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Press Contact: David Stevens | Abstraction Music Group
Abstraction.MusicGroup@gmail.com | 857-245-5213

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CANTORI NEW YORK Presents HAILSTORK AT 85 featuring new orchestration of Adolphus Hailstork’s CRISPUS ATTUCKS by Composer Brian Morales, March 13-14, 2026

BOSTON, MA (January 20^th, 2026) – In celebration of Adolphus Hailstork’s 85th birthday, Cantori New York presents an all-Hailstork tribute concert featuring a brand new chamber orchestration of CRISPUS ATTUCKS (2005/2026) by composer and Cantori member Brian Dean Morales. Morales, an in-demand arranger, orchestrator, and composer of film, ballet, commercial and concert music, envisioned reducing the full orchestra to an ensemble of eight. Also on the program is Hailstork’s FOUR PSALMS, a tetralogy of four unpublished, never-performed Psalm settings – three a cappella, one with saxophone and marimba, and FRIENDS ETERNAL, a 2024 Hailstork commission for Cantori New York.

Crispus Attucks, a powerful cantata, recounts the story and life of the first American casualty of the American Revolution. Crispus Attucks, a man of African and Native heritage, was the first person killed in the Boston Massacre in 1770.

About Cantori New York

Cantori New York, praised by the New York Times for its “spirit of exploration” and “virtuosity and assurance,” has for 41 seasons featured new and neglected works that deserve to be performed and heard. A four-time winner of the ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming, Cantori has a strong reputation for artistic excellence, innovative programming, and imaginative collaborations with distinguished musicians and actors—including Kathleen Chalfant, Maryann Plunkett, Nadia Sirota, Bradley and Douglas Balliett, the Cassatt String Quartet, Prism Saxophone Quartet, and the Gregg Smith Singers. Appearances have included the opening season of Zankel Hall with Michael Tilson Thomas, Great Performers at Lincoln Center, World Financial Center Arts & Events, Green-Wood Cemetery with presenters Death of Classical, multiple collaborations at Lincoln Center with the verismo company Teatro Grattacielo, three productions with the American Ballet Theater at Lincoln Center, and a guest performance at the 2023 New York Film Festival.

Cantori’s recordings, on labels such as Arsis, Albany, Newport Classics and PGM, include Derrick Skye’s This Place, Philip Lasser’s The Elements, Paul Crabtree’s The Metamorphoses, Echoes and Shadows, FIVE by Michael Dellaira, Frank Martin’s Le Vin Herbé (Opera News Editors’ Choice), and the recently released Found Again on Navona Records. https://www.cantorinewyork.com/

About Adolphus Hailstork, composer

Adolphus Hailstork is an American composer whose music spans choral, orchestral, operatic, and chamber genres. He earned his doctorate in composition from Michigan State University, studying with H. Owen Reed, and pursued earlier studies at the Manhattan School of Music with Vittorio Giannini and David Diamond, the American Institute at Fontainebleau with Nadia Boulanger, and Howard University with Mark Fax. His works have been performed by leading ensembles including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic and recorded on the Naxos and Albany labels. Major commissions include Symphony No. 2 (Detroit Symphony Orchestra), operas Joshua’s Boots (Opera Theatre of St. Louis/Kansas City Lyric Opera) and Rise for Freedom (Cincinnati Opera), Earthrise (Cincinnati May Festival), Whitman’s Journey (Kennedy Center), Still Holding On (Los Angeles Philharmonic), Tulsa 1921 (Harlem Chamber Players), A Knee on a Neck (National Philharmonic), and JFK: The Last Speech, co-commissioned by five major institutions.

Recent premieres include Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5 with the Louisville Orchestra and National Philharmonic, respectively. Hailstork holds honorary doctorates from Manhattan School of Music, Michigan State University, and the College of William and Mary, and resides in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he is professor emeritus at Old Dominion University. He is on the advisory board for Cantori New York.

About Brian Dean Morales, composer

Brian Dean Morales is a composer, producer, and Cantori vocalist who thrives when collaborating with other musicians and creatives. He is most widely known for his orchestration of The Color Purple, which featured Cynthia Erivo and was directed by John Doyle (and also garnered him a nomination for an Olivier Award at the age of 24). 

His chamber ballet, Strangers, his first serious large-form work for woodwind quintet, percussion and 4 dancers, was completed during the pandemic with choreographer and collaborator Julia Bengtsson (album now streaming everywhere). This collaboration with Julia has culminated over multiple projects including “Of Love,” a ballet setting of his violin sonata for three dancers (which was premiered at The United Palace) and “House of Mercy,” a dynamic ensemble piece that examines the harrowing history of an asylum in uptown Inwood. 

Brian actively writes and produces music for Film and TV and was recently a 2025 Fellow for the Los Angeles Film Conducting Intensive. He received his M.M. in composition from the Manhattan School of Music, a B.M. from California State University Fullerton and attended the European American Musical Alliance (EAMA) where he realized his lifelong dream of studying counterpoint in Paris, France. He and his wife, Laura, live in Harlem with their beautiful daughter, Marcella, and tuxedo cat (and resident agent of chaos) Napoleon. https://www.brianmorales.net/

Program & Ticketing Information

Hailstork at 85

Friday, March 13, 2026 at 8:00pm & Saturday, March 14, 2026 at 8:00pm

Church of the Holy Trinity
316 E 88th St, New York City

Tickets available here: https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?show=298415

General admission

Adult - $25 online, $30 at the door
Senior - $20 online, $25 at the door
Student/Child - $13 online, $15 at the door

Program: 85th birthday tribute concert for composer Adolphus Hailstork

Adolphus Hailstork: Crispus Attucks (2005/2026) (arr. & orch. Brian Dean Morales.)

Adolphus Hailstork: Four Psalms (world premiere)

Adolphus Hailstork: Friends Eternal (2024)

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For media inquiries and interview requests, please contact:
David Stevens, (857) 245-5213, Abstraction.MusicGroup@gmail.com

https://www.abstractionmusicgroup.com/