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Press Releases
Death of Classical to present After the Fall, May 1–2 in the Crypt under the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
Death of Classical to present After the Fall, May 1–2 in the Crypt under the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
The program features rarely-heard chamber arrangements of Missy Mazzoli’s Dark with Excessive Bright and Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen
Performances feature alumni of the Lake George Music Festival, including Barbora Kolarova, solo violin; Gregory Lewis and Giancarlo Latta, violin; Bethany Hargreaves and Jiawei Yan, viola; Sam DeCaprio and Laura Andrade, cello; and Charles Paul, bass
Each performance includes a pre-concert reception in the Cathedral, with wine, food, and cocktails, followed by a walk through the stone quarry before descending to the Crypt
Death of Classical returns to the Crypt under the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City on May 1-2, 2026, for a program entitled After the Fall that pairs chamber arrangements of Missy Mazzoli’s Dark with Excessive Bright with Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen, exploring the resilience of art in response to destruction.
Missy Mazzoli’s Dark with Excessive Bright, performed here in its arrangement for string quintet with violin soloist, takes its title from a line in John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost, in which a blind man attempts to describe his vision of God. In a similarly surreal and evocative manner, Mazzoli’s music twists, turns, and transforms, casting and chasing shadows across four centuries of musical expression from the Baroque era to the present day.
Written in the final days of World War II, Metamorphosen was a deeply personal lament from Richard Strauss, as he mourned the destruction of culture that he saw taking place around him. Heard here in its rarely performed string septet arrangement, the work unfolds as a single continuous meditation on grief and remembrance, widely regarded as an elegy for art lost to war.
The performances feature alumni artists from the Lake George Music Festival, widely regarded as one of the country’s most collaborative and artist-driven retreats. The festival has helped foster a generation of adventurous and genre-fluid performers, including members of the Grammy Award-winning ensemble Time For Three, among many others working at the forefront of today’s musical landscape. Performing this program are Barbora Kolarova, solo violin; Gregory Lewis and Giancarlo Latta, violin; Bethany Hargreaves and Jiawei Yan, viola; Sam DeCaprio and Laura Andrade, cello; and Charles Paul, bass.
These performances arrive during a defining year for Mazzoli. In October, her opera Lincoln in the Bardo will receive its world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera, making her the first woman to have an opera solely commissioned by the company and only the fifth woman in history to have her work presented on the Met stage. Her season also includes the world premieres of two operas, Lincoln in the Bardo at the Metropolitan Opera and The Galloping Cure at the Edinburgh Festival, as well as the New York Philharmonic’s U.S. premiere performances of her Piano Concerto for Leif Ove Andsnes, co-commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. The year also marks the tenth anniversary of Luna Composition Lab, the mentorship program for female, non-binary, and gender non-conforming composers that Mazzoli co-founded with composer Ellen Reid.
The third collaboration between DoC and St. John the Divine, After the Fall follows two previous sold-out performance runs in the Crypt, which critics hailed as "revelatory," "emotional and spiritual," "exquisite," and "audacious." Each evening begins with a pre-concert reception featuring wine, food, and cocktails in the Cathedral’s main space, followed by a walk through the stone quarry and a descent into the Crypt for the performance.
After the Fall takes place May 1 and May 2, 2026, in the Crypt beneath the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. Two performances will be presented each evening, with programs beginning at 6:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $100 and include the pre-concert reception.
Relevant Links
Tickets & Info
Death of Classical Website
Lake George Music Festival Website
The Program
Missy Mazzoli: Dark with Excessive Bright (Violin Solo and String Quintet Arrangement)
Richard Strauss: Metamorphosen (String Septet Arrangement)
The Performers
Barbora Kolarova, solo violin
Gregory Lewis, violin
Giancarlo Latta, violin
Bethany Hargreaves, viola
Jiawei Yan, viola
Sam DeCaprio, cello
Laura Andrade, cello
Charles Paul, bass
About Death of Classical
We at Death of Classical understand that what we do might seem a bit weird at first glance... presenting classical music and opera concerts in Crypts, Catacombs, Cemeteries, and other unusual venues, pairing them with food, drink, and spirits tastings. But we promise that our mission is pure: to breathe new life into the art form that we love, and to re-envision everything from programming to production to promotion, in order to create deeply-personal performances that change how people perceive and experience classical music.
In the few short years since Death of Classical was founded by Artistic Director Andrew Ousley, the response and acclaim has been unanimous, with the New York Times proclaiming that "Classical is alive and well and living in a Crypt, with a series of intimate, charmingly creepy concerts that offer tightly focused programs from top-flight musicians." Our concerts – most of which sell out in moments – have been hailed as "transcendent" (Billboard), "emotionally-charged" (Forbes), "numinous and genre-bending" (New Yorker), with New York Magazine praising them as “sensitively programmed events in which music and architecture almost meld," and the culture editor of Vogue simply describing a DoC show as "one of the most riveting and unusual chamber music performances of my lifetime."
Death of Classical has presented some of today's most acclaimed artists, including the New York Philharmonic, Lawrence Brownlee, Laurie Anderson, Caroline Shaw, Jennifer Koh, Rufus Wainwright, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Simone Dinnerstein, Gil Shaham, Alexandre Tharaud, Lara St. John, Conrad Tao, and many more. We've partnered with institutions ranging from Carnegie Hall to the United Nations, and our accolades include making the New York Times "Best Classical Music Concerts of the Year" list, receiving a Classical:Next Innovation Award, The American Prize for the Arts, and WQXR's 'Excellence in Opera' award for the world premiere of David Hertzberg's The Rose Elf in the Catacombs.
About Lake George Music Festival
As one of the nation’s foremost classical music artist retreats, the Lake George Music Festival offers performers and audiences alike the unique opportunity to experience exceptional classical music within a historic and picturesque setting.
The festival features two weeks of chamber music and orchestral concerts curated by co-founders Barbora Kolarova and Roger Kalia, highlighting new compositions and traditional masterworks performed by a roster of established professionals and emerging artists in the historic Carriage House at the Fort William Henry Hotel.
The Lake George Music Festival upholds a mission to advance music, re-imagine the concert experience, and build audiences for the 21st century through artistic integrity and innovation.
About Missy Mazzoli
Deemed "Brooklyn's post-millenial Mozart" (Time Out New York) and "among the most inventive and surprising composers working today" (The New York Times), GRAMMY®-nominated composer Missy Mazzoli has established herself as "the 21st century's gatecrasher of new classical music" (NPR). She has been commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, LA Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Opera Comique, Scottish Opera, and Opera Philadelphia, among many others, and artists who have championed her work include the Kronos Quartet, Emmanuel Ax, and Jennifer Koh, and more. Her 2026-27 season includes the world premiere of two operas, Lincoln in the Bardo at The Metropolitan Opera (the first opera by a woman to be solely commissioned and premiered by The Met) and The Galloping Cure at the Edinburgh International Festival, and a new piano concerto for Leif Ove Andsnes to be premiered by the New York Philharmonic and Elbphilharmonie Orchester.
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