10/29: Voices of Ascension Launches 2026-2027 Season

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

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Voices of Ascension Launches 2026-2027 Season
The Radiant Depths with Grand Choral Opening: 
War & Requiem on October 29

First Concert of Voices’ Season Features Guest Soloists 
Meredith Wohlgemuth, Sarah Frei, Lucia Bradford, 
Matthew Swensen, and Joseph Parrish in Works by Haydn and Fauré

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

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

www.voicesofascension.org 

September 17, 2026 (New York, NY) – Voices of Ascension, the New York City-based professional chorus dedicated to sharing the transformative power of choral music through performances, commissions, and community engagement, kicks off its 2026–2027 season with Grand Choral Opening: War & Requiem on Thursday, October 29, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. at Church of the Ascension.

War & Requiem pairs musical grandeur with profound human depth. Composed amid the threat of Napoleon’s advancing armies, Haydn’s Mass in Time of War transforms the Mass into both a plea for mercy and a rallying cry for courage in the face of uncertainty. Nearly a century later, Fauré’s Requiem offers a striking counterpoint. Where earlier Requiems summon fear and judgment, Fauré turns toward grace, tenderness, and light. Together, these works open the season with a meditation on conflict, consolation, and the search for meaning in challenging times.

Voices welcomes sopranos Meredith Wohlgemuth and Sarah Frei, mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford, tenor Matthew Swensen, and baritone Joseph Parrish as guest soloists for this performance.

Through a blend of contemporary and historical repertoire, the 2026-27 season, The Radiant Depths, spans the Renaissance to newly commissioned works and rarely heard masterworks, reflecting both the breadth of the tradition and the depth of expression that defines it as Voices traces a season-long journey through enduring questions about mortality, transcendence, and our relationship to one another. Many of these works emerged during periods of uncertainty and upheaval, asking questions that continue to feel deeply familiar: where we find meaning, how communities endure, and what sustains us through challenging times.

Voices of Ascension’s 37th season celebrates the profound creativity that shapes choral music’s legacy and future by inviting listeners into radiant musical landscapes where sound becomes a space for discovery, and the boundary between past and present begins to dissolve.

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Program Information
Grand Choral Opening: War & Requiem
Thursday, October 29, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Church of the Ascension | 36 Fifth Avenue at 10th St. | New York, NY 10011
Link: https://www.voicesofascension.org/gco27

Programs and Soloists:
Haydn — Mass in Time of War (Missa in tempore belli)
Meredith Wohlgemuth, soprano
Lucia Bradford, mezzo-soprano
Matthew Swensen, tenor
Joseph Parrish, baritone

Fauré — Requiem in D Minor
Sarah Frei, soprano
Joseph Parrish, baritone

Artists:
Voices of Ascension Chorus and Orchestra
Dennis Keene, Artistic Director and Conductor
Meredith Wohlgemuth, soprano
Sarah Frei, soprano
Lucia Bradford, mezzo-soprano
Matthew Swensen, tenor
Joseph Parrish, baritone

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About Meredith Wohlgemuth
Meredith Wohlgemuth, soprano, is a 2023 Grand Prize Winner of The Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition.

In the 2025/26 season Meredith debuted with Seattle Opera in Carmen (Frasquita), New Orleans Opera for Der Rosenkavalier (Sophie), and joined the roster of The Metropolitan Opera for La fille du régiment. On the concert stage, she made her debut at Tiroler Festspiele Erl in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 under Asher Fisch and with The Cleveland Orchestra in their annual holiday concerts conducted by Sarah Hicks.

Meredith was a member of the ensemble at Staatsoper Hannover for two seasons where she made numerous role debuts including Der Rosenkavalier (Sophie), Satyagraha (Ms. Schlesin), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Tytania), I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Giulietta), Hänsel und Gretel (Gretel), L’elisir d’amore (Adina), Orfeo ed Euridice (Euridice), Lear by Aribert Reimann (Cordelia), and Parsifal (Blumenmädchen).

Additional operatic highlights include appearances at the Aspen Music Festival as a Renée Fleming Artist in Idomeneo (Ilia), the Tanglewood Music Festival for the U.S. premiere of George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence (Witness 1), Opera Naples in La traviata (Anina), and Juilliard Opera in Così fan tutte (Despina) and Dido and Aeneas (Belinda).

On the concert stage, Meredith has performed with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie in Bruckner’s Te Deum under Pietari Inkinen, with Juilliard415 in Handel’s Clori, Tirsi e Fileno (Tirsi) at Alice Tully Hall, and with the Cecilia Chorus of New York at Carnegie Hall under Mark Shapiro.

A passionate interpreter of art song and new music, Meredith and collaborative pianist Jinhee Park were First Prize winners of both the 2023 Internationaler Schubert LiedDuo-Wettbewerb in Dortmund and the 2022 Concours musical international de Montréal. Recent recital and residency highlights include the Schubertíada Lied series in Barcelona, the 2023 Renée Fleming SongStudio, 21c Liederabend at National Sawdust, and performances at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts and Merkin Hall as a Schwab Vocal Rising Star with the New York Festival of Song under Steven Blier and Bénédicte Jourdois.

Meredith holds a Master of Music degree in Vocal Arts from The Juilliard School (2020) and a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance from Concordia University, Nebraska (2018).

About Sarah Frei
Sarah Frei (formerly Sarah Chalfy)’s work as a singer and actress encompasses many disciplines, styles, languages and traditions.  She is an avid recitalist, cabaret performer, and collaborator with living artists in developing new works. She recently reprised the role of Madeleine X in the sold-out NY premiere of Michael Gordon’s opera What to Wear, designed and directed by avant garde theatre legend Richard Foreman; remounted by Paul Lazar and Annie B Parson as a Beth Morrison Production for the Prototype Festival at BAM. Other notable premieres include: Artemisia: Light and Shadow, a one-woman theatre piece on the life of Artemisia Gentileschi, with arias by Strozzi and Cavalli; Bruce Odland and Sam Auinger’s Requiem for Fossil Fuels in a rare live performance at the Galerius Rotunda in Thessaloniki, Greece; The title role in ADA, Kim D. Sherman’s opera about Ada Lovelace Byron; Nellie Bly in David Friedman/Peter Kellogg’s new musical Stunt Girl.  She has collaborated with some of NYC’s foremost new music ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, Newspeak, and NOW, premiering works of composers such as Michael Gordon, David T. Little, Missy Mazzoli, Judd Greenstein, John Halle, Joel Derfner and Kim D. Sherman.  On the pre-Baroque front, she is a frequent soloist with ARTEK, Early Music New York, and other members of GEMS NY.  She has recorded on the Canteloupe, New Amsterdam, and Innova labels.  Opera and musical theater credits include Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Anne Sexton (Transformations), Vixen (The Cunning Little Vixen) Yum Yum (The Mikado), Guenevere (Camelot), Marian (The Music Man), Carrie (Carousel), and Hodel (Fiddler on the Roof).  As an actress, Sarah has done numerous independent films and appeared on TV in  TNT’s Leverage.

Sarah did her MM studies at Manhattan School of Music and her BM at the Peabody Conservatory.  She was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Universität Mozarteum Sommerakademie, and the Académie internationale d’été de Nice. She studied acting/Meisner technique at the T. Schreiber Studio, and musical theater with Paul Gemignani and Carolyn Marlow. Sarah is recipient of numerous awards, including top prizes in the Lotte Lenya, Rosa Ponselle, Canticum Dominum, and Bach Society of Baltimore competitions, and study grants to the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg and the Académie internationale d’été de Nice. 

About Lucia Bradford
Mezzo-soprano, Lucia Bradford is a native of Brooklyn, N.Y. 

Ms. Bradford has performed a number of operatic roles including Carmen in Bizet’s La Tragedie de Carmen, Zita in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, La Principessa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, The Mother  in Ravel’s L’Enfant des Sortileges, Mercedes in Bizet’s Carmen, Mrs. Quickly in Verdi’s Falstaff,  Miss Todd in Menotti’s Old Maid and the Thief, the Duchess of Plaza Toro in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers, Azelia Dessalines in William Grant Still’s opera Troubled Island, Douglas Tappin’s I dream as Grandma, Mary Watkins’ Emmett Till as Mamie Till and Maria in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Berta in The Barber of Seville and Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro. 

Her concert works include the St Matthew’s Passion with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium, De Falla’s El amor Brujo, Mozart's Vesperae solennes de Confessore, Hadyn’s Lord Nelson Mass, William Grant Still’s And they lynched him, Nathanial Dett’s The Ordering of Moses, Julia Perry’s Stabat Mater, Beethoven’s Mass in C major, Handel’s Messiah with the National Symphony, the Mozart Requiem, Durufle Requiem, Bach B minor Mass, St John’s Passion and St Matthew’s Passion with the Voices of Ascension, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Bach’s Magnificat, at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of N.Y.

Ms. Bradford has had the privilege of singing at Carnegie Hall, the Kimmel Center, Merkin Hall and touring in Russia, Budapest, Spain, the Caribbean and throughout the United States. In the classical world her repertoire ranges from sacred works and oratorio to opera. She also enjoys performing a variety of genres including contemporary opera, jazz, gospel and blues.

About Matthew Swensen
In leading roles that range from Tamino to Tom Rakewell, Ferrando, Fenton and Nemorino, Matthew Swensen’s compelling performances have taken him to Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Carnegie Hall, Oper Frankfurt, State Opera of Prague, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Theater Basel, The Rheingau Festival and more.

Praised by the BBC for his role debut as Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff in Florence as “everything we could have hoped for; an ardent and generous tenor… simply phenomenal,” Matthew Swensen entered the 2024/25 season with a series of notable debuts and performances across Europe and North America.

The season began in the summer with his debut as the Steersman in Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer at Teatro Regio di Torino, followed by performances of the same role with Jaap Van Zweden and the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam in September. He sang Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Allentown Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, and on tour throughout Italy and Germany. Additional debuts included performances with the Deutscher Symphoniker in Bruckner’s Te Deum and in Bach’s B Minor Mass in Munich. Swensen also made his role debut as Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore with New Orleans Opera and reprised the role of Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia with Lyric Opera Kansas City.

In April 2025, he made his Canadian debut with the Montreal Symphony in a concert performance of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, followed by a gala concert with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie in Stuttgart, where he headlined a program of ten of Strauss’s most beloved orchestral songs. He concluded the season with a live performance of Haydn’s The Creation at the Ebracher Musiksommer, which was recorded for Bayerische Rundfunk.

About Joseph Parrish
Joseph Parrish, winner of the 2022 YCA Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, is a Baltimore native with degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and The Juilliard School. He made his NYC recital debut at Merkin Hall in a performance co-presented by WPA with the Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir as a follow up to his Kennedy Center debut the previous season.

Joseph made his European opera debut with the Salzburg Festival as Potapitsch in Prokofiev's The Gambler and his European solo recital debut at the Usedomer Music Festival. He’s appeared with Cincinnati Opera, singing Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Parlando NYC in Rimsky-Korsakov's Mozart e Salieri, as Salieri.

During the 25-26 season Joseph appeared in recital with Ashmont Hill Chamber Music, New York Festival of Song, Baruch PAC, and Weinberg Center for the Arts. He also appeared as soloist with the Maryland Symphony, Anchorage Symphony, Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall, Concert Artists of Baltimore, and Cathedral of St. John the Divine. He also appeared alongside members of The Orchestra of St. Luke’s in a tour throughout the five boroughs of NYC.

Joseph has served as a Music Advancement Program chorus fellow, Gluck Community Service Fellow, Morse Teaching Artist, and was part of the inaugural cohort of Shared Voices, a program promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion through collaborations with Historically Black Colleges and top conservatories in the US.

About Dennis Keene
Dennis Keene is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Voices of Ascension. Known internationally through his many concerts and recordings with Voices of Ascension as well as his regular guest appearances as conductor and teacher, he is one of the leading choral conductors in the world today.

Recognized early as an exceptional organist, Dennis Keene studied at The Juilliard School, where he earned the BM, MM, and DMA degrees and the coveted Gaston Dethier Organ Prize as a student of Vernon de Tar. Dr. Keene also studied privately in Paris with Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, André Marchal, and André Isoir.

In addition to his work with Voices of Ascension, Dr. Keene continues as Organist and Choirmaster of Church of the Ascension in New York City. He served for many years on the Board of Directors of Chorus America, the national service organization for the choral field, which honored him with the first Louis Botto Award for “innovative action and entrepreneurial zeal in developing a professional ensemble of exceptional artistic quality.” He has also served on the Choral Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts and on the Music Panel of the New York State Council on the Arts.

From 1998 to 2003, Maestro Keene presented a major summer institute for the training of conductors and singers: The Dennis Keene Choral Festival, in Kent, Connecticut. In 1993, he began his recording association with Delos International, with which he has recorded such best-selling CD’s as Beyond Chant, the Duruflé Album, and the Berlioz Te Deum. This series of highly acclaimed recordings with Voices of Ascension has secured international recognition for both conductor and chorus and become the standard for first-ranked ensembles worldwide.

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 37-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 Jonathan Bradley
Jonathan Bradley is Executive Director of Voices of Ascension, where he is helping guide the organization through a period of artistic and institutional renewal. Working in close partnership with founding Artistic Director Dennis Keene and the Board of Directors, he has helped shape a strategic vision rooted in musical excellence, creative risk-taking, and deeper community connection. In addition to leading organizational strategy, Jonathan has played a central role in developing new artistic initiatives and season programming, including Choral Visionaries, Voices’ guest conductor initiative, and immersive projects such as Sound Out of Silence, which brings together world premieres, contemporary artists, and large-scale sonic experiences within the resonant setting of the Church of the Ascension.

Jonathan brings more than twenty-five years of leadership experience across New York City’s cultural landscape. Prior to joining Voices of Ascension, he served as Executive Director of The Crossing, leading the Grammy Award-winning ensemble through a period of transformational growth that doubled its production output and budget while overseeing world premieres, recordings, and collaborations with Carnegie Hall, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. During his six years there, The Crossing received three Grammy Awards and nine nominations and was named Musical America’s 2023 Ensemble of the Year.

His career also includes a decade at Carnegie Hall, where he co-founded the Hall’s social media program and helped launch new audience engagement initiatives, as well as leadership work at Primephonic, now Apple Music Classical, where he explored new intersections between classical music and digital innovation.

Jonathan earned a BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and an MBA from Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business and has been an invited speaker at Yale, Columbia, and NYU.

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