New Amsterdam Singers to Present 'THE MASS, THE DANCE, THE FEAST' at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 12/11 & 13

The New Amsterdam Singers, led by Music Director Clara Longstreth, will present a program titled The Mass, The Dance, The Feast: Celebrations from Bach to Britten, Friday, December 11, 2015 at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday, December 13, 2015, at 4:00 p.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 122 East 88th Street.

The program features three missa brevis (short mass) settings -- one by Dietrich Buxtehude for a cappella five voices; Missa Cantorum by Orlando Lassus for four and five voices; and Missa Brevis, a late work by Benjamin Britten for women's voices and organ. Stephen Rapp will play the organ part.

The New Amsterdam Singers Chamber Chorus will present five 20th-century a cappella works. Hungarian composer Lajos Bardós, who carried forth the tradition of Bartók and Kodály, is represented by Ave Maris Stella, a work celebrating the Virgin Mary. Regina Caeli, another such celebration, is by British composer Cecilia McDowall. Also on the program are the traditional English carol Tomorrow will be my dancing day, arranged by David Willcocks, who died in September 2015, and the beloved carol, Bethlehem Down by the English composer Peter Warlock. Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara's 2008 piece for seven voices, Our Joyful'st Feast, is set to poems by Shakespeare and George Wither.

Bach's motet for double chorus, Fürchte dich nicht, which incorporates both fugue and chorale, will conclude the program.

The New Amsterdam Singers was founded in 1968 by Clara Longstreth. A recent issue of The New Yorker called Ms. Longstreth "one of the more imaginative choral programmers around" and the New Amsterdam Singers "a superb amateur group." The New York Times described the chorus's June 2012 concert as "a varied and beautifully performed a cappella program." NAS has performed with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein; American Russian Youth Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and at Tanglewood's Ozawa Hall under Leon Botstein; Concordia Orchestra and Anonymous Four in Richard Einhorn's Voices of Light with Marin Alsop at Avery Fisher Hall; and with the Limon Dance Company in Kodály's Missa Brevis. In 2010, the chorus sang concerts in Cuba and at a Holiday Open House at the White House. In 2013, NAS toured South Africa, and in 2015, Greece.

For further information call (914) 712-8708 or go online to www.nasingers.org. Tickets are available at the door for $25, $15 for seniors and $10 for students. Tickets are also available online in advance for $20 at www.nasingers.org, by phone at (914) 712-8708, or by mail (New Amsterdam Singers, P.O. Box 373, Cathedral Station, New York, NY 10025).

PROGRAM:

Lajos Bárdos Ave Maris Stella
Benjamin Britten Missa Brevis
Dietrich Buxtehude Missa Brevis
Orlando Lassus Missa Cantorum
Cecilia McDowell Regina Caeli
Einojuhani Rautavaara Our Joyful'st Feast
arr. David Willcocks Tomorrow shall be my dancing day
Peter Warlock Bethlehem Down
J.S. Bach Fürchte dich nicht