The Crossing Performs World Premiere Of Julia Wolfe's unEarth With The New York Philharmonic Led By Jaap Van Zweden On June 1-3

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Leah Rankin | Morahan Arts and Media
leah@morahanartsandmedia.com | 646-378-9386

THE CROSSING PERFORMS WORLD PREMIERE OF 
JULIA WOLFE’S unEarth 
WITH THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC
LED BY JAAP VAN ZWEDEN ON JUNE 1-3

“...consistently thrilling” - The New York Times

“[The Crossing] astonished with its accuracy and trademark purity of sound.” 
- Philadelphia Inquirer

www.crossingchoir.org 

Philadelphia, PA (May 9, 2023) — Currently celebrating their third Grammy Award, The Crossing, led by conductor Donald Nally, joins Jaap van Zweden conducting the New York Philharmonic for the world premiere performances of Julia Wolfe’s unEarth on Thursday, June 1, 2023 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, June 2, 2023 at 8:00 p.m., and Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. at David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, NYC. 

Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, unEarth addresses humans’ impact on our planet. Reuniting the same team that presented Julia Wolfe’s Fire in my mouth (2019), which was written for the women of The Crossing and the New York Philharmonic and received two Grammy nominations, unEarth is written for the men of The Crossing (expanded to 36) featuring soprano Else Torpe and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, with Annie Kauffman directing. The piece is a multimedia event that includes projections and amplified sound that Wolfe says “digs deep into the stories and science of our planet — looking at forced migrations, adaptations, species land loss, and changing seas … singing our fears and hoping for a way forward.” While the text sources range from Genesis to Dickinson, many of the words come from discussions about climate change and the environment with the Young People’s Chorus members. 

The Crossing’s season continues after unEarth with the world premiere of Ted Hearne’s FARMING, directed by Ashley Tata, on Thursday, June 22, 2023 - Sunday, June 25, 2023 at King’s Oaks Farm in Bucks County, PA, followed by a performance at Caramoor on Sunday, July 9, 2023.

Performance Details
unEarth
The Crossing
Donald Nally, artistic director
New York Philharmonic
Jaap van Zweden, conductor
Thursday, June 1, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. 
Friday, June 2, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.
David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center | 10 Lincoln Center Plaza | New York, NY 10023
Tickets: $39-$216
Link: https://nyphil.org/concerts-tickets/2223/julia-wolfe-unearth 

Program:
Sibelius - Violin Concerto
Frank Huang, soloist
Julia Wolfe - unEarth (World Premiere)

Artists:
The Crossing
Donald Nally, artistic director
New York Philharmonic
Jaap van Zweden, conductor
Young People’s Chorus of New York City
Francisco J. Núñez, director
Else Torp, soprano
Anne Kauffman, director
Asher Ehrenberg, assistant director
Lucy MacKinnon, projection designer
Ben Stanton, lighting designer
Jody Elff, sound designer
Kenny Savelson, production consultant

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 30 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.

Photo credit: John C. Hawthorne

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