Riverside Choral Society to Present A Celebration Of Love And Joy At Carnegie Hall in April

The New York City-based Riverside Choral Society, led by director Patrick Gardner, will present A Celebration of Love and Joy on Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. Joined by the Rutgers University Kirkpatrick Choir, Rutgers University Glee Club, and Riverside Choral Society Orchestra, the program features a classic mass by Beethoven, a contemporary mass by André J. Thomas, and a major work of Johannes Brahms.

In Brahms's Alto Rhapsody, taken from Goethe's Harzreise im Winter (Journey of the Heart in Winter), the chorus answers the soloist's melancholic plaint, prayerfully invoking the heavens to "open his clouded gaze" and to refresh his heart.

Beethoven's Mass in C Major, Op. 86 was commissioned by Prince Nikolaus Esterházy for the name day of the prince's wife in September 1807. The mass is paired with the more contemporary Mass: A Celebration of Love and Joy by André J. Thomas, which - in its New York premiere - combines gospel, jazz, and the compositional language of the 20th and 21st century art music in five fully orchestrated movements.

Featured guest artists include sopranos Jennifer Check and Joel Dyson, mezzo-soprano Margaret Lattimore, tenors Jason Dungee and Lawrence Jones, and baritone Andrew Nolen.

"I am excited that once again Riverside Choral Society and Rutgers University Kirkpatrick Choir and RU Glee Club are collaborating to present significant works in the choral canon," said Director Patrick Gardner. "Putting these two groups together creates a chorus very different from anything that usually appears in New York City, and combines the commitment and artistry of the society with the skills and energy of young professional artists. This will also be my last year as director of choral activities at Rutgers University, so I'm pleased this will be one of my final large concerts with Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts before I retire from the position."

He adds, "We're so lucky to have our orchestra, consisting of the finest level of instrumentalists in New York City and principal players who are principals at other top tier orchestras - in addition to the incomparable soloists joining us for a program of traditional and contemporary styles that bring artists and audiences together in celebrating significant voices of composers throughout society."

Performance Details:
A Celebration of Love and Joy
Riverside Choral Society
Rutgers University Kirkpatrick Choir and Rutgers University Glee Club
Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall | 881 7th Ave | New York, NY 10019
Tickets: $15-$75
Ticket Link: https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2023/04/04/riverside-choral-society-rutgers-university-kirkpatrick-choir-and-glee-club-0800pm

Program:
Brahms - Alto Rhapsody
Beethoven - Mass in C Major, Op. 86
André J. Thomas - Mass: A Celebration of Love and Joy [New York Premiere]

Artists:
Riverside Choral Society
Rutgers University Kirkpatrick Choir and Rutgers University Glee Club
Patrick Gardner, Director
Jennifer Check, Soprano
Joel Dyson, Soprano
Margaret Lattimore, Mezzo-Soprano
Jason Dungee, Tenor
Lawrence Jones, Tenor
Andrew Nolen, Baritone
Riverside Choral Society Orchestra

About Riverside Choral Society

The Riverside Choral Society has made a specialty of presenting finely tuned performances of great classical works with full orchestra and highly esteemed soloists. Under the baton of acclaimed director Patrick Gardner, who is also the director of choral activities at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, RCS has performed major works by Beethoven, Bruckner, Brahms, Mozart, Schubert, Haydn, Britten, Pärt, Fauré, Harrison, Orff, Stravinsky, Berlioz, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Verdi, and many others at major concert halls throughout the city. RCS has been a featured performer with the Mostly Mozart Festival since 1998, with the Kirov Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall, and at the Wall-to-Wall concerts at Symphony Space, among others. Through Patrick Gardner's inspiring leadership, rehearsals with this congenial and welcoming group are not only an opportunity to obtain an intimate and historical knowledge of each piece, but to perfect the craft of singing and choral artistry.

About Patrick Gardner

Patrick Gardner's performances have been acclaimed by New York audiences, critics, and an international roster of composers whose orchestral and choral works he has conducted. Active in premiering new music, he has won the praise of such notable composers as William Bolcom, John Harbison, Lou Harrison, and Lukas Foss. Mr. Gardner curated and conducted a performance of major works by Lou Harrison at Trinity Wall Street NYC, which was named in The New York Times list of "Best Classical Performances of 2017".

Now in his 33rd season as director of the Riverside Choral Society (RCS), Mr. Gardner is also director of choral activities at Rutgers University, where he conducts the Rutgers University Kirkpatrick Choir and the Rutgers University Glee Club. In the spring of 2006, RCS and the Rutgers University Kirkpatrick Choir appeared at Lincoln Center with the Kirov Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic in performances of Shostakovich's Second and Third Symphonies. In October 2006, Mr. Gardner prepared the men of his combined choirs for performances at Lincoln Center, with the Kirov, of Shostakovich's Thirteenth Symphony, Babi Yar. In September 2006, Mr. Gardner and the men's choirs, accompanied by Mischa and Cipa Dichter, at Safra Hall at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, presented the world premiere of the two piano version of the first movement of Babi Yar. In 2005, he prepared RCS for presentations of Mahler's Second Symphony at Carnegie Hall and the NJPAC. The New York Times noted RCS's "sublime reading of the choral finale." Mr. Gardner's critically acclaimed preparation of the choral work in Handel's L'Allegro, performed at Lincoln Center in the summer of 2005, led to his engagement to prepare Virgil Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas as part of the Mark Morris Dance Group's 25th anniversary season at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Recently Mr. Gardner presented concerts in Taichung, Taiwan, and in 2007 Mr. Gardner presented master-classes for professional conductors in the Netherlands for NOVK, Nederlandse Organisatie Voor Koordirigenten.

Mr. Gardner has prepared the Riverside Choral Society for the Mostly Mozart Festival in performances of Mozart's Requiem and C minor Mass, Haydn's Creation, and numerous other major works. In the past decade, RCS appeared with both the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and London's Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. In the past several years Mr. Gardner has conducted RCS in its own Lincoln Center performances of the Beethoven Missa Solemnis, the Brahms Requiem, Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, Mozart's C minor Mass, and Lou Harrison's La Koro Sutro. In November 2005, Mr. Gardner conducted Haydn's Creation at Rutgers University, and the previous October he conducted Handel's Opus 4 Organ Concertos and Coronation Anthem no. 3 with Musica Raritana, a period instrument orchestra of professional instrumentalists and graduate students at Rutgers University. In recent orchestral performances at Rutgers and with the Riverside Choral Society Orchestra Mr. Gardner has conducted the Brahms Second Symphony, the Schubert Fifth Symphony, Haydn's Symphony no. 88, Shostakovich and Mozart piano concerti, the Ibert Flute Concerto, Arvo Pårt's Canticum in Memoriam Benjamin Britten and Jennifer Higdon's Blue Cathedral.

Mr. Gardner prepared the Rutgers University Glee Club for a performance of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder with the Philadelphia Singers and The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. He was the chorus master for the internationally acclaimed Robert Altman production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress at the Opéra de Lille in France.

Mr. Gardner has recorded for Naxos, Albany, Ethereal, and Folkways records.

Photo credit: Jody Somers / Rutgers University