Oratorio Society Of New York Presents Bach's Mass In B Minor At Carnegie Hall, May 8

The Oratorio Society of New York, led by Music Director Kent Tritle, concludes its 2022-23 season with a performance of J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor on Monday, May 8, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage.

Bach's remarkable and singular setting of the complete text of the mass encompasses the range of human experience, from joy to sorrow and solemnity to praise. Composed over a 25-year period, the work is divided into four sections, beginning with the Kyrie and Gloria. Written in 1733, the work is divided into five sections and is noted for its perfection of symmetry and form. Maestro Tritle leads the Orchestra of the Society and chorus, alongside acclaimed soloists soprano Emily Donato, mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford, tenor Brian Giebler, and baritone Sidney Outlaw.

OSNY's extensive history with the piece includes a Carnegie Hall performance of all but five movements which took place on April 5, 1900, nine days after the U.S. premiere of the work by the Bach Bethlehem Choir. In the thirty years between 1926 and 1956, OSNY performed the work each spring at Carnegie Hall, and then again in April 1961 in celebration of Carnegie Hall being saved from destruction.

"Bach's Mass in B minor rounds out our season," said Music Director Kent Tritle. "This Baroque masterwork plumbs the resources of this chorus; we delight in showing our constituents that yes, a large and Romantic chorus can indeed scale the heights of these monuments, eliciting transparency, litheness, and deep emotional connection from beginning to end."

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Program Information
Bach's Mass in B Minor
Oratorio Society of New York
Monday, May 8, 2023, at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
Link: https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2023/05/08/Oratorio-Society-of-New-York-0800PM

J.S. BACH: Mass in B Minor

Kent Tritle, conductor
Emily Donato, soprano
Lucia Bradford, mezzo-soprano
Brian Giebler, tenor
Sidney Outlaw, baritone
Orchestra of the Society

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Soprano Emily Donato, born and based in Brooklyn, New York, has appeared most recently as the soprano soloist in Bach's B minor Mass with Voices of Ascension led by Maestro Dennis Keene. She was awarded first prize in the 2021 Lyndon-Woodside Oratorio Competition held at the Riverside Church in New York City. Ms. Donato has performed as a soloist with Maestro Masaaki Suzuki, Nicholas McGegan, Simon Carrington, David Hill, and Leon Botstein. This summer, Ms. Donato will be a member of the 2023 Virginia Best Adams Quartet at the Carmel Bach Festival. Emily is an alumni of the Grammy award winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus, holds her Bachelor of Arts in Music from Bard College, and her Master of Music from the Yale School of Music where she was a member of the Yale Voxtet.

Mezzo-soprano, Lucia Bradford is a native of Brooklyn, New York. Ms. Bradford has performed a number of operatic roles including Carmen in Bizet's La Tragedie de Carmen, Zita in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, La Principessa in Puccini's Suor Angelica, The Mother in Ravel's L'Enfant des Sortileges, Mercedes in Bizet's Carmen, Mrs. Quickly in Verdi's Falstaff, The Sorceress in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Gertrude in Gounod's Romeo and Juliet, Hippolyta in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Miss Todd in Menotti's Old Maid and the Thief, the Duchess of Plaza Toro in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers, Azelia Dessalines in William Grant Still's opera Troubled Island, Douglas Tappin's I Dream as Grandma, Mary Watkins's Emmett Till as Mamie Till and Maria in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.

Her concert works include Mozart's Vesperae solennes de Confessore, Hadyn's Lord Nelson Mass, De Falla's El amor Brujo, William Grant Still's And they lynched him, Nathanial Dett's The Ordering of Moses, Julia Perry's Stabat Mater, Handel's Messiah with the National Symphony, the Mozart Requiem, Durufle Requiem, Bach B minor Mass with the Voices of Ascension, Mendelssohn's Elijah at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York.

Ms. Bradford has had the privilege of singing at Carnegie Hall, the Kimmel Center, Merkin Hall, and touring in Russia, Budapest, Spain, the Caribbean and throughout the United States. She also enjoys performing a variety of genres including contemporary opera, jazz, gospel and blues.

Upcoming events include a concert with New York Festival of Song (NYFOS), a recital for the Bronx Arts Ensemble, St. John's Passion with Voices of Ascension, Beethoven's Mass in C major and Bach's B minor Mass at Carnegie Hall.

Praised for his "lovely tone and deep expressivity" by The New York Times, GRAMMY nominated tenor Brian Giebler radiates "shine and clarity" (Opera News) in every phrase using "his high-placed tenor with great skill" (Opera Magazine). His debut solo album, a lad's love (Bridge Records, 2020), garnered high praise from significant industry publications including Gramophone, Opera News (Critics Choice), and San Francisco Classical Voice; the album debuted on the Billboard charts, and earned him his first GRAMMY Award nomination for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.

Brian begins the 2022/23 season by leading a fully staged production of Craig Hella Johnson's Considering Matthew Shepard with Music at Trinity Wall Street. Brian will then debut with the Rhode Island Philharmonic singing Handel's Messiah, and with Voices of Ascension as Evangelist in Bach's St. John Passion. He will make return appearances with Santa Fe Pro Musica, Boston Early Music Festival, Baltimore Choral Society, and the Oratorio Society of New York in a performance of Bach's B minor Mass at Carnegie Hall.

"The sweetness of Giebler's impressive high tenor" and his "expressive and elegant phrasing" (Cleveland Classical) have been heard as Apollo in Handel's Semele with The English Concert and The Clarion Choir in an international tour under Harry Bicket at the Theatre des Champs-Elysées (Paris), the Barbican (London), and Carnegie Hall (New York); as Adam in REV 23 at the Prototype Festival (dir. James Darrah; cond. Daniela Candillari); and in the comedic role of Arnalta in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea with Boston Baroque, where he joined a star-studded cast including Anthony Roth Costanzo and Amanda Forsythe. Highlights of last season include a tour of the Ravinia and Caramoor Festivals, singing Monteverdi with Apollo's Fire, Haydn's Creation with Santa Fe Pro Musica, and returning with Mark Morris Dance group to sing the choreographer's iconic version of Handel's L'Allegro, il Penseroso e il Moderato at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

He has performed Stravinsky with the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst; Evangelist in Bach's St. Matthew Passion with Trinity Wall Street; Mozart at both Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center; and Bach cantatas with the Grand Rapids Symphony and Handel & Haydn Society. Regularly engaged for Handel's Messiah, he has performed the work with Music of the Baroque (available on recording), the Charlotte, Memphis, and Virginia Symphonies, as well as at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York and Musica Sacra. Brian sang and recorded the role of Iff the Water Genie in Wuorinen's Haroun and the Sea of Stories with Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and made his debut with Boston Early Music Festival in Germany singing in Charpentier's Les Plaisirs and de Lalande Les Fontaines.

In the 2022-2023 season, baritone Sidney Outlaw sings Schaunard in La bohème with Greensboro Opera, Dizzy Gillespie in Yardbird with New Orleans Opera, and brings his celebrated Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro to Opera Omaha. On the concert platform, he makes his debut with Boston Baroque as soloist in Handel's Messiah, returns to Oratorio Society of New York as soloist in Bach's B Minor Mass and joins Youngstown Symphony Orchestra for Mahler's Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen. The 2021-2022 season featured Mr. Outlaw as Salieri in Mozart and Salieri with Opera San Jose, Jake in Porgy and Bess with Greensboro Opera, and Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Pensacola Opera and Opera Saratoga. Engagements for the COVID-affected 2019-2020 season included his San Francisco Opera debut as the First Mate in Billy Budd, Messiah with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony, and Tommy McIntyre in Fellow Travelers with Madison Opera. In previous seasons, Mr. Outlaw sang Dizzy Gillespie in Charlie Parker's Yardbird with both Atlanta Opera and Arizona Opera, returned to the Baltimore Symphony as a soloist in Handel's Messiah and Minnesota Opera for the world premiere of The Fix, sang Fauré's Requiem at Augustana College, Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem at Cornell University, and made his debut with Mill City Summer Opera as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte.

Mr. Outlaw has been a featured recitalist with Warren Jones at Carnegie Hall and performed Elijah with the New York Choral Society. He traveled to Guinea as an Arts Envoy with the U.S. State Department, where he performed a program of American music in honor of Black History Month and in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King. A sought-after concert singer and recitalist, he made his Schwabacher Recital debut at the San Francisco Opera center with pianist John Churchwell and collaborates regularly with renowned pianists Warren Jones, Carol Wong, Steven Blier, and Michael Barrett. His concert and recital appearances include debuts of renowned works at major concert halls: Haydn's The Creation and Handel's Messiah at Carnegie Hall, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 at Avery Fisher Hall, Mahler's Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen with Music Academy of the West and "Wednesday At One" at Alice Tully Hall, John Stevens in the world premiere of H. Leslie Adam's opera Blake at the prestigious Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, and the world premiere of Wayne Oquin's A Time to Break Silence: Songs inspired by the Words and Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr., commissioned by The Juilliard School. His debut album, Lament, recorded live with Warren Jones, was released by Emitha LLC in 2021.

The Oratorio Society of New York (OSNY.ORG) is one of the oldest musical organizations in the United States and has become New York City's standard for grand choral performance. Founded in 1873 by Leopold Damrosch, the Society has played an integral role in the musical life of the city. In its early years, the Society established a fund to finance the building of a new concert hall, a cause taken up in earnest by the Society's fifth president, Andrew Carnegie. In 1891, and under the direction of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, the Society helped inaugurate this new Music Hall, which would be renamed Carnegie Hall several years later.

The Society continues to perform several times each season at Carnegie Hall. Its annual performances of Handel's Messiah, a New York holiday tradition unbroken since 1874, have become a holiday favorite with New York audiences. In addition to its collaborations with the New York Philharmonic and Orchestra of St. Luke's, as well as other performing arts institutions, the Society performs internationally every few years - including recent concerts in Japan, Uruguay, Germany, Italy, and Brazil.

The Society is also committed to commissioning and championing new works, including most recently two pieces by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec and Grammy Award-winning librettist Mark Campbell: Sanctuary Road which was nominated for a 2021 Grammy Award and is available from Naxos Records, and A Nation of Others, which saw its premiere in November 2022 after multiple pandemic-related delays.

The OSNY membership consists of avocational and professionally trained singers as well as non-singing members. Auditions are held twice annually at the beginning of the fall and winter terms. OSNY is a not-for-profit 501c3 corporation governed by a volunteer board of directors with a professional music staff and executive director.

Kent Tritle is one of America's leading choral conductors. Called "the brightest star in New York's choral music world" by The New York Times, he is Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City; Music Director of the Oratorio Society of New York, the Grammy-nominated volunteer chorus; and Music Director of Musica Sacra, New York's elite professional chorus.

Kent is a member of the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School. Also an acclaimed organ virtuoso, Kent Tritle is the organist of the New York Philharmonic.

Highlights of the 2022-23 season include two world premieres: A Nation of Others, a new oratorio for six soloists, chorus and orchestra by Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell about immigrants' arrival at Ellis Island in 1921, with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall, and a setting of the Stabat Mater for organ, soloists, chorus, and orchestra by David Briggs at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Kent also leads Robert Paterson's Whitman's America (2016) and Bach's Mass in B Minor with the Oratorio Society; music from 14th-century England and France and a program featuring music of women composers spanning more than five centuries with Musica Sacra; and "Venice: City of Light," a collaboration with Rose of the Compass, holiday programs, and two organ recitals at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Kent also leads his annual performances of Handel's Messiah, with Musica Sacra and the Oratorio Society of New York, at Carnegie Hall.

Among Kent's recent notable performances: at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Verdi's Requiem, Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand," and Britten's War Requiem performed by the Oratorio Society of New York and the Symphony and Symphonic Chorus of the Manhattan School of Music; and with the Cathedral Choir, the New York premiere performance by the Cathedral Choir of Einojuhani Rautaavara's Vigilia (called by Opera News "a choral concert for the ages"). With Musica Sacra, world premieres of music by Juraj Filas, Michael Gilbertson, and Robert Paterson and an acclaimed performance of Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil. And with the Oratorio Society of New York, the world premieres of the Paul Moravec/Mark Campbell oratorio Sanctuary Road (the recording of which received a Grammy nomination) and Juraj Filas's Song of Solomon, and Mozart's arrangement of Handel's Messiah.

Kent has created high-profile collaborations for his groups with other major players in the New York music scene, directing the Manhattan School of Music Symphonic Chorus for performances of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the New York Philharmonic led by Alan Gilbert; Musica Sacra for the New York Philharmonic's live score performances of 2001: A Space Odyssey, also led by Gilbert, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind; and the Oratorio Society of New York for Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the Orchestra of St. Luke's led by Sir Roger Norrington, and Carnegie Hall's 125th Anniversary Gala. He also led the "Mass Appeal Mass" of the "Make Music New York" festival for three years, including the 2012 premiere of a work by Philip Glass in Times Square.

Kent Tritle is renowned as a master clinician, giving workshops on conducting and repertoire; he leads annual choral workshops at the Amherst Early Music Festival, and recent years have included workshops at Berkshire Choral International, Summer@Eastman and at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. As Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music from 2008 to 2022, Kent established the school's first doctoral program in choral conducting. A Juilliard School faculty member since 1996, he currently directs a graduate practicum on oratorio in collaboration with the school's Vocal Arts Department.

In more than 150 concerts presented by the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space series from 1989 to 2011, Kent Tritle conducted the Choir and Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola in a broad repertoire of sacred works, from Renaissance masses and oratorio masterworks to premieres by notable living composers, earning praise for building the choir and the concert series into one of the highlights of the New York concert scene. From 1996 to 2004, Tritle was Music Director of the Emmy-nominated Dessoff Choirs. Kent hosted "The Choral Mix with Kent Tritle," a weekly program devoted to the vibrant world of choral music, on New York's WQXR from 2010 to 2014.

As an organ recitalist, Kent Tritle performs regularly in Europe and across the United States; recital venues have included the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Zurich Tonhalle, the Church of St. Sulpice in Paris, Dresden's Hofkirche, King's College at Cambridge, Westminster Abbey, and St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. With the Philharmonic he has performed Saint-Saëns's Organ Symphony conducted by Lorin Maazel, Andrew Davis, Antonio Pappano, and David Robertson, and recorded Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem, Britten's War Requiem and Henze's Symphony No. 9, all conducted by Kurt Masur, as well as the Grammy-nominated Sweeney Todd conducted by Andrew Litton. He is featured on the DVDs The Organistas and Creating the Stradivarius of Organs.

Kent Tritle's discography features more than 20 recordings on the Telarc, Naxos, AMDG, Epiphany, Gothic, VAI and MSR Classics labels. Recent releases, including the Grammy-nominated 2018 world premiere performance of the Paul Moravec/Mark Campbell oratorio Sanctuary Road with the Oratorio Society of New York; the 2016 performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 8, David Briggs's organ-choral version, and Eternal Reflections: Choral Music of Robert Paterson with Musica Sacra, have been praised by NPR Music, Gramophone, and The American Organist.

Kent is the 2020 recipient of Chorus America's Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art. Other recent honors include the 2017 Distinguished Achievement Award from Career Bridges and the 2016 President's Medal for Distinguished Service from the Manhattan School of Music. Kent is on the advisory boards of the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective (C4) and the Clarion Music Society, and was the 2016 honoree at Clarion's annual gala.

Kent Tritle holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from The Juilliard School in organ performance and choral conducting. He has been featured on ABC World News Tonight, National Public Radio, and Minnesota Public Radio, as well as in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He was featured in Episode 6 of the first season of the WIRED video series "Masterminds," an installment titled, "What Conductors Are Really Doing."