as the Park Avenue Armory, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Pennsylvania, National Sawdust, David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, Disney Hall in Los Angeles, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Menil Collection in Houston, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Haarlem Choral Biennale in The Netherlands, The Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, The Kennedy Center in Washington, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space in New York, Winter Garden with WNYC, and Duke, Northwestern, Colgate, and Notre Dame Universities. The Crossing holds an annual residency at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center in Big Sky, Montana.

With a commitment to recording its commissions, The Crossing has released 29 albums, receiving three Grammy Awards for Best Choral Performance (2018, 2019, 2023), and eight Grammy nominations. The Crossing, with Donald Nally, was the American Composers Forum’s 2017 Champion of New Music. They were the recipients of the 2015 Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence, three ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming, and the Dale Warland Singers Commission Award from Chorus America.

Recently, The Crossing has expanded its choral presentation to film, working with Four/Ten Media, in-house sound designer Paul Vazquez of Digital Mission Audio Services, visual artists Brett Snodgrass, Eric Southern, and Steven Bradshaw, and composers David Lang, Paul Fowler, and Michael Gordon on live and animated versions of new and existing works. Lang’s protect yourself from infection and in nature were specifically designed to be performed within the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which The Crossing premiered a number of newly-commissioned works for outdoors by Matana Roberts, Wang Lu, and Ayanna Woods.

The Crossing is represented by Alliance Artist Management. All of its concerts are broadcast on WRTI, Philadelphia’s Classical and Jazz public radio station. Learn more at www.crossingchoir.org.

Photo at top of release by Kevin Vondrak.

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