Sept. 19: New York Polyphony Celebrates 20th Anniversary Presented by Gotham Early Music Scene

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
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Gotham Early Music Scene Presents 
New York Polyphony 20th Anniversary Concert 

A Signature Program Pairing Renaissance Works by Byrd, Palestrina, and Crecquillon, with Contemporary Selections by Andrew Smith and Akemi Naito

Saturday, September 19, 2026 at 7:00 PM
The Church of St. Mary the Virgin | New York, NY

 “rich, natural sound that’s larger and more complex than the sum of its parts” – NPR

“The singing of New York Polyphony is unfailingly pure and even.” – The Guardian

“New York Polyphony has gained a thoroughly deserved place at the top of the
U.S. vocal tree.” – Early Music America

newyorkpolyphony.com

New York, NY (August 19, 2026) – On Saturday, September 19, 2026 at 7:00 PM, GRAMMY®-nominated vocal quartet New York Polyphony will perform a special 20th Anniversary Concert at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Times Square, presented by Gotham Early Music Scene as part of its GEMS Presents! Series. This milestone event marks New York Polyphony's return to the site of its founding debut. Twenty years – nearly to the day – after the ensemble's first performance at St. Mary the Virgin Times Square, the quartet celebrates two decades together with a selection of favorite works reflecting the range that has become their hallmark. The specially curated program spans centuries, featuring Renaissance masters including Byrd, Palestrina, and Crecquillon alongside contemporary composers Andrew Smith and Akemi Naito. 

New York Polyphony shares, "Our quartet began with little fanfare. We were just a group of New York City freelancers, friends who learned they had in common a love of both small ensemble singing and deep-dive early music. At Saint Mary the Virgin Times Square on September 14, 2006, we gave our first public performance. At the time, no one was sure what New York Polyphony could or would be, but we knew that we had in each other something very special. And just like that, it's 2026.

“Two decades on, New York Polyphony has achieved more than we dreamed possible – hundreds of performances around the country, appearances in 19 different countries, ten commercial album releases, two GRAMMY nominations. To celebrate this milestone, we are returning to where it all began for a 20th anniversary concert that honors our past while looking ahead to the music that will shape our next twenty years."

New York Polyphony's programming spans repertoire from Gregorian chant to contemporary commissions, with a focus on works both familiar and rare from the 12th through 17th centuries. 

The 20th Anniversary Concert is part of a full season of touring for New York Polyphony. The ensemble's 2026–27 schedule also includes appearances at AMUZ (Flanders Festival Antwerp) in Antwerp, Belgium (August 28); Abingdon Episcopal Church in Gloucester, Virginia (September 17); St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland (September 18); Christ & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Westport, Connecticut (October 17); the Corpus Christi Chamber Music Society in Corpus Christi, Texas (October 24); the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City (December 5); St. James Cathedral in Chicago, Illinois (January 29); The Church of St. Michael & St. George in Clayton, Missouri (January 31); First Presbyterian Church of Fort Wayne in Fort Wayne, Indiana (March 7); Anima Mundi Productions' Heart of Humanity concert series in Ashland, Oregon (April 18); and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon (April 20).

Program Details:
Gotham Early Music Scene Presents New York Polyphony 20th Anniversary Concert
Saturday, September 19, 2026 at 7:00 PM
The Church of St. Mary the Virgin | 145 West 46th Street, New York, NY
Tickets: $50–$75
Link: www.gemsny.org/event/new-york-polyphony/ 

Geoffrey D. Williams, countertenor
Steven Caldicott Wilson, tenor
Andrew Fuchs, tenor
Craig Phillips, bass-baritone

More About New York Polyphony
Critically acclaimed for a “rich, natural sound that’s larger and more complex than the sum of its parts” (NPR) and as “singers of superb musicianship and vocal allure” (The New Yorker), New York Polyphony is one of the foremost vocal chamber ensembles active today. Their innovative programming spans from Gregorian chant to contemporary commissions, and their focus on both familiar and rare works from the 12th to 17th centuries has helped bring early music to modern audiences.

Founded in 2006, the quartet’s growing discography includes two GRAMMY-nominated albums, and many of their releases have topped the “best of” lists of The New Yorker, Gramophone, and The New York Times. Their most recent release, Sky of My Heart (2025, BIS), incorporates commissions and collaborations alongside works from the early music repertoire, featuring compositions by Ivan Moody, Becky McGlade, Andrew Smith, William Byrd, and Orlando Gibbons, among others. Their release And the sun darkened (2021, BIS) received accolades from publications worldwide: BBC Music Magazine hailed it as “imaginatively programmed” and “immaculately sung,” Early Music America called the disc “radiant,” and Klassik Heute applauded the album’s “flawlessly pure sound that amazes the listener.” Lamentationes (2019, BIS) was a finalist in the 2020 Gramophone Awards and praised by Classics Today as “perfect ensemble singing, ideally recorded.” It features Francisco de Peñalosa’s Lamentationes Jeremiae Feria V, which was used as part of Aleph Earth, a groundbreaking audiovisual piece developed in collaboration with the University of Oregon’s Artificial Intelligence Creative Practice Research Group.

Missa Charles Darwin (2017, Navona Records) features American composer Gregory W. Brown’s innovative setting of the writings of Charles Darwin; New York Polyphony has twice performed the work at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin underneath the largest mounted dinosaur skeleton in the world. Roma Æterna (2016, BIS) debuted at #4 on the Billboard Classical chart and was hailed as “resplendent and elegant” by the San Francisco Chronicle. 2014’s Sing thee Nowell (BIS) earned the group a second GRAMMY nomination in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category, having earned their first GRAMMY nomination in 2013 for Times go by Turns (BIS) in the same category.

New York Polyphony tours extensively, performing in some of the world's finest concert halls and participating in major festivals at home and abroad. Engagements have included Wigmore and Cadogan Halls (London), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Stavanger Kammermusikkfestival (Norway) in 2018 and 2023, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston) in 2017 and 2022, Taipei International Choral Festival, Heidelberger Frühling (Germany), Tage Alter Musik Regensburg (Germany), Festival Internacional de Música Abvlensis (Spain), Cartagena Festival International de Música (Colombia), and Early Music Vancouver. They presented Jonathan Berger’s opera Visitations at Bing Concert Hall as part of their 2013 residency at Stanford University. As of 2026, the quartet has performed in all but seven U.S. states. 

Learn more at newyorkpolyphony.com

*Photo Credit: Jacob Blickenstaff 

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