Conductor Kent Tritle Announces 2012-2013 Season, Beg. 6/29

Kent Kritle's 2012-2013 season marks his 30th year conducting in New York City. The landmark season includes Britten's War Requiem with the Oratorio Society of New York, Bach's Mass in B Minor with at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Mendelssohn's Elijah at the Manhattan School of Music, and travels across the U.S. for Carnegie Hall's National High School Choral Festival. See full details below.

Kent Tritle arrived in New York in 1982 to pursue graduate studies at The Juilliard School. The work he has done in the three decades since then has earned him the reputation as "New York's reigning choral conductor" (The New York Times), and one of the most acclaimed anywhere.

The breadth of his activity in 2012-13, his 30th anniversary year in New York City, attests to the praise. He marks his second year as Director of Cathedral Music and Organist of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, his eighth season as as Music Director of the Oratorio Society of New York and sixth season as Music Director of Musica Sacra. He is Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music; and a member of the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School, and is the host of the weekly radio show "The Choral Mix with Kent Tritle" on New York's WQXR and www.wqxr.org. An acclaimed organ virtuoso, he is also the organist of the New York Philharmonic and the American Symphony Orchestra.

Among the highlights of the year:

Kent's second season at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine features three concerts with the Cathedral Choir performing Bach's Mass in B Minor (October 10, 2012); Vaughan Williams's Mass in G Minor and Fauré's Requiem (March 20, 2013); and "Jerusalem," a concert featuring the Choir with Rose of the Compass, an ensemble featuring recorder, oud, kanun, and percussion (May 1, 2013). In addition to these events, the newly-revived Great Music in a Great Space series will also include a Christmas concert with the Cathedral Choir (December 8, 2012), and the annual New Year's Eve Concert for Peace with the choir and orchestra and special guest Judy Collins.

Three Carnegie Hall concerts with the Oratorio Society of New York, the acclaimed 200-voice volunteer chorus marking its 140th anniversary in 2012-13, feature Britten's War Requiem (April 22, 2013); the New York premiere of Paul Moravec's oratorio The Blizzard Voices (November 5, 2012); and the OSNY's annual performance of Handel's Messiah (December 17, 2012)

Kent's season with Musica Sacra, the longest continuously performing professional chorus in New York City, launches with a program at Alice Tully Hall featuring Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy as well as Mozart's Exsultate jubilate with the rising star soprano Susanna Phillips, a singer with whom Kent has worked since her early days at Juilliard (October 22, 2012). Musica Sacra will return to the Church of St. Paul the Apostle (where they performed Rachmaninoff's Vespers to acclaim in September 2011) for "The Soul Rejoices," a program featuring Magnificat settings by Monteverdi and Pärt (May 15, 2013), and to Carnegie Hall for its annual performances of Handel's Messiah (December 20 & 23, 2012).

Since joining the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music as Director of Choral Activities in 2008, Kent Tritle has not only expanded the school's choral program to the point where it now offers a doctoral program in choral conducting, but he has broadened the scope of the vocal ensembles' activities so that they are increasingly integrated into New York's professional concert scene. In 2011-12, the Symphonic Chorus performed Walton's Henry V with the New York Philharmonic, and the Chamber Choir joined the Philharmonic for a Young People's Concert, both in fall 2011.

In 2012-13, Kent's programs with the choral forces of MSM include performances of Mendelssohn's Elijah by the MSM Symphony and Symphonic Chorus (February 28, 2013, at the Manhattan School of Music); and Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 with the MSM Chamber Choir and Chamber Ensemble (April 10. 2013, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine).

Two Manhattan School of Music Symphonic Chorus concerts featuring organ will take place at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine: a program led by Philippe Entremont featuring Poulenc's Gloria and Saint-Saëns's Symphony No. 3, "Organ," with Kent Tritle as soloist (February 8, 2013); and a concert led by Kent featuring British organist and composer David Briggs's transcription of Mahler's Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection," for organ, chorus, and soloists, a project commissioned by the Cathedral (April 12, 2013).

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