Voices of Ascension Singers Perform 'Love, Renaissance Style' on June 29

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

Voices of Ascension Singers Perform 
Love, Renaissance Style 
As Part Of Minnie Untermyer Series on June 29

Presenting an Evening of Light, Ancient, and 
Delightfully Naughty Music from the 
Secular Renaissance at Untermyer Gardens 

“richly colored, impressive, and beautifully balanced” –Wall Street Journal

“a dynamic concert […] beautifully sung” –I Care If You Listen

www.voicesofascension.org 

May 28, 2025 (New York, NY) — With a nod to the 1970s TV show Love, American Style, singers from the New York City-based professional chorus Voices of Ascension perform Love, Renaissance Style as part of the Minnie Untermyer Series on Sunday, June 29, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. at the Untermyer Gardens in Yonkers.

Curated by Guest Artistic Director and mezzo-soprano Maren Montalbano, the program features soprano Jessica Beebe, tenor Jacob Perry, and bass Daniel Schwartz singing selections from the saucy side of the secular Renaissance, with Kevin Payne accompanying on lute. With a blend of music and storytelling that reveals the passion, humor, and humanity of a bygone age, this quartet, comprised of specialists in Renaissance repertoire from Voices of Ascension, presents tunes ranging from playful madrigals to songs full of ribaldry.

Voices of Ascension recently announced its 2025-2026 season, which kicks off with its annual Candlelight Christmas Concerts in December. Through a blend of contemporary and historical repertoire, Voices of Ascension fills its 36th season with music from the Renaissance to rarely-heard works by Brahms, Kodály, and Duruflé as they continue to celebrate the breadth of classical choral music while fostering the next generation of artists and music-lovers. Additional highlights include a collaboration with Dark Horse Consort in a thrilling intersection of scholarship and expressive brilliance in Monteverdi Vespers of 1610; a guest appearance by Beth Willer—Founder and Artistic Director of Lorelei Ensemble and Director of Choral Studies at the Peabody Institute—as she leads Voices of Ascension in a blend of contemporary and historical repertoire; and a concert that illuminates the depth and beauty of Renaissance choral music in Masters of the Renaissance: The Netherlands School.

Event Information:
Love, Renaissance Style
Sunday, June 29, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.
Untermyer Gardens | 945 North Broadway | Yonkers, NY 10701
Tickets: $37.76
Link: https://2025VoicesofAscension.eventbrite.com

Program:
A summer evening of light, ancient, and delightfully naughty music from the secular Renaissance.

Artists:
Voices of Ascension Singers
          Jessica Bebe, soprano
          Maren Montalbano, mezzo-soprano
          Jacob Perry, tenor
          Daniel Schwartz, bass
Kevin Payne, lute
Maren Montalbano, Curator and Guest Artistic Director

About Voices of Ascension 
Voices of Ascension is one of New York City’s premier professional choral ensembles, dedicated to presenting masterworks for chorus and orchestra at the highest artistic level. Founded in 1990 by Artistic Director Dennis Keene, Voices has built an international reputation for its exquisite choral artistry, innovative programming, and commitment to expanding the choral canon.

Performances by the Grammy-nominated ensemble have been praised as “richly colored, impressive, and beautifully balanced” (Wall Street Journal) and “inspired” (The New York Times). The ensemble’s landmark Duruflé Festival, the first-ever complete retrospective of the composer’s works, established Voices as a leader in presenting comprehensive explorations of major choral composers. Since then, Voices of Ascension has continued to champion both historical and contemporary repertoire, with a special commitment to new music, including commissions and premieres—particularly by female composers—in partnership with the Sorel Organization.

Throughout its 35-year history, Voices of Ascension has produced an acclaimed annual concert series, released multiple Grammy-nominated recordings, and engaged in artistic collaborations with the San Francisco Symphony, Mostly Mozart Festival, José Limón Dance, the Mark Morris Dance Group, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and others. The ensemble has also been a longtime partner of The Church of the Ascension, home to the Manton Memorial Organ, the only French-built organ in the United States and a direct link to Voices’ deep engagement with French sacred music traditions.

The organization plays an important role in mentoring emerging artists through its Voices of Promise program, which has supported over 50 young professional vocal soloists, and in creating community connections through Voices of Experience, an initiative bringing choral music to NYC’s senior centers.

About Maren Montalbano
Maren Montalbano began her vocal career with the San Francisco Girls Chorus at age seven, and has been singing ever since. A graduate of both New England Conservatory of Music and Tufts University, Ms. Montalbano can be heard on five GRAMMY Award-winning albums: Ochre (2024), Born (2023), Lansing McLoskey’s Zealot Canticles (2019), Gavin Bryars’ The Fifth Century (2018), and John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls (2005). She appears on over 30 commercial recordings, including Douglas Cuomo’s opera Arjuna’s Dilemma, Kile Smith’s Vespers, Lewis Spratlan’s Hesperus is Phosphorus, Edie Hill’s Evolutionary Spirits, Ted Hearne’s Sound from the Bench, and her debut solo album, Sea Tangle: Songs from the North.

Ms. Montalbano has been a guest artist with the Lancaster Symphony, the Folger Consort, Lyric Fest, Ensemble Ibis, Choral Arts Philadelphia, Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, Network for New Music, Tempesta di Mare, and Piffaro, the Renaissance Band. Her voice has been hailed as “pure, suave and sensuous” (Philadelphia Inquirer) and “impeccable” (Broad Street Review).

Ms. Montalbano lives in New Jersey and sings professionally throughout a wide geographic area with such groups as Opera Philadelphia, Trio Eos, and The Crossing. She is passionate about keeping artists employed doing what they do best.

About Jessica Beebe
Lauded by Opera News as “evocative and ethereal”, “a honey-colored tone”, and "the most radiant solo singing," soprano Jessica Beebe is steadily gaining international attention as an affecting interpreter of repertoire spanning over four centuries, ranging from Renaissance music to contemporary American opera. 

In recent seasons, she has appeared as a guest soloist in concert with The New York City Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, The Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Hall, The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Raymond Leppard; The Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra; Omaha Symphony; Asheville Symphony; Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra; Lyric Fest; Lancaster Symphony Orchestra; Philharmonie Austin; The Princeton Festival Orchestra; The English Concert under Harry Bicket, Bourbon Baroque, Piffaro The Renaissance Wind Band; The Folger Consort; the Delaware Symphony Orchestra; the Utah Symphony under the baton of Craig Jessop, and several other orchestras and ensembles.

A native of the Philadelphia suburbs, Jessica Beebe earned her Bachelor of Music from the University of Delaware, her Master of Music in Early Music from Indiana University, and a Performance Certificate from London's Royal College of Music. Ms. Beebe teaches voice at Franklin and Marshall College.

About Jacob Perry
Jacob Perry, tenor, is lauded for his stylish interpretations of early music. As a soloist, he lends his graceful sense of phrasing and luminous tone to engagements with American Classical Orchestra, Apollo's Fire, Bach Collegium San Diego, Jacksonville Symphony, Philharmonia Baroque, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik, Tempesta di Mare, Washington Bach Consort, and the Washington National Cathedral. Jacob joined the Carmel Bach Festival in 2022 as the tenor participant in the Virginia Adams Best Masterclass. 

Deeply immersed in vocal chamber music, Jacob enjoys active membership in Les Canards Chantants, a soloist-ensemble based in Philadelphia, as well as engagements with ensembles such as the Ampersand, Art of Early Keyboard (ARTEK), Cathedra, Ensemble Altera, The Leonids, New Consort, Res Facta, and TENET Vocal Artists. He has explored the vocal works by contemporary composers through engagements with Third Practice, hexaCollective, and Great Noise Ensemble. As Co-Artistic Director of Bridge, a genre-defying vocal collective based in Washington, he draws on his instincts for theatricality and story-telling, as the group explores the connections between early masterpieces and ground-breaking new works.

Career highlights include his recent solo debut with the New York Philharmonic singing Handel’s “Israel in Egypt”, headlining the inaugural festival of Western Early Music at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music with Les Canards Chantants, and “English Orpheus”—a tour de force exploration of love songs and poems from the Elizabethan, Restoration, and early 18th-century periods he performed with Tempesta di Mare.

About Daniel Schwartz
A Philadelphia native, Daniel Schwartz received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Temple University where he studied voice with retired Metropolitan Opera baritone David Arnold. Upon his graduation in 2011, Daniel was honored with the Elaine Brown Award for musicianship, dedication to excellence, and humanitarianism. After graduating, Daniel won the position of Artistic Director of the Philadelphia Voices of Pride, Philadelphia’s LGBT mixed voice chorus. 

From 2014-2017 Daniel sang with the Opera Philadelphia chorus where he performed a number of roles such as The Foreman in the east coast premiere of Oscar. Daniel also sings with The Crossing and has performed on three of their Grammy winning albums, as well as with orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic. In 2018 he made his debut as a soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra for Pat Metheny and the American Beat.  Most recently, he has made his debut in Vancouver with the Leonids, and in Miami with Seraphic Fire. Daniel teaches voice at Haverford College.

About Kevin Payne
Lutenist Kevin Payne is active as a recitalist, accompanist, and continuo player. Recent ensemble work includes performances with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Blue Heron, Handel and Haydn Society, and Bach Collegium San Diego. Festival appearances include Caramoor, Tanglewood, Spoleto, and Newport Classical. Performance venues include Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Germany. His playing has been broadcast on a number of nationally syndicated radio programs including Sunday Baroque and Performance Today.

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