Annie Potts Narrates National Chorale's Musical Premiere of GOODNIGHT MOON Tonight at Lincoln Center

National Chorale, New York's premier professional choral company, under the Artistic Direction of Everett McCorvey, continues its 2016-2017 Season at Lincoln Center with Beethoven's Symphony #9 and the World Premiere of a musical adaptation of Goodnight Moon tonight, November 18, 2016 at 8pm at the David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, NYC.

Beethoven's monumental choral symphony - with the triumphal "Ode to Joy" - is the most powerful celebration of Man's faith and freedom ever written. It captures our musical imagination like no other work in the repertory. The production features Angela Brown, Teresa Buchholz, John Pickle, and Erik Kroncke.

The evening will include the World Premiere of a musical adaptation of the children's story Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, composed by Glen Roven. Goodnight Moon, a story of barely thirty words, is told from the point of view of a child, who discovers new things every day, who marvels at a telephone, a red balloon, and a picture of a cow jumping over the moon. A special introductory reading of the original children's story will be given from the stage by television, movie, and Broadway star, Annie Potts.

Tickets are available at www.nationalchorale.com, or by calling (212) 333-5333.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Grammy-nominated vocalist Angela Brown personifies the ideal soprano: sheer vocal power; luxurious finesse; and shimmering, high pianissimos. With a charming personality larger than life, she unites opera, pops, and gospel in one sensational voice. Angela's highly successful Metropolitan Opera debut in the title role of Aida captured instant attention from international print and broadcast media and catapulted her onto the world's prestigious opera and symphonic stages. Headlines from The New York Times read: "At last an Aida," and CBS Weekend News proclaimed: "the future of opera has arrived!" followed by features on the front page of The New York Times, on CNN, in Oprah Magazine, Essence Magazine, Ebony Magazine, Classical Singer, Reader's Digest, and Psychology Today. Aside from opera, Angela's performance experience includes everything from star hostess on stage to producer and creator of Opera...from a Sistah's Point of View, an inspired show that has gained international notoriety for bringing opera to the masses in the form of an edgy, yet educational, concert presentation. Last season held new milestones for Angela when she co-starred in the new American opera, Charlie Parker's Yardbird in the world-premiere performance with Opera Philadelphia, returned to her hometown of Indianapolis for the 2014 Yuletide Celebration series with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and sang on the newly-released and Grammy-nominated recording of "Ask Your Mama," composer Laura Karpman's setting of the poem by Langston Hughes of the same title. The 2015-16 season includes performances with Asheville Symphony Orchestra, a collaboration with Tuskegee University Choir in a Christmas extravaganza, recitals for Riverside Symphonia and St. Philip's Concert Series, solos with Carmel Symphony, and a concert version of Porgy and Bess with Buffalo Philharmonic. Angela will reprise the role of Addie Parker in Yardbird at The Apollo in New York City this April and again for Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2017. www.angelambrown.com

An accomplished artist, known for her colorful, clear voice and thoughtful interpretation in both oratorio and opera, Teresa Buchholz is emerging as a promising mezzo-soprano in the world of singing. Performances for the 2013 - 2014 season have included the title role in Giulio Cesare in Egitto with Opera Roanoke, Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra, Schubert's Mass No. 6 in E Flat with the The New Jersey Choral Society, the role of Mathurine in Little Opera Theatre of New York's run of Gluck's one-act opera The Reformed Drunkard, the roles of Martha and Pantalis in a concert performance of Boito's Mefistofele with the Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall, Elliot Carter's "Voyage" with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Mozart's Requiem with the Helena Symphony (MT), Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Stamford Symphony (CT), appearances on opera galas with Opera at Florham and Kyrenia Opera, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with The Gateway Chamber Orchestra (TN), Handel's Messiah at Lincoln Center with Distinguished Concerts International New York, and a return to the Helena Symphony for C.P.E Bach's Magnificat. In April 2013 she was the winner of the female division in the Nico Castel International Master Singer Competition at Carnegie Hall. Upcoming engagements include several appearances at the Bard Music Festival (Schubert and His World) including Brahms' Alto Rhapsody and a selection of art songs, a return to the Stamford Symphony for Mozart's Requiem, Brahms' Liebeslieder Walzer andNeue Liebeslieder Walzer at Vassar College and Bard College, and a performance of Dan Forrest's Requiem for the Living at Carnegie Hall with Mid-America Productions. www.teresabuchholz.com

Tenor John Pickle is quickly making a name for himself, most recently for his portrayals of Erik in Der fliegende Holländer, a role he debúted with Los Angeles Opera. Of a performance as the jilted hunter with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, The Kansas City Star raved, "Pickle's emotionally wrought characterization drove this [performance] even harder home than usual." In recent seasons, Mr. Pickle also enjoyed performances as Erik with Utah Festival Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre. This season, Pickle will be performing Canio in Pagliacci with Opera Memphis, Verdi's Requiem with Opera Grand Rapids, the role of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Dayton Opera, Mahler's Das Lied von de Erde with the Dayton Philharmonic, and the role of Alfred in Die Fledermaus at Florentine Opera. Favorite engagements from recent seasons also include Canio in Pagliacci with Michigan Opera Theatre; Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera and Don José in Carmen with Opera Tampa; Radamés in Aïda with Dayton Opera; Turiddu and Canio in Opera Delaware's double-bill production of Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci; and the title role in Candide with Fresno Grand Opera. Mr. Pickle has also performed Cavaradossi in Tosca with Townsend Opera, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Florida Grand Opera, Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut Mobile Opera, Beethoven's 9th Symphony with Long Bay Symphony, and Verdi's Requiem at Carnegie Hall. www.johnpickletenor.com

Since his debut in 2000, Erik Kroncke's unique bass voice has been in demand by opera companies and orchestras all over the world. He has been heard in such varied repertoire as Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Gremin in Eugene Onegin, Ramphis in Aida, Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Philip and the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos, Hunding in Die Walküre, Fafner in Das Reingold, and Daland in Der Fliegende Holländer. He has appeared with many companies including the Sarasota Opera, Opera San José, Chautauqua Opera, Natchez Opera Festival, Green Mountain Opera, Bronx Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Opera Fort Collins, Opera Colorado, Opera Theater of the Rockies, Hudson Opera Theater, Delaware Valley Opera, New Jersey Verismo Opera, Lyric Opera Virginia, and Opera in the Heights. He was the American Wagner and St. Bonaventura award winner from the Liederkranz competition in 2008. The same year, he made his South Korea debut with the Korean W Philharmonic in Seoul as the bass soloist in Beethoven's 9th Symphony as well as his debut with Opera San José as Gremin in Eugene Onegin.

Glen Roven, four-time Emmy Award winner, is a composer, conductor, pianist, and CD Producer. Current projects includea new symphony "Symphony of Songs," two new operas, Addressee Unknown and Bounce, a Broadway Musical, World War Me, the feature film Humor Me, producing an all-Verdi aria CD for Soprano Hui He and SONY, and a CD and TV show he's co-producing with Carnegie Hall based on their Lullaby Project with Natalie Merchant, Diane Reeves, Patti LuPone, Joyce DiDonato, Pretty Yende, Ansel Elgort, Rosanne Cash, Fiona Apple and more.Roven recently returned from Santa Fe where Daniel Okulitch and Keri Alkema sang a recital of his music. He made his third Carnegie Hall appearance last year with Okulitch singing his music and that concert was also reprised in Santa Fe. He made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting his Violin Concerto based on The Runaway Bunny, with Glenn Close and the American Symphony Orchestra; Catherine Zeta-Jones recorded the Piano Trio Version. He also recorded the piece with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Brooke Shields for Sony/BMG. Baritone Mark Stone performed an entire evening of Roven's concert music also at Carnegie Hall. Soprano Lauren Flanigan debuted the Soprano and Orchestra version of Goodnight Moon at a concert in Central Park for 10,000 and has subsequently performed the piece at Alice Tully Hall and Kimmel Center. His 33 Song Cycles and Art Songs (billholabmusic.com) are routinely performed all around in the world. Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard recently premiered a selection of his songs at her Carnegie Hall recital. He has conducted the National Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, The Munich Philharmonic, The Radio Luxembourg Orchestra, the American Symphony, as well as many others, and made his Israeli conducting debut in 2001 conducting the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in two sold-out concerts honoring Leonard Bernstein. He has conducted for Renee Fleming, Placido Domingo, Joyce DiDonato, Jessye Norman, Erwin Schrott, Charles Castronovo, Patricia Racette and Kathleen Battle, was chosen to conduct four Presidential Inaugural Concerts, America's Millennium Celebration, produced by Steven Spielberg, plus Sammy Davis's and Frank Sinatra's last televised concerts.As a writer, he has contributed to the book Games We Played, published by Simon and Schuster and the London and New York City editions of City Secrets. He regularly writes about the arts for the New York Times, the LA Review of Books, Broadwayworld.com and has a column in the Huffington Post.He is on the board of the Phoenix Concert Series which specializes in commissioning new works, and also the Olga Forrai Foundation which encourages classical singers with grants. He owns RovenRecords, a label that routinely places CDs on the top ten lists. (rovenrecords.com)

Everett McCorvey, Artistic Director, is a native of Montgomery, Alabama. He received his degrees from the University of Alabama, including a Doctorate of Musical Arts. He has performed in many cities around the world and theaters across the country, including the Metropolitan Opera, the John F. Kennedy Center, Aspen and Blossom Music Festivals, Radio City Music Hall, and performances throughout Italy, England, Spain, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Austria, Japan, China, Brazil, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, Peru and France. Among his many accomplishments, Dr. McCorvey was the catalyst for developing a widely recognized opera program at the University of Kentucky, which is listed by the Richard Tucker Foundation as one of the top recommended opera training programs. Dr. McCorvey is also the Founder and Music Director of the American Spiritual Ensemble, a group of 24 professional singers performing spirituals and other compositions of African-American composers. In its nineteen-year history, the group has presented over 250 concerts, including 19 tours of the United States and 17 tours of Spain and other European countries. The unique sound molded by Dr. McCorvey has garnered the group world-wide attention and interest.

Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Annie Potts has enjoyed a versatile and award winning career in film, television and theater. In addition to working with Tina Fey and Robert Carlock on the ABC Pilot FAMILY FORTUNE, some of her recent television credits include guest roles on MAJOR CRIMES, GREY'S ANATOMY and THE FOSTERS as well as an arc on NBC's CHICAGO MED. While she is well known in the world of television, she is probably best known for her role as sassy secretary "Janine Melnitz" in the original GHOSTBUSTERS in addition to the sequel GHOSTBUSTERS II alongside Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. Other notable roles include her voice portrayal of "Bo Peep" in the classic children's animated franchise TOY STORY, a role in PRETTY IN PINK and for her Emmy nominated role in the long running CBS drama DESIGNING WOMEN. She also appeared in the feature CORVETTE SUMMER in which she received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance. Always one to engage in the unexplored, Annie made her Broadway debut a few years ago in GOD OF CARNAGE and has since appeared in the long-running, PIPPIN. She will next be seen in ABC'S hit SCANDAL, and USA's ROYAL PAINS. In addition to this, she will be reviving her role of "Bo Beep" in the upcoming TOY STORY 4.

The National Chorale, New York's premier professional choral company, is celebrating its 49th Lincoln Center Season at David Geffen Hall, previously Avery Fisher Hall, with its continuing series of choral orchestral masterworks and 20th century American Classics.

Founded in 1967, the National Chorale is the only professional choral company in the United States to have established and maintained an annual subscription season in the major New York City concert halls - 49 seasons in David Geffen Hall, with additional concerts at Carnegie Hall. It presents a broad repertory of choral-orchestral works; seldom-performed works from many stylistic periods; opera-in-concert; American music theatre; and contemporary works, including commissions by the Chorale for its Lincoln Center Season.

In addition to its Avery Fisher Hall series, the Chorale has toured nationally; presented 19 summer seasons of New York Festival of American Music Theater concerts in Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park and parks throughout the New York area; concert tours of New York State and New York City; vocal-instrumental chamber music series, and Concerts for Young People.

The National Chorale is a leader in the development of choral singing in the New York City area. The New York Times calls the National Chorale "one of the most firmly established professional choral groups in the country."

For 49 years, the Chorale has also presented vocal music education programs for NYC public schools, developing singing participation and future audiences for choral and vocal music. National Chorale's contracts with the NYC Department of Education provide year-long artist-in-residence programs for elementary, middle and high schools throughout the city. The Chorale regularly tours New York area schools, presenting concerts and choral workshops; and will present the popular 24th annual New York City High School Choral Festival, the 7th annual Elementary School Choral Festival and 4th annual Middle School Choral Festival in May 2017, with 36 participating high school, elementary and middle school choirs and more than 2,700 student singers from all five Boroughs of the City.

The Chorale also has a major Partnership with the NYC Professional Performing Arts High School in Manhattan, now in its 7th year, where a team of Chorale artist/teachers lead and develop the PPAS Vocal/Choral Program daily throughout the school year. The PPAS Choir will perform at Lincoln Center at each National Chorale performance during the 2016-2017 Season.

In 1962, Philharmonic Hall-renamed Avery Fisher Hall in 1973 and later renamed David Geffen Hall in 2015-became one of the first buildings to be completed on the Lincoln Center site and home to one of its first resident organizations, the world-renowned New York Philharmonic, the oldest symphony orchestra in the U.S. Today, David Geffen Hall hosts notable performances by acclaimed orchestras and artists from around the globe, as well as galas, film premieres, graduations, and conferences. Located on the north side of Josie Robertson Plaza facing Lincoln Center's iconic Revson Fountain, David Geffen Hall's spacious lobby and promenade feature such eminent artwork as Rodin's bust of Gustav Mahler and Dimitri Hadzi's sculpture The Hunt, in addition to wraparound views of the Lincoln Center campus.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride