Daniel Hyde to Lead the Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys and Orchestra in Haydn's THE CREATION
By: Christina Mancuso Sep. 26, 2016
On Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 7:30pm the Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys and Orchestra of St. Luke's present Haydn's The Creation oratorio in the opening concert of the 2016/17 season. Displaying Haydn's unfussy optimism, The Creation features some of the most memorable and life-enhancing music ever written. Soloists include soprano Ellie Dehn who sings the parts of Gabriel and Eve. Versatile tenor Thomas Cooley sings Uriel and bass Craig Phillips sings the parts of Raphael and Adam.
This concert will be conducted by Daniel Hyde.
QUOTE BY ORGANIST AND DIRECTOR OF MUSIC DANIEL HYDE
This concert series was established over 40 years ago by one of my esteemed predecessors, Gerre Hancock, "with the express purpose of extending the parish's outreach to a wider community." When John Scott succeeded Dr. Hancock in 2004, he championed this mission and grew the church's time-honored tradition of choral excellence to worldwide acclaim until his unexpected death last summer. In recent months, Stephen Buzard and Benjamin Sheen have done an outstanding job of maintaining the series at its impressive level of achievement. It is now my privilege to take over the stewardship of this revered heritage.
The season will officially begin in October, taking the idea of "creation" as its theme, with Haydn's masterpiece which celebrates the story of the world's creation. Choral favorites of Handel, Britten and Rutter will be performed at Christmastime. A setting of the St. John Passion by one of J.S. Bach's talented sons, Carl Philipp Emanuel, is scheduled during Lent. The Royal Chapel Choir from Copenhagen will visit in April, followed by the close of our season in May with a program inspired by songs of faith, hope and love.
In addition to these choral programs, I will be putting the Loening-Hancock organ through its paces in February in a Venetian program as part of a citywide Carnegie Hall festival. Benjamin Sheen will commence the Holy Week Musical Meditations with organ music by J.S. Bach, followed the next day by selections from Carlos Gesualdo's Tenebrae Responsories performed by TENET. And, as ever, our weekly organ recitals will continue while the chancel organ project gets underway.
ELLIE DEHN, SOPRANO
Ms. Dehn's 2015-2016 season begins with her company debut at Royal Opera House Covent Garden as the Countess in Sir David McVicar's production of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro conducted by Ivor Bolton, which will be broadcast live to movie theaters around the world. She then makes her debut in the title role of Dvo?ák's Rusalka with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, followed by her company debut with Oper Köln as Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni. Ms. Dehn returns both to the San Francisco Opera as Micaela in Carmen under the baton of Carlo Montanaro, and to the roster of the Metropolitan Opera
THOMAS COOLEY, TENOR
Thomas Cooley is singer of great virtuosity, expressiveness, and versatility. In demand internationally, Cooley performs a wide range of repertoire, from the Renaissance to the present day with premiere orchestras, ensembles and conductors in concert, opera, and chamber music. Cooley has received exceptional acclaim for the role of the Evangelist in Bach's Passions and in the great oratorios of Handel.
Highlights of Cooley's 16/17 season include an appearance at Carnegie Hall with the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir performing Britten's Les Illuminations and Mohammed Fairouz's Zabur, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra's production of Handel's Joshua with conductor Nicholas McGegan, his return to Music of The Baroque, and Messiah with Houston Symphony and Minnesota Orchestra.
CRAIG PHILLIPS, BASS-BARITONE
Two-time GRAMMY®-nominee, Craig Phillips is a founding member of the acclaimed male classical vocal quartet New York Polyphony and an established operatic and concert soloist. Possessing a 'handsome, elegant bass' (New York Times), he has distinguished himself as a gifted singing actor, performing a wide range of repertoire with companies including Glimmerglass Opera, Florida Grand Opera, New York City Opera and Boston Lyric Opera. From Monteverdi to Nico Muhly, his credits as a concert artist include appearances with Eastern Music Festival, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and Washington National Cathedral.
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. This September 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.
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's Saint 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.
The 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.
ORCHESTRA OF ST. LUKE'S
Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) is one of America's most versatile and distinguished orchestras, collaborating with the world's greatest artists and performing approximately 80 concerts each year-including its Carnegie Hall Orchestra Series, Caramoor Summer Season, and new Resonance Chamber Music Festival debuting in June 2017. In its 42-year history, OSL has commissioned more than 50 new works, has given more than 175 world, U.S., and New York City premieres; and has appeared on more than 100 recordings, including four Grammy Award winners and seven releases on its own label, St. Luke's Collection. Pablo Heras-Casado is OSL's principal conductor and the orchestra's fourth titled conductor; previous music directors and principal conductors are Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Charles Mackerras, and Donald Runnicles.
OSL grew out of a chamber ensemble that began giving concerts at the Church of St. Luke in the Fields in Greenwich Village in 1974. Today, the 21 virtuoso musicians of St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble make up OSL's artistic core.
OSL owns and operates The DiMenna Center for Classical Music in Midtown Manhattan, sharing a building with the Baryshnikov Arts Center. The DiMenna Center is New York City's premier venue for classical music rehearsal, recording, and learning, renowned for its superb acoustics, beautiful state-of-the-art facilities, and affordability. Since opening in 2011, The DiMenna Center has welcomed more than 100,000 visitors, including more than 400 ensembles and artists such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, James Taylor, and Sting. OSL hosts hundreds of neighbors, families, and schoolchildren at its home each year for free community events.
Through its Education & Community programs, OSL has introduced audiences across New York City to live classical music. OSL brings free chamber concerts to the five boroughs; offers free interactive music programs at The DiMenna Center; provides chamber music coaching for adult amateurs; and engages 10,000 public school students each year through its Free School Concerts. In 2013, OSL launched Youth Orchestra of St. Luke's (YOSL), an intensive in- and after-school instrumental instruction program emphasizing musical excellence and social development, in partnership with community organizations and public schools in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood.
For more information, visit OSLmusic.org.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets may be purchased at www.saintthomaschurch.org, by calling the Concerts Office at (212) 664-9360, by email at concerts@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)
VENUE
All concerts occur at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue at West 53rd Street
WEBSITE
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