The Crossing Wins 2023 GRAMMY® Award for Born: Music of Edie Hill and Michael Gilbertson

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PR Contact: Leah Rankin | Morahan Arts and Media
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The Crossing Wins
2023 GRAMMY® Award for
Born: Music of Edie Hill
and Michael Gilbertson

Capping the Ensemble’s Eighth
Nomination in Seven Consecutive Years for Best Choral Performance

An expedition into themes of extinction, relationships, loss, and love

Released August 12, 2022 on Navona Records
Album Page: https://www.navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6449/

“Always a virtuoso ensemble, the group has evolved into
one of the most skilled choirs in North America” – AllMusic

"Such is their radiant sound and the vibrancy of the repertory they’ve cultivated, it’s gotten to the point I’d hear anything this Philadelphia vocal ensemble sings." – The New York Times

www.crossingchoir.org

Philadelphia, PA (February 6, 2023) — The Recording Academy announced yesterday that The Crossing, led by Donald Nally, has won its third GRAMMY® Award in the Best Choral Performance category for Born: Music of Edie Hill and Michael Gilbertson. Released on Navona Records on August 12, 2022, the album features Hill’s Spectral Spirits, which paints a colorful study of recently-extinct birds and their interaction with humankind, and Gilbertson’s Born and Returning, which address in raw and authentic language the complexities of our intimate relationships. In-house sound designer Paul Vazquez is engineer on the album, and serves on the producing team with conductor Donald Nally and assistant conductor Kevin Vondrak. The artwork is by Crossing frequent collaborator Christopher St. John. The recording was funded by long-time supporter of The Crossing, Carol Westfall.

This nomination marked The Crossing’s eighth Grammy nomination in seven consecutive years in the Best Choral Performance category. With this nomination, The Crossing tied Robert Shaw’s legendary streak with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus for the most consecutive nominations in this category. (Shaw and Atlanta also had eight consecutive nominations in that streak.) After its release, Born gained national attention with Operawire describing the recording as a “breathtakingly beautiful expedition,” and Musical America praising The Crossing and conductor Donald Nally as “one of the most fruitful commissioners of new choral music around."

“We want to make pieces about the world we live in, and we want people to hear them - to listen, and maybe recognize themselves in our stories,” conductor Donald Nally said.

“This Grammy brings all that together: Edie's raw, thoughtful piece about extinct birds, Michael's searching, wrenching work about the complexities of our relationships and love, as told through the tale of Jonathan and David, and the work that my husband Steven and I commissioned from Michael in memory of my mother - on a text that ponders motherhood and the roles of women in the lives of men. In Born, Spectral Spirits, and Returning, these composers capture the nuances in the insightful texts of Wislawa Szymborska, Kai Hoffman-Kroll, and Holly Hughes, all narrating the "now." We're happy also to see the signature artwork of Christopher St. John seen by many more, the precise producing of Kevin Vondrak and Paul Vazquez recognized, and the nearly unimaginable artistic feasts of our singers - the Alpha and Omega of The Crossing.

“We are thankful for our staff and board for getting us to every finish, to the folks at PARMA/Navona, and for everyone who listens to our music. We're humbled not just by the affirmation of the Recording Academy members, but also by the company we keep in the nominated ensembles: The Met, Yannick, Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir. What a journey! We are grateful.”

Edie Hill’s Spectral Spirits, commissioned by The Crossing and premiered in Philadelphia and New York City in 2019, is a “memorial to lost birds,” structured in four pillars representing four bird species that have gone extinct due to human’s expansion on the Earth. The 30-minute piece pairs pastoral musical textures of poetry by Holly J. Hughes with observations of Henry David Thoreau, Gert Goebel, Christopher Cokinos, Lucien M. Turner, Paul A. Johnsgard, and Alexander Wilson to create a nostalgic journey the composer describes as an “emotional sequence of falling in love with a bird, followed by grieving its loss.”

“Composing Spectral Spirits was as much a study of humans as it was of birds,” said Hill. “I found myself asking how human beings managed to obliterate these species. In some cases, populations were brought back from the brink of extinction only to be brought down again… Why, if we see something alive, vibrant, with striking color, do we want to possess it to the point of oblivion? Why is it permissible to destroy nature in the name of “progress” or financial gain? In the end: we all lose. I grieve every day for the state of our planet and her creatures. Composing Spectral Spirits was a gift that gave me a chance to funnel this grief.”

Two works by Michael Gilbertson bookend the album, leading with Born, based on a poem by Wislawa Szymborska, which was premiered by The Crossing in 2017. The piece was commissioned by conductor Donald Nally and his spouse Steven Hyder in memory of Donald’s mother Margaret Martindale Nally; it contemplates birth, familial relationships, and the human condition. Gilbertson’s Returning closes the album with the biblical story of David and Jonathan from the Hebrew Bible. Returning draws on text from Kai Hoffman-Krull exploring themes of friendship, fraternal and passionate love, absence and longing. Returning was featured by The Crossing at a performance in recognition of the 20th anniversary of 9/11 at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia in 2021.

Of Born, Nally says, “We love singing this work because of the way Michael reaches the revelatory moment, through the intertwining of middle voices – one male, one female – holding the fabric of our thoughts together, that slowly rise to an epiphany in which thoughts of birth and of parenting lead to thoughts of the human condition. Michael responds with a kind of controlled howl. A declamation: simultaneously triumphant and despondent.”

About The Crossing
The Crossing is a Grammy-winning professional chamber choir conducted by Donald Nally and dedicated to new music. It is committed to working with creative teams to make and record new, substantial works for choir that explore and expand ways of writing for choir, singing in choir, and listening to music for choir. Many of its nearly 160 commissioned premieres address social, environmental, and political issues.

The Crossing collaborates with some of the world’s most accomplished ensembles and artists, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, Lyric Fest, Piffaro, Beth Morrison Projects, Allora & Calzadilla, Bang on a Can, Klockriketeatern, and the International Contemporary Ensemble. Similarly, The Crossing often collaborates with some of the world’s most prestigious venues and presenters, such as the Park Avenue Armory, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Pennsylvania, National Sawdust, David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, Disney Hall in Los Angeles, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Menil Collection in Houston, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Haarlem Choral Biennale in The Netherlands, The Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, The Kennedy Center in Washington, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space in New York, Winter Garden with WNYC, and Duke, Northwestern, Colgate, and Notre Dame Universities. The Crossing holds an annual residency at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center in Big Sky, Montana.

With a commitment to recording its commissions, The Crossing has released 29 albums, receiving three Grammy Awards for Best Choral Performance (2018, 2019, 2023), and eight Grammy nominations. The Crossing, with Donald Nally, was the American Composers Forum’s 2017 Champion of New Music. They were the recipients of the 2015 Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence, three ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming, and the Dale Warland Singers Commission Award from Chorus America.

Recently, The Crossing has expanded its choral presentation to film, working with Four/Ten Media, in-house sound designer Paul Vazquez of Digital Mission Audio Services, visual artists Brett Snodgrass, Eric Southern, and Steven Bradshaw, and composers David Lang, Paul Fowler, and Michael Gordon on live and animated versions of new and existing works. Lang’s protect yourself from infection and in nature were specifically designed to be performed within the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which The Crossing premiered a number of newly-commissioned works for outdoors by Matana Roberts, Wang Lu, and Ayanna Woods.

The Crossing is represented by Alliance Artist Management. All of its concerts are broadcast on WRTI, Philadelphia’s Classical and Jazz public radio station. Learn more at www.crossingchoir.org.

Born: Music of Edie Hill and Michael Gilbertson Tracklist
MICHAEL GILBERTSON (b. 1987) – Born
1. Born [9:45]
EDIE HILL (b. 1962) – Spectral Spirits
2. Spectral Spirits: I: Prelude: These Birds [2:22]
Maren Montalbano, soloist
3. Spectral Spirits: II. Eyewitness: Henry David Thoreau and the Passenger Pigeon [1:40]
James Reese, soloist
4. Spectral Spirits: III. The Naming: Passenger Pigeon [0:15]
Maren Montalbano, soloist
5. Spectral Spirits: IV. Passenger Pigeon [6:41]
6. Spectral Spirits: V. Eyewitness: Gert Goebel and the Paroquets [1:43]
Dominic German, soloist
7. Spectral Spirits: VI. The Naming: Carolina Parakeet [0:17]
Maren Montalbano, soloist
8. Spectral Spirits: VII. Carolina Parakeet [3:27]
9. Spectral Spirits: VIII. Eyewitness: Lucinen M. Turner and the Migration of the Curlews [3:50]
Rebecca Myers, soloist
10. Spectral Spirits: IX. The Naming: Eskimo Curlew [0:20]
Maren Montalbano, soloist
11. Spectral Spirits: X. Eskimo Curlew [3:55]
12. Spectral Spirits: XI. Eyewitness: Mr. Wilson and the Ivory-bill [2:07]
Dominic German, soloist
13. Spectral Spirits: XII. The Naming: Ivory-Billed Woodpecker [0:19]
Maren Montalbano, soloist
14. Spectral Spirits: XIII. Ivory-Billed Woodpecker [5:11]
MICHAEL GILBERTSON (b. 1987) – Returning
15. Returning: Part 1: What knits us [9:32]
16. Returning: Part 2: I thought of staying quiet [9:23]

Total Time: 60:47

The Crossing
Donald Nally, conductor
Kevin Vondrak, assistant conductor
John Grecia and Mark Livshits, keyboards

Recording Produced by Donald Nally, Paul Vazquez & Kevin Vondrak
Additional Engineering, Editing, Mixing & Mastering by Paul Vazquez
Assistant Recording Engineers, Dante Portella and Henry Koch
Album Artwork by Christopher St. John

Born: Music of Edie Hill and Michael Gilbertson was recorded August 21-24, 2021 at St. Peter’s Church in the Great Valley, Malvern PA

Executive Producer: Bob Lord
A&R Director: Brandon MacNeil
VP, Audio Production: Jan Košulic
Audio Director: Lucas Paquette
VP, Design & Marketing: Brett Picknell
Art Director: Ryan Harrison
Design: Edward A. Fleming
Publicity: Patrick Niland

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