Concerts At St. Thomas Opens Spring Season of PASSIONTIDE, 3/24

On Friday, March 24, 2017 at 7:30 pm Concerts at Saint Thomas opens the spring season with a dynamic program for Passiontide. Daniel Hyde conducts the Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys and the period instrumentalists of New York Baroque Incorporated in performances of C.P.E. Bach's St. John Passion and Morning Song of Creation, and Haydn'sPassion Symphony. C.P.E. Bach followed in his father's footsteps as a prolific composer of vocal and instrumental music. Dating from his years in Hamburg, the St. John Passion sets music not only by C.P.E. but also incorporates some movements from his godfather Telemann and his father's own setting of the same Gospel narrative. Klopstock's Morning Song of Creationhas resonances with Haydn's oratorio, not least in its opening sunrise. And in keeping with the season of Passiontide, we open with Haydn's lesser-known Passion Symphony no. 49.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

LAWRENCE JONES, TENOR
Tenor Lawrence Jones has established an active presence on the concert and operatic stages. He has received praise for his portrayals of Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress at the Princeton and Aldeburgh Festivals. The New York Times wrote, "Tenor Lawrence Jones brought a light, sweet voice and lyricism to Tom." Opera News praised him for his "clean, ringing tenor" and The Guardian described him as "a smooth-voiced Tom....his first-act aria, lamenting the loss of love, is especially affecting."

Mr. Jones has performed roles with companies such as Opera Saratoga, Glimmerglass Opera, Amarillo Opera, Sarasota Opera, Opera North, and Toledo Opera. On the concert stage, he has sung as a soloist with the Utah Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Boston Pops, Boston Baroque, American Classical Orchestra, Allentown Symphony, Albany Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and Musica Sacra, with whom he made his company debut in a performance of Messiah at Carnegie Hall. In 2016, Lawrence sang the role of Consigliere in Stradella's San Giovanni Battista with Haymarket Opera of Chicago, with whom he will sing in encore performances this season in the Republic of Malta.

Lawrence is active in the performance of contemporary works. At the Tanglewood Music Festival, he sang a featured role in the American Stage Premiere of Elliott Carter's opera What Next?, conducted by James Levine. He made his company debut in Oliver Knussen's Where the Wild Things Are at New York City Opera. Other recent projects have included Arvo Pärt's Passio with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the American Premiere of Nico Muhly's My Days performed at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue with viol consort Fretwork, and a tribute concert for Elliott Carter at Juilliard, in Mad Regales.

Mr. Jones also frequently performs the works of Bach. His credits include the Evangelist in the Christmas Oratorio with the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus, and tenor soloist in the St. John Passion with the Kalamazoo Bach Festival, Bach Society of St. Louis, and the New Mexico Philharmonic. In New York he sang as tenor soloist in the St. Matthew Passion with the St. Thomas Choir and Concert Royal, and as the Evangelist in the St. John Passion with the Cathedral Choirs and Orchestra of St. John the Divine. In 2017, he will sing as tenor soloist in the B Minor Mass at Carnegie Hall, with the Oratorio Society of New York.

Lawrence has sung as a member of many professional chamber and vocal ensembles, including the Clarion Music Society, Saint Thomas Choir, Ensemble Origo, TENET, and the renaissance vocal ensemble, Cut Circle. With the latter, he has toured across Europe, including performances in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. This season with the Clarion Choir, he participated in performances of the premiere of Maximilian Steinberg's Passion Week in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and London.

DANIEL HYDE, ORGANIST AND DIRECTOR OF MUSIC
Born in the UK, Daniel Hyde began his education as a chorister at Durham Cathedral. Whilst at school he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists at the age of 17, and won the organ scholarship to King's College, Cambridge. During his time at Cambridge University, he served under Dr Stephen Cleobury, performing world-wide with the renowned King's College Choir; he studied the organ with Dame Gillian Weir and Nicolas Kynaston. Upon graduation with First Class Honours in Music, he was appointed as Director of Music at Jesus College, Cambridge, serving five very happy years developing the College's music programme, and training of a choir of men and boys and a mixed-voiced choir. In 2009, he took up the post of Informator Choristarum at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was also an Associate Professor in Oxford University's Faculty of Music. In September 2016 he moved to New York to take up the post of Organist and Director of Music at Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue.

Alongside his roles in Oxford and Cambridge, Daniel has been in increasing demand as a choral and orchestral conductor, and has worked with the BBC Singers, the London Bach Choir, the Britten Sinfonia, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the City of London Sinfonia. Magdalen College Choir recorded exclusively with Opus Arte, the label of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Daniel's broad-ranging discography can be found on the Opus Arte, Linn, Naxos and EMI labels.

As an organist, Daniel has performed across the UK and the world. Recital engagements have taken him to Vienna, Finland, Germany, Holland and also Australia, where he has performed at all the major venues including the Sydney Opera House and Adelaide Town Hall. He has been a concerto soloist with the BBC Philharmonic, and with the Britten Sinfonia he has performed the Poulenc Concerto a number of times, and has recorded the Hindemith Concerto to great critical acclaim. He was awarded Second Prize and the Audience Prize in the Royal College of Organists Performer of the Year 2002 competition. A regular accompanist to the BBC Singers on BBC Radio Three, he has appeared at the BBC Proms on numerous occasions, and he made his solo debut there in 2010, performing Bach's Canonic Variations at the organ of the Royal Albert Hall. In the 2014/15 season, he performed the complete organ works of J S Bach on the new Dobson organ in Merton College, Oxford. As an ensemble player he has appeared with Phantasm, the Britten Sinfonia, Aurora Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields amongst others.

www.danielhyde.co.uk

NEW YORK BAROQUE INCORPORATED

New York Baroque Incorporated (NYBI) is a conductorless orchestra on period instruments in New York City, bringing vital, informed, and fresh performances of a wide range of 17th and 18th-century repertoire, and creating a vibrant landscape for collaborations between historical performance and living composers. Since its creation, NYBI has received critical praise for its energy, virtuosity and entrepreneurship, and was lauded by The New York Times for its "do-it-yourself spirit." Highlights of season 2016-17 include the modern-day premiere of Santa Rosalia (1687), one of four surviving oratorios by Bonaventura Alliotti.

The players of NYBI include winners of the Early Music America/Naxos Recording Competition, Audience Award winners of EMA Baroque Performance Competition, finalists of the York Early Music Competition, and recipients of the Jacob K. Javits and Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships. Members have recorded for Avie, Naxos, Sony and Decca, and have appeared at festivals from Marlboro to Mostly Mozart to Boston Early Music Festival. Teaching positions held by NYBI musicians include The Juilliard School, University of Minnesota, Stony Brook University, Temple University, University of North Carolina, University of Delaware, and Peabody Institute.

More information at www.nybaroque.org

THE SAINT THOMAS CHOIR OF MEN AND BOYS

The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys is considered by many to be the leading ensemble of its kind in the Anglican choral tradition in the United States. The Choir performs regularly with Orchestra of St. Luke's, or with the period instrument ensemble, Concert Royal, as part of its own concert series. Its primary raison d'être, however, is to provide music for five choral services each week. Live webcasts of all choral services and further information including recordings of the choir may be found at www.SaintThomasChurch.org

Supplementing its choral services and concert series over the past four decades, the Choir has toured throughout the U.S. and Europe with performances at Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral in London, King's College, Cambridge, Windsor, Edinburgh, St. Albans, the Aldeburgh Festival and the Vatican. In February 2012, the Boys of the Choir traveled to Dresden to give the premiere of Lera Auerbach's Dresden Requiem with the Dresden Staatskapelle in the Frauenkirche and Semper Oper. Later in 2012, the Choir was invited to perform in the Thomaskirche at the Leipzig BachFest, a highlight of their June 2012 tour to Germany and Copenhagen. Domestically, the Choir most recently toured the Southeastern United States and was a featured performer at the National AGO Convention in Houston, Texas.

In addition to the annual performances of Handel's Messiah, concerts at Saint Thomas Church have included Requiems by Fauré, Brahms, Mozart, Duruflé, Victoria and Howells; Bach's Passions, Mass in B Minor and Motets; the U.S. premiere of John Tavener's Mass; the U.S. premiere of Nico Muhly's work My Days with viol consort Fretwork; Handel's Israel in Egypt; a program of Handel and Purcell's baroque masters conducted by John Scott and Richard Egarr along with Juilliard 415 and MacMillan's Seven Last Words from the Cross, conducted by David Hill. In 2014, the Boy Choristers performed in Bach'sSaint Matthew Passion at the Park Avenue Armory as part of Lincoln Center's White Light Festival with the Berliner Philharmoniker under the direction of Peter Sellars and conductor Sir Simon Rattle.

The Gentlemen of the Saint Thomas Choir are professional singers; the Boy Choristers attend the Saint Thomas Choir School. The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys is represented by Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc. (www.concertorganists.com) and records exclusively for Resonus Classics (www.resonusclassics.com)

THE SAINT THOMAS CHOIR SCHOOL

Founded in 1919, the Saint Thomas Choir School is the only boarding school solely for choristers in the United States, and one of only three schools of its type remaining in the world today. The Choir School offers a challenging pre-preparatory curriculum, interscholastic sports, and musical training for boys in grades three through eight. Following graduation, boys move on to highly competitive independent boarding and day schools across the country.

Saint Thomas Choir School is committed to training and educating talented musicians without regard to religious, economic, or social background. Generous financial aid is available to all successful applicants. Inquiries from interested families are sought throughout the year.

Do you know a boy who loves to sing? We want to hear from you at admissions@choirschool.org. To learn more about the exceptional opportunity provided by a Choir School education, consult our website: www.choirschool.org.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets may be purchased at www.saintthomaschurch.org, by calling the Concerts Office at (212) 664-9360, by email atconcerts@saintthomaschurch.org or in person at the Concerts Office at One West 53rd Street at Fifth Avenue (enter through the Parish House).

Prime (assigned seating) - $75.00, Preferred (assigned seating) - $55.00.

General Admission (unreserved seating) - $40.00, Student/Senior - $30 (available the day of the concert at the door)