The Cecilia Chorus of New York, Led by Music Director Mark Shapiro, Presents on April 19 at Carnegie Hall Music by Cyrus Chestnut and Beethoven

Friday, April 19 at 8:00 PM, The Cecilia Chorus of New York, Mark Shapiro, Music Director, will present the World Premiere of Cyrus Chestnut’s Power in the Blood, along with Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, 57th Street & 7th Avenue in Manhattan. Soloists will be Nicoletta Berry, soprano, Travon Walker, tenor, Matthew Anchel, Bass and the Cyrus Chestnut Trio, with the composer on piano.

Composer Cyrus Chestnut writes, “The American of African descent uses music whether it be melody or melody with lyrics to tell the story of their being. Their emotions can be told in a song. The songs follow a different beat or pulse than that of European culture. Although there is European influence in the structure of the songs of the African American, please realize that the combination of influences brings forth a unique style that is celebrated by all today.”

“These arrangements of Easter songs come from a larger work entitled “The Saga of the Cross”. It is the story of Easter told from the African American perspective. This work combines European and African musical traditions. Elements of gospel, jazz, and classical idioms work together to present this story of love..” Read his complete notes at https://ceciliachorusny.org/chestnut-program-note.

Music Director Mark Shapiro writes, “I’ve admired Cyrus Chestnut for years. In 2021 word reached me about a large-scale choral project of his, planned for a prestigious hall…I reached out to Cyrus… asking if he might be interested in a collaboration. To my delight, he said yes. We talked a bit more, and agreed he would create a new 45-minute composition for The Cecilia Chorus of New York, derived from his existing evening-length work. We would give its world premiere, with Cyrus himself joining us from the keyboard in his first ever experience headlining at Carnegie Hall.”

He also writes, “The Cecilia Chorus and I have a longstanding practice of reviving neglected masterpieces. Once enormously popular, Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives hasn’t been much heard lately, and we’ve had our eye on it. It’s hard to imagine a more fitting companion to Power in the Blood.” Read his complete notes at https://ceciliachorusny.org/conductors-notes-beethoven-chestnut.

For tickets:

Single tickets for April 19 range from $25 to $90 and will be available online at https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2024/04/19/The-Cecilia-Chorus-of-New-York-with-Orchestra-0800PM, by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or visiting the box office at 57^th Street and 7th Avenue.

For more about this concert, visit http://www.ceciliachorusny.org/ or call 646-638-2535. CCNY Carnegie Hall concerts are ADA accessible. For MTA transportation information, visit https://new.mta.info/tripplanner/results.

About the Chorus:

Founded in 1906, The Cecilia Chorus of New York, winner of the ASCAP/Chorus America Alice Parker Award, has evolved into one of the finest avocational performing arts organizations in New York City. The 150-voice chorus has been described as “reliably venturesome” (The New Yorker, 2017) and “admirable,” (New York Times, 2017). Recent highlights have included commissions from The Brothers Balliett, Jonathan Breit, Tom Cipullo, and Raphael Fusco; collaborations with five-time Obie Award-winning actor Kathleen Chalfant, two-time Tony Award-winning actor Stephen Spinella, and opera singers Julia Bullock and Ryan Speedo Green; the New York premieres in Carnegie Hall of the Mass in D and The Prison by Dame Ethel Smyth; the World Premiere of Fifty Trillion Molecular Geniuses by The Brothers Balliett; the US Premiere of Messe Romane by Thierry Escaich; the Carnegie Hall Premiere of The Ballad of the Brown King: A Christmas Cantata by Margaret Bonds with text by Langston Hughes; and the Carnegie Hall Premiere of Neither Separated, Nor Undone by Derrick Skye.  In 2023, Met Opera winners Natalie Lewis and Meredith Wohlgemuth made their Carnegie Hall debuts with Cecilia a week after winning the Met competition. Much more at http://ceciliachorusny.org/.

Mark Shapiro was appointed the seventh Music Director of The Cecilia Chorus of New York in 2011. Conductor Emeritus of The Prince Edward Island Symphony, Principal Conductor of Marshall Opera in New York, and Artistic Director of Cantori New York, he is one of a handful of artistic leaders in North America to have won a prestigious ASCAP Programming Award six times, achieving the unique distinction of winning such an award with three different ensembles. The New York Times has characterized his conducting as "insightful" and acknowledged its “virtuosity and assurance” and “uncommon polish.” The Star-Ledger calls his artistic leadership “erudite and far-reaching.” Bio at https://ceciliachorusny.org/about/#music-director.

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