All material found in the Press Releases section is provided by parties entirely independent of Musical America, which is not responsible for content.
Press Releases
The Cecilia Chorus of New York Presents Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, A Holiday Feast of Choruses, Arias, and Ensembles on December 14 at Carnegie Hall
The 150-voice Cecilia Chorus of New York, a fixture on the New York classical music scene for over a century and newly revitalized under Music Director Mark Shapiro (“stellar” - WQXR), presents its acclaimed performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio on Saturday, December 14 at 8:00 PM in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, 57th Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan.
The Christmas Oratorio, a holiday feast of choruses, arias and ensembles, comprises six cantatas, each of which can stand alone effortlessly; in the aggregate they constitute a magnificently cohesive whole. The oratorio is by turns serene and exhilarating. Its contemplative passages (such as the lullaby “Schlafe, mein Liebe”) beautifully offset the brilliance of its concerted choruses (such as “Jauchzet, frohlocket” and “Ehre sei dir, Gott, gesungen”). Bach’s instrumentation here is exceptionally colorful, with roisterous corni and oboes "da caccia” (“hunting horns and oboes”) and dulcet oboes d’amore. The Christmas Oratorio is one of three late-career blockbusters Bach wrote for high feast days in the Christian church (the other two are his oratorios for Easter and Ascension).
Music Director Shapiro says, “In one of Bach’s most lavish musical achievements, the Christmas story unfolds rivetingly from Nativity through Epiphany. Bach didn’t write opera because no one asked him to. But his oratorios and cantatas teem with character and action. In the Christmas Oratorio — particularly in our streamlined version — the musical narrative has momentum and drive as well as deep spirituality. This gorgeous work wants great singing actors to bring its drama to fullest life. Fortunately the Cecilia Chorus has assembled the perfect quintet to do it justice.” Soloists will be sopranos Mireille Asselin and Jessica Niles, mezzo-soprano? Annie Rosen, tenor Dashuai Chen and baritone Erik van Heyningen.
Soloist bios and more at https://ceciliachorusny.org/#/bach-christmas-oratorio/. For more information about the performance, call 646-638-2535.
Tickets for the December 14 concert range from $25 to $90, and can be purchased online at http://ceciliachorusny.org/tickets, https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2019/12/14/the-cecilia-chorus-of-new-york-with-orchestra-0800pm, by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or visiting the box office at 57th St and Seventh Ave. MTA transportation info - http://tripplanner.mta.info/MyTrip/ui_web/customplanner/TripPlanner.aspx.
Founded in 1906, The Cecilia Chorus of New York, winner of the ASCAP/Chorus America Alice Parker Award, has evolved into one of the finest avocational performing arts organizations in New York City. The 150-voice chorus has been described as “reliably venturesome” (The New Yorker, 2017) and “admirable,” (New York Times, 2017). Recent highlights have included commissions from The Brothers Balliett, Jonathan Breit, Tom Cipullo, and Raphael Fusco; collaborations with actor Stephen Spinella and opera singers Julia Bullock and Ryan Speedo Green; the New York premieres in Carnegie Hall of the Mass in D and The Prison by Dame Ethel Smyth and the World Premiere of Fifty Trillion Molecular Geniuses by The Brothers Balliett. Much more at http://ceciliachorusny.org/.
Mark Shapiro was appointed the seventh Music Director of The Cecilia Chorus of New York in 2011. Music Director of The Prince Edward Island Symphony and Artistic Director of Cantori New York, he is one of a handful of artistic leaders in North America to have won a prestigious ASCAP Programming Award six times, achieving the unique distinction of winning such an award with three different ensembles. The New York Times has characterized his conducting as "insightful" and acknowledged its “virtuosity and assurance,” and “uncommon polish.” The Star-Ledger calls his artistic leadership “erudite and far-reaching.” Bio at http://www.ceciliachorusny.org/music-director-mark-shapiro/.
WHO'S BLOGGING
Law and Disorder by GG Arts Law
Career Advice by Legendary Manager Edna Landau
An American in Paris by Frank Cadenhead