St. Bartholomew's Choir to Premiere Evan Solot's The Hawk 11/20

The Hawk, a new work for choir and orchestra by American composer Evan Solot, will be premiered by St. Bartholomew's Choir with orchestra on Sunday, November 20 at the 11 am service at St. Bartholomew's Church.The work is a setting of a poem by the Pulitzer Prize winning poet Franz Wright, from his 2006 collection God's Silence. The Hawk was commissioned to honor St. Bart's parishioner Dr. James F. Marion, a physician at Mt. Sinai Hospital, by a grateful patient of his. Dr. Marion chose the text, a deeply moving poem, which speaks of spiritual liberation and the human capacity to show God's love.

The work appropriately will be given a second performance in the soaring west lobby of the Guggenheim Pavilion at Mt. Sinai Hospital at 3 pm, also on Sunday, November 20. William K. Trafka will conduct both performances. Both events are free and open to the public.

Composer Evan Solot's work has earned accolades and support from such diverse sources as the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the American Composers Forum, Meet The Composer, and Duke Ellington. His compositions and arrangements have been performed by some of the country's leading jazz and pop performers, including Randy & Michael Brecker, Stanley Clarke, Mel Torme, Ben Vereen and Bette Midler.

Solot's commissions for the states of Alaska, Mississippi, Illinois and Minnesota are all based upon working with communities - finding musical ways to win the hearts and souls of diverse audiences. Working as a collaborative partner to touch people emotionally has become the most important part of his creative energy.

Regarding the process of composing The Hawk, Solot writes, "Composing The Hawk has been an inspirational journey for me. My process has been to live with each phrase, become intimate with every nuance, and move deeply into the world of the poem itself. It became a meditative and spiritual voyage."

St. Bartholomew's Church is located at the corner of Park Avenue and 51st Street.
Subway: 6 to 51st Street and Lexington or E Train to 53rd and Lexington.

Mt. Sinai Hospital is located on Fifth Avenue between 98th Street and 102nd Street.
Subway: 6 to East 103rd St.

For more information, call (212) 378-0222 or visit www.stbarts.org/the-hawk.