Cathedral Of Saint John The Divine Presents An Organ, Violin And Dance Ensemble Performance, April 26

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine's Great Music in a Great Space concert series presents a performance by Organ Scholar Samuel Kuffuor-Afriyie, Minster of Music at The Brick Presbyterian Church Raymond Nagem, violinist Monica Davis, and Ensemble 1047 Dance Collective-featuring Chase Buntrock, Runako Campbell, Mio Ishikawa, and Kevin Pajarillaga-on Tuesday, April 26 at 7:30pm at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue (at 112th Street).

The performance kicks off with Charles-Marie Widor's Allegro from Symphony No. 6 in G Minor, and continues with works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Sigfrid Karg-Elert. Three living composers-Chelsea Chen, William Bolcom, and Ad Wammes-are featured on the program, alongside original choreography from Ensemble 1047 Dance Collective.

All visitors to the Cathedral are required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination and wear a mask for entry. For tickets and more information, visit the Cathedral's website. Students are eligible for one free ticket at the door with a valid ID.

For more details and information on all the Cathedral's programs and services, visit stjohndivine.org.

PROGRAM

Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)

Allegro from Symphony No. 6 in G Minor, Op. 42, No. 2

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)

Three Impromptus, Op. 78

F Major. Allegro non troppo

*C Major. Molto moderato

A Minor. Allegro molto

Chelsea Chen (b. 1983)

Taiwanese Suite

*I - Hills in the Springtime

II - Moonlight Blue

William Bolcolm (b. 1938)

*Gospel Preludes, Book 2: No. 4. Jesus Loves Me

Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933)

*Fuge, Kanzone, und Epilogue Op. 85, No. 3

Featuring violinist Monica Davis and trebles of the Cathedral Choir of St. John the Divine

Ad Wammes (b. 1953)

*Vallée de danses

*Includes Ensemble 1047 Dance Collective

About the Artists

Samuel Kuffuor-Afriyie is a native of Brooklyn, NY and is currently an MBA candidate at Syracuse University. He earned his B.M. in Organ performance and minor in Economics from Syracuse University in 2020, studying with Dr. Anne Laver. Over the last few years, he was the recipient of many scholarship awards, such as the Brooklyn chapter American Guild of Organist scholarship award and the Gregory R. Keefe Memorial Scholarship by the Syracuse Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Samuel was also an E. Power Biggs Organ fellow through the Organ Historical Society.

Samuel's Ghanaian heritage has led him to embark on two major projects in his career thus far. He was awarded a grant through Syracuse University's THE SOURCE foundation to conduct research on Ghanaian traditional music to be later adapted as new compositions for the Organ. The project was presented in a lecture presentation in May of 2020. Samuel is working to publish those works as an organ suite. In parallel, he also founded and coordinated The Accra Organ and Choral Music Institute, now known as the Yaa Asantewaa Foundation in August of 2019. This endeavor was generously sponsored by Hendricks Chapel of Syracuse University and was set up to promote the advancements of minorities in Classical music and the Arts, namely African-Americans. This event was a weeklong encounter that brought together guest clinicians from the U.S. to conduct workshops and masterclasses on choral conducting, organ, and vocal performance.

Samuel currently serves as the Organ Scholar at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City, where his duties include organ playing and choral directing, under the mentorship of the Cathedral Music Staff. He has held various other church positions at St. Leonard's Anglican Church and Ghana Wesley United Methodist, both in Brooklyn, at Grace Episcopal Church of Syracuse, and as Director of Music for the Syracuse University Catholic Campus Ministry. Outside of music, Samuel enjoys trying new foods and traveling!

Raymond Nagem is Minister of Music at The Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City, and
a member of the organ faculty at Manhattan School of Music, where he teaches organ literature,
service playing, and improvisation. He completed his D.M.A. at The Juilliard School in 2016,
where he was a student of Paul Jacobs.

A native of Medford, Mass., Dr. Nagem attended the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School and
began organ lessons there with John Dunn. He earned his B.A. from Yale University in 2009,
studying the organ with Thomas Murray, and his M.A. in 2011 from Juilliard.

Prior to his appointment at Brick, he served for eleven years at the Cathedral of St. John the
Divine in New York City, where he was Associate Director of Music and Organist. His
album Divine Splendor, recorded on the Great Organ of St. John the Divine, is available on the
Pro Organo label. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring of 2020, Dr. Nagem began a
weekly online recital series from the cathedral, Tuesdays at 6, featuring a diverse range of
music spanning the entire organ repertoire. In his spare time, he enjoys running, cycling, and
crossword puzzles.

Chase Buntrock (he/him) is from Chicago, Illinois. After attending Chicago Academy for the Arts, he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Juilliard School. Following graduation, Chase was a dancer with Ballet BC under the direction of Emily Molnar. Chase now freelances around the world through many artistic mediums. He has performed works by Crystal Pite, Sharon Eyal, Merce Cunningham, Roy Assaf, and more.

Runako Campbell (she/her) is a dancer and performing artist with professional credits spanning across contemporary dance, Broadway, commercial dance, and opera. As a student at Princeton University, Runako performed works by Crystal Pite, Hofesh Shechter, Peter Chu, Rena Butler, Robert Battle, Bill T. Jones, Gabrielle Lamb, and Christopher Ralph. She supplemented her training with programs all over the world including Forsythe/Pite at Orsolina28, Gaga Tel Aviv, b12, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's Eastman, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Damiani Dance, LINES Ballet, ChuThis, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Runako's credits include Jagged Little Pill on Broadway, Jack Harlow, Dance Lab New York, and a commercial for Beautiful Destinations choreographed by Andrea Miller. She also worked with GroundWorks DanceTheater as a company artist where she performed works by Adam Barruch, Antonio Brown, David Shimotakahara, and Hannah Garner. She is represented by MSA Talent Agency and is a member of Actor's Equity Association

Violinist and violist Monica Davis, praised for her "refined and attractive" playing (The New York Times) , has cultivated a protean performance career based in New York City. A sought-after collaborator across multiple genres, she has performed and recorded for dance, film, television, contemporary composers, and recording artists.

Monica is a founding member of the string quartet, The Overlook, a "paradigm-shifting" (New York Music Daily), unifying, community-building force, whose dedication to a more representative musical tradition reverberates throughout their industry. With a deep commitment to engaging their audiences with multi-disciplinary experiences and building a repertoire highlighting the work of living composers, they have been presented in the gardens of Wave Hill, within a life size sculpture at MassMOCA, and preceded by a guided meditation at Lincoln Center. They are looking forward to producing their second annual music festival, "If the Stars Align", in upper Manhattan this summer.

Monica has led the strings on tour with Regina Spektor, toured North America with pop icon Diana Ross, and performed and recorded with artists ranging from Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam, to Solange and Frank Ocean. She has appeared with multiple artists on Saturday Night Live, The Met Gala, Live from Lincoln Center, The Today Show, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Monica has performed with many of the finest ensembles in the Tri-state area, including the New York City Ballet, Orchestra of St. Lukes, Mark Morris Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, and served as a member of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra violin section for the 2018-19 season. Also a mainstay of New York's theatrical scene, Monica has performed in over 15 Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, recorded eight cast albums, played in the orchestra for the Tony Awards since 2015, and is currently a member of the band for the Pulitzer and Tony Award winning musical Hamilton on Broadway.

Monica holds degrees from Columbia University and the Manhattan School of Music. She plays on instruments made by her husband, English violin maker Christopher Thorp.

Mio Ishikawa (she/her) is a movement artist based in New York City with a deep interest in collaborations across the multiple artistic mediums. A native of Tokyo Japan, she began training in classical dance forging a strong interest in the performing arts. She received her BFA in dance at the Juilliard School in New York City in 2019.

Mio is currently a performer with Sidra Bell Dance New York, Company Stefanie Batten Bland. She also serves a dance collective BODYSONNET as an artistic associate. Mio continues to nurture her own multidisciplinary art by collaborating across mediums with artists like American artist Dan Colen, visual artists Shana and Robert ParkeHarrison, cellist Ken Kubota, jazz pianist Isiah Thompson, and High Line Nine Gallery in Chelsea Manhattan, among many others

New York city based artist, Kevin Pajarillaga builds a versatile artistic career spanning across contemporary dance, film, commercial gigs/campaigns, fashion and movement direction. Pajarillaga is currently an artistic associate with Gibney Company in NYC. Pajarillaga also made his TV debut performing for MTV VMA's 2021 with Doja Cat at the Atlantic Barclays Center BK. Pajarillaga is interested in building a career that spans across performance on stage and film, choreography and movement direction that is multifaceted and collaborative, and teaching and creating communities that are diverse, safe and fruitful. He is most curious about the process of sharing the lived experiences of the body through time and space fused with a little bit of fantasy and imagination. He believes through this vulnerable and honest form of conversing, we can liberate, reflect, and express ourselves to deeper understanding of our humanity.

About Great Music in a Great Space

Revived in 2011, Great Music in a Great Space reprises the legendary concert series first held at the Cathedral in the 1980s. Great Music in a Great Space presents choral, orchestral, and instrumental music, in the magnificent, deeply spiritual setting of the world's largest Gothic cathedral. The beloved holiday traditions of the Christmas Concert and New Year's Eve Concert for Peace are an integral part of our concert series. Joined by Rose of the Compass, Musica Sacra, and the Oratorio Society of New York, the Cathedral Choirs, Orchestra, and a remarkable artistic team of organists and soloists bring the beloved space of the Cathedral to life with this transcendent music.

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is the Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. It is chartered as a house of prayer for all people and a unifying center of intellectual light and leadership.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cathedral has responded to changing needs in the local community and across the city and state. People from many faiths and communities worship together in daily services held online and in person; the soup kitchen serves roughly 50,000 meals annually; social service outreach has an increasingly varied roster of programs to safely provide resources and aid to the hardest-hit New Yorkers; the distinguished Cathedral School prepares young students to be future leaders; Advancing the Community of Tomorrow, the

renowned preschool, afterschool and summer program, offers diverse educational and nurturing experiences; the outstanding Textile Conservation Lab preserves world treasures; concerts, exhibitions, performances and civic gatherings allow conversation, celebration, reflection and remembrance-such is the joyfully busy life of this beloved and venerated Cathedral.