The Cecilia Chorus of New York Presents SKYE, BARTOK, VON MARTINES, AND MOZART, April 28 In Stern Auditorium

In a harmonic convergence that crosses cultural frontiers and breaks a centuries-old glass ceiling, The Cecilia Chorus of New York presents Skye, Bartók, von Martines, and Mozart, April 28 at 8:00 PM in Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall on 57th Street in Manhattan. The performance will be with chorus, soloists, children's choir, and orchestra. All three soloists will make their Carnegie Hall debut, including 2023 Houston Grand Opera winner Natalie Lewis.

In his new cantata Neither Separated, Nor Undone, Skye interweaves meters, rhythms, harmonies, and textures from Balkan, Hindustani, Persian, West African, and Western European musical practices and, setting his own poetry, surveys our troubled world and finds a humane and optimistic response. The program also includes the first-ever Carnegie Hall performance of Dixit Dominus, a choral-orchestral work by Mozart's Viennese contemporary Marianna von Martines, alongside the 18-year-old Mozart's treatment of the same text. Rounding out the program: Three Village Scenes, a triptych by Bartók whom Skye has named as a source of inspiration.

Mark Shapiro writes, "[Derrick] Skye's artistic practice is a music-making without borders. His approach is, in my experience, unique: exceptional in its sincerity and authenticity. It is not so much that Skye is aware of borders (though he is) and making a willed choice to cross or dismantle them. It is rather that, as a by-product of his innate magnanimity of spirit, talent, and all-embracing ear, other people's "borders" do not have any psychic reality for him. Since they have no existence, there is nothing to cross or dismantle. He simply loves the world, all of it; it sings and dances to him from every corner."

He continues, "For the past decade, The Cecilia Chorus of New York has been proudly in the vanguard of musical organizations showcasing the talents of composers outside the mainstream (or about to enter it). We're pleased to continue on that course with this program."

Read Shapiro's complete notes about Derrick Skye at https://ceciliachorusny.org/skye-conductors-notes and about Marianna von Martines and the program at https://ceciliachorusny.org/april-2023.

Featured soloists will be soprano Meredith Wolhlgemuth (https://www.merwohlgemuth.com/), mezzo-soprano Natalie Lewis (https://www.allsaintsallwelcome.org/natalie-lewis), and tenor Richard Pittsinger (https://www.richardpittsinger.com/).

With Every Voice Children's Choir https://everyvoicechoirs.org.

Tickets start at $25 and are available at https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2023/04/28/The-Cecilia-Chorus-of-New-York-with-Orchestra-0800PM. For more information about this concert, visit

https://ceciliachorusny.org/april-2023 or call 646-638-2535. CCNY Carnegie Hall concerts are ADA accessible. For MTA transportation information, visit http://tripplanner.mta.info/MyTrip/ui_web/customplanner/TripPlanner.aspx.

Please visit https://www.carnegiehall.org/Safety-Checklist to review Carnegie Hall's current Covid policies.

Founded in 1906, The Cecilia Chorus of New York, winner of the ASCAP/Chorus America Alice Parker Award, has evolved into one of the finest avocational performing arts organizations in New York City. The 150-voice chorus has been described as "reliably venturesome" (The New Yorker, 2017) and "admirable," (New York Times, 2017). Recent highlights have included commissions from The Brothers Balliett, Jonathan Breit, Tom Cipullo, and Raphael Fusco; collaborations with five-time Obie Award-winning actor Kathleen Chalfant, two-time Tony Award-winning actor Stephen Spinella, and opera singers Julia Bullock and Ryan Speedo Green; the New York premieres in Carnegie Hall of the Mass in D and The Prison by Dame Ethel Smyth; the world premiere of Fifty Trillion Molecular Geniuses by The Brothers Balliett; the US premiere of Messe Romane by Thierry Escaich; and the 2021 Carnegie Hall premiere of Margaret Bonds's The Ballad of the Brown King. Much more at http://ceciliachorusny.org/.

Mark Shapiro was appointed the seventh Music Director of The Cecilia Chorus of New York in 2011. Music Director of The Prince Edward Island Symphony and Artistic Director of Cantori New York, he is one of a handful of artistic leaders in North America to have won a prestigious ASCAP Programming Award six times, achieving the unique distinction of winning such an award with three different ensembles. The New York Times has characterized his conducting as "insightful" and acknowledged its "virtuosity and assurance" and "uncommon polish." The Star-Ledger calls his artistic leadership "erudite and far-reaching." Bio at http://www.ceciliachorusny.org/music-director-mark-shapiro/.