Distinguished Concerts International New York Presents A Cathartic Three-Act Concert At Carnegie Hall

On Saturday April 29, Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) will present Mozart's Requiem, a three-act performance that begins with the world premiere of Bradley Ellingboe's newest work, A Place Called Home. The second act features The Music of Russell Robinson, led by conductor/composer Russell L. Robinson, and The Requiem, under the direction of guest conductor Kenney Potter, to close the evening. The show starts at 7 PM in Stern Auditorium on the Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall.

Robinson returns to the stage at Carnegie Hall for the sixth time, bringing a range of works written for middle school voices that include classical standards, traditional Scottish, Irish and African folks songs and spirituals, and his original work, How Old Do Ya' Have to Be to Sing the Blues? "I often wondered why the high school choir was able to do a jazz/blues piece, but not the middle school," Robinson writes in the program notes. "Hence, the story that is 'told' in this piece...I believe this song captures the many ways music affects the lives and hearts of all of us."

Robinson will lead middle school vocal artists from Distinguished Concerts Singers International (DCSI): Alumni Fisher Middle School Firebird Chorus (SC) (Erin Brearley, Director); Mauldin Middle School Mustang Choir (SC) (Vanessa Tarter Rhodes, Director); and Progress Village Middle Magnet School of the Arts Concert Chorus (FL) (Kristen Matheny Franzen, Director), among a host of other DCSI alumni and new singers from around the globe.

The final act of the performance will be Mozart's Requiem, conducted by DCINY guest conductor Kenney Potter, and featuring Diana McVey, Soprano, Teresa Buchholz, Mezzo-Soprano, Chad Kranak, Tenor, and Damian Savarino, Bass. "The superstitious and overworked Mozart...never managed to finish the work and was dictating portions of it to his student, Franz Xavier Süssmayr, even on the day of his death," Joseph and Elizabeth Kahn write in the program notes. "His last act of composition was to write out the first eight bars of the Lacrymosa and gather his friends together to sing with him what he had written so far, but he collapsed and died several hours later," The Kahns write.

"The Requiem is always one of our favorite pieces to bring to the stage. In addition to being a classical masterwork, it also has an incredibly moving story attached to it," says DCINY Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Jonathan Griffith, who co-founded the company with General Director Iris Derke. "To this day, scholars have still not reached any definitive agreement about attribution of some sections by Mozart or Süssmayr, which I have come to see as a perfect example of our uniquely human ability for empathy-to step inside the psychic and emotional content of another and feel what they feel. Music was the vehicle for this empathy. DCINY is honored to share this classic with new audiences, through a new generation of musicians," Griffith says.

The concert will open with the world premiere of Bradley Ellingboe's A Place Called Home, a new oratorio about our precious planet. Ellingboe will be joined by DCSI alumni vocalists Coro Lux (NM) (Bradley Ellingboe, Director); Gresham United Methodist Church (OR) (Solveig Nyberg, Director); and Caliente Community Choir (NM) (Virginia Nickels-Hircock, Director), who will sing the libretto written by Charles Anthony Silvestri.