November 11 at Carnegie Hall: Oratorio Society of New York Opens Season with Carmina Burana

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mallory McFarland | Morahan Arts and Media
mallory@morahanartsandmedia.com | (646) 241-0899 

ORATORIO SOCIETY OF NEW YORK OPENS
2024-25 SEASON WITH CARMINA BURANA
AT CARNEGIE HALL ON NOVEMBER 11

Program also features
Oliver Caplan’s Cloud Anthem, Libby Larsen’s Invitation to Music,
Selections from Brahms’ Liebeslieder, and Selected Schubert songs

"a beautifully blended, thoroughly unified sound" – The New York Times

www.osny.org

New York, NY (October 7, 2024) — The renowned Oratorio Society of New York (OSNY), led by Music Director Kent Tritle, launches its exciting 2024-2025 season with Carmina Burana on Monday, November 11, 2024 at 7:00 pm in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall. Joining the Society as soloists for this remarkable evening are Eva Martinez, soprano, and John Riesen, tenor, both making their Carnegie Hall debuts, and Grammy Award-winning baritone, John Brancy, all under the baton of Maestro Tritle. OSNY’s Associate Conductor, David Rosenmeyer, will lead the society for the program’s first half, with a diverse and eclectic selection of songs.

The Oratorio Society of New York gives audiences a rare performance of Orff’s own arrangement of Carmina Burana for two pianos and percussion, with pianists Amir Farid and Blair McMillen, and the Cathedral Choristers of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, directed by Dr. Bryan Zaros. One of classical music’s most spellbinding and immersive experiences, this cantata is an exhilarating ode to love and living life to its fullest.

2023 Call for Scores Winner Oliver Caplan’s Cloud Anthem is a highlight of this program and marks its New York premiere. “Every once in a while, I read a poem that resonates so deeply it makes my entire body quiver. Cloud Anthem by Richard Blanco, President Obama’s second inaugural poet, is one of those works,” shares award-winning American composer Oliver Caplan. “I’m incredibly grateful for his permission to set this poem to music and share its profound message. May we each follow its call to soften our hard edges and abide as one together in one single sky.” Caplan is the Artistic Director of the American Prize-winning Juventas New Music Ensemble and his works have been performed in over 200 performances nationwide.

Additionally, Libby Larsen’s Invitation to Music set to Elizabeth Bishop's poem "Sonnet", selections from Brahms’ Liebeslieder, and Schubert’s Der Tanz, D. 826 and Lebenslust D. 609 will be performed on the program.

“The sound of the chorus crying out to Lady Fortune, with nearly 190 singers at full voice, will be a thrilling moment!” shares Music Director Kent Tritle. “Carmina Burana’s ancient, somewhat forbidden texts explore love, life, and luck – Carl Orff’s magical orchestration for percussion ensemble and two pianos is scintillating. Our soloists for this performance are spectacular, with the remarkable young Eva Martinez and the fabulous John Reisen making their Carnegie Hall debuts. Orff’s masterwork is preceded by gorgeous music of Brahms, Schubert, Libby Larsen, and Oliver Caplan, all sure to please!”

The next performance of the season marks the Oratorio Society of New York’s 150th rendition of Handel’s Messiah on Monday, December 23, 2024 at 7:00 pm at Carnegie Hall, led by Maestro Tritle. It includes soloists Nola Richardson, soprano, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, countertenor, Joshua Blue, tenor, and Joseph Parrish, bass-baritone, together with the Orchestra of the Society.

Event Information
Carmina Burana
Monday, November 11, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
Tickets: Starting at $40
Link: https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2024/11/11/Oratorio-Society-of-New-York-0700PM

Libby Larsen: Invitation to Music
Oliver Caplan: Cloud Anthem (Call for Scores Winner / New York Premiere)
Brahms: Liebeslieder, Op. 52 – selections
     No. 1 Rede, Mädchen, allzu liebes
     No. 2 Am Gesteine rauscht die Flut
     No. 9 Am Donaustrande
     No. 10 O wie sanft die Quelle
     No. 11 Nein, es ist nicht auszukommen}
     No. 12 Schlosser auf, und mache Schlösser
Schubert: Der Tanz, D. 826 and Lebenslust D. 609
Orff: Carmina Burana (piano/percussion version)

Eva Martinez, soprano (Carnegie Hall debut)
John Riesen, tenor (Carnegie Hall debut)
John Brancy, baritone
Kent Tritle, conductor
Amir Farid, pianist
Blair McMillen, pianist
Cathedral Choristers of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine

Ticket Information
Subscriptions to OSNY’s three concerts at Carnegie Hall are available now at osny.org. Single tickets are available via carnegiehall.org, CarnegieCharge 212-247-7800, or 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, 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 three pieces by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec and Grammy Award-winning librettist Mark Campbell: Sanctuary Road which was nominated for a 2021 Grammy Award and is available from Naxos Records, A Nation of Others, which saw its premiere in November 2022 and is available from Lexicon Classics, and All Shall Rise, focusing on voting rights in the U.S., to be premiered in 2025.

The OSNY membership consists of avocational and professionally trained singers as well as non-singing members. Auditions are held three times annually in the spring, summer, and winter. OSNY is a not-for-profit 501c3 corporation governed by a volunteer board of directors with a professional music staff and executive director.

About Kent Tritle
Kent Tritle is one of America’s leading choral conductors. Called “the brightest star in New York's choral music world” by The New York Times, he is Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City; Music Director of the Oratorio Society of New York, the acclaimed avocational chorus; and Music Director of Musica Sacra, New York’s elite professional chorus. In addition, Kent is a member of the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School, serving its Vocal Arts Department. An acclaimed organ virtuoso, he is also the organist of the New York Philharmonic.

 Kent Tritle’s discography features recordings on the Telarc, Naxos, AMDG, Epiphany, Gothic, VAI, and MSR Classics labels. Recent releases include the Paul Moravec/Mark Campbell oratorio A Nation of Others with the Oratorio Society of New York, as well as the Grammy-nominated Naxos recording of the Moravec/Campbell oratorio Sanctuary Road with the Oratorio Society; Mahler's Symphony No. 8 in David Briggs's organ-choral version, and Eternal Reflections: Choral Music of Robert Paterson with Musica Sacra. Other releases include the 2013 recording of Juraj Filas’ Requiem, Oratio Spei dedicated to the victims of 9/11, with the Prague Symphony Orchestra and the Kühn Choir; Messages to Myself, an acclaimed recording with Musica Sacra of five new works; and recordings – including Cool of the Day, an a cappella program of music ranging from Gregorian chant, Palestrina, and spirituals to Strauss’s Deutsche Motette, and Ginastera’s The Lamentations of Jeremiah with Schnittke’s Concerto for Choir – with the Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola.

 Kent Tritle is renowned as a master clinician, giving workshops on conducting and repertoire; he leads annual choral workshops at the Amherst Early Music Festival, and recent years have included workshops at Berkshire Choral International, Summer@Eastman, and at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. As Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music from 2008 to 2022, Kent established the school’s first doctoral program in choral conducting. A Juilliard School faculty member since 1996, he currently directs a graduate practicum on oratorio in collaboration with the school’s Vocal Arts Department.

 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. Kent hosted “The Choral Mix with Kent Tritle” on New York’s WQXR, a weekly program devoted to the vibrant world of choral music, from 2010 to 2014. Among his recent honors are the 2020 Chorus America Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art, the 2017 Distinguished Achievement Award from Career Bridges, and the 2016 President’s Medal for Distinguished Service from the Manhattan School of Music. Kent is on the advisory boards of the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective (C4) and the Clarion Music Society, and was the 2016 honoree at Clarion’s annual gala. He was recently featured in the WIRED video series “Masterminds,” an installment titled, “What Conductors Are Really Doing”.

Photo at top of release by Brian Hatton

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