Melodia Women's Choir to Present 15th Anniversary Season Concert AUTUMN FIRE

Melodia Women's Choir, New York's premier ensemble for women's choral music, led by artistic director Cynthia Powell, celebrates 15 years of bringing women's choral music to the world with a 15th-anniversary concert Autumn Fire, a program featuring a lovely set of motets by siblings Felix Mendelssohn and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, as well as the harp mass Harfenmesse: Missa Advocata Nostra by Johann Kaspar Aiblinger, and Josef Rheinberger's ethereal Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen.

Performers include Melodia Women's Choir conducted by Cynthia Powell, with Mika Nishimura (piano), Rita Costanzi (harp), Meaghan Burke (cello), and Mary Ann McSweeney (bass).

PROGRAM:

- Johann Kaspar Aiblinger (1769-1867) Harfenmesse (Harp Mass), for harp, organ, cello and bass

- Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901) Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen, with harp

- Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847) Three Songs of Heinrich Heine

- Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847) Three Motets, op. 39 - Veni Domine, Laudate pueri, Surrexit pastor and Bonus Lied mit Chor, from A Midsummer Night's Dream

IF YOU GO:

NOV 18, 2017 @ 7:30 PM
Holy Apostles 296 Ninth Avenue (@ 28th Street), Chelsea, New York, NY

NOV 19, 2017 @ 3 PM
West End Collegiate Church 245 West 77th St (@ West End Ave), Upper West Side, New York, NY

Tickets: $20 adv ($25 door) $15 adv (students & seniors) at www.brownpapertickets.com or (800) 838-3006.

Info: melodiawomenschoir.org

ABOUT MELODIA - With 15 years of adventurous, fresh and wide-ranging repertoire that offers rarely heard, stylistically diverse works, Melodia has established a reputation as the premier women's choir of NYC. Called "riveting" by The New York Times and hailed by composers such as Meredith Monk, Hilary Tann and Ronald Perera, Melodia is also committed to nurturing emerging women composers through commissions and performances. Founded by Executive Director Jenny Clarke and Artistic Director Cynthia Powell in 2003, Melodia collaborates with and supports women composers, musicians and performers across a broad musical spectrum. www.melodiawomenschoir.org

ABOUT CYNTHIA POWELL - Cynthia Powell celebrates her 15th season with Melodia. A graduate of Westminster Choir College, she has served on the guest faculty at Sarah Lawrence College, led the St. George's Choral Society in NYC, and was a guest conductor at the International Choral Festival in Havana, Cuba. She is also the Artistic Director of the Stonewall Chorale, and currently serves as Director of Music and Organist at West End Collegiate Church in NYC, and Organist/Choirmaster of Temple Sinai in Tenafly, NJ. melodiawomenschoir.org/the-choir

ABOUT RITA COSTANZI - Formerly a principal harpist of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, a solo harpist of the CBC Radio Orchestra, and a faculty member at the University of British Columbia School of Music, the Comox Valley Youth Music Center and the Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific, Costanzi has established an international reputation as an artist of rare depth, sensitivity and "exquisite virtuosity." She is currently at work on a new one-woman theatrical show with Hershey Felder and a book based on her life to be launched in 2017-18. ritacostanzi.com