The Dessoff Choirs Presents Annual MESSIAH SING And WELCOME YULE

The Dessoff Choirs – led by Music Director Malcolm J. Merriweather – offers its beloved annual holiday, Messiah Sing, on Friday, December 6, 2024 at 8:00 pm at James Chapel, Union Theological Seminary. This yearly tradition provides audience members the opportunity to join the choir for Handel's vibrant choruses if they wish, with Dessoff members performing the arias.

"The Dessoff Choirs continues its dedication to illuminating underrepresented voices by presenting works from Black composers active during the time of its founder, Margarete Dessoff,” shares Malcolm J. Merriweather. “This program includes music by Nathaniel Dett and Florence Price, composers whose groundbreaking work in the early 20th century expanded the choral landscape with unique contributions rooted in African American spirituals and classical traditions. Also featured is the New York premiere of Margaret Bonds' powerful spiritual “Sing Aho,” edited by Stephen Spinelli, and music by Vicente Lusitano, recognized as the first Black composer to publish his works in the Renaissance, whose rich polyphonic style offers a glimpse into an overlooked chapter of choral history.”

The following evenings, the Dessoff Choirs presents two renditions of Welcome Yule: Willkommen, süßer Bräutigam on Saturday, December 7, 2024 at 4:00 pm at James Chapel, Union Theological Seminary, and Sunday, December 8, 2024 at 4:00 pm at St. Philips Episcopal Church in Brooklyn. Dessoff continues to honor its past during its 100th anniversary season by including three works on the Welcome Yule program first performed under founder Margarete Dessoff's baton in 1929: Vincent Lübeck's Weniachts-Kantate, Willkommen, süßer Bräutigam, Edward Nunn's Un flambeau, Jeanette, Isabelle, and F. A. Gevaert's Chanson joyeuse de Noël.

Dessoff returns in 2025 with works from its history alongside a cantata by Florence Price on Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 7:30 pm at James Chapel, Union Theological Seminary. The first half of the performance celebrates Margarete Dessoff and her directorship of women's choirs. Dessoff programmed Schubert's Psalm 23 and Brahms' Vier Gesänge für Frauenchor for her choirs in Germany before introducing the music to her choirs in New York in the 1920s; the Dessoff Choirs brings these works back to audiences on this concert, which also includes a set of variations for women's choir and harp written for Dessoff by Hugo Hermann (premiered on December 19, 1933, in New York). Continuing its mission of unveiling choral orchestra works of Black women composers, Dessoff will additionally perform a new edition of Florence Price's Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight for harp, strings, and organ on the second half of the program. Music Director Malcolm J. Merriweather both conducts and sings on this concert, and Steven Ryan joins on piano.

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Program Information

Messiah Sing
Friday, December 6, 2024 at 8:00 pm
James Chapel, Union Theological Seminary | 3041 Broadway | New York, NY
Tickets: $15-$100
Link: www.dessoff.org/events/messiah-sing-2024 

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL: Messiah

The Dessoff Choirs
Malcolm J. Merriweather, conductor
_________________________________

Welcome Yule: Willkommen, süßer Bräutigam
Saturday, December 7, 2025 at 4:00 pm
James Chapel, Union Theological Seminary | 3041 Broadway | New York, NY
Tickets: $20-$100
Link: www.dessoff.org/events/willkommen-manhattan 

Sunday, December 8, 2025 at 4:00 pm
St. Philip's | 334 MacDonough Street | Brooklyn, NY
Tickets: $20-$100
Link: www.dessoff.org/events/willkommen-brooklyn 

John Francis WADE (arr. David Willcocks): Carol: O come all ye faithful
VINCENT LÜBECK: Weihnachts-Kantate, Willkommen, süßer Bräutigam*
Felix Mendelssohn (arr. Daniel Fortune): Carol: Hark the herald angels sing
DALE ADELMANN: Lo, how a rose er blooming
ANTON BRUCKNER: Virga Jesse
HERBERT HOWELLS: O my deir hert
Florence Price: Weathers
Florence Price: Wander-Thirst
NATHANIEL DETTt: Let us cheer the weary traveler
EDWARD NUNN: Un flambeau, Jeanette, Isabelle**
F. A. GEVAERT: Chanson joyeuse de Noël**
ELIZABETH POSTON: Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
Margaret Bonds: Sing Aho
FRANZ XAVER GRUBER: Carol: Silent night
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL: Hallelujah from Messiah

The Dessoff Choirs
Malcolm J. Merriweather, conductor and baritone
Steven Ryan, piano

*First performed by the Adesdi Chorus and the **A Capella Singers (together they are The Dessoff Choirs) on Sunday, December 22, 1929 at The Town Hall

About The Dessoff Choirs

The Dessoff Choirs, one of the leading choruses in New York City, is an independent chorus with an established reputation for pioneering performances of choral works from the Renaissance era through the 21st century. Founded in 1924 by Margarete Dessoff, the chorus is celebrating its centennial during the 2024-25 season with programs that reflect music from its rich history and move us forward into the next 100 years with new collaborations and commissions.

The ‘s' in Choirs connotes the group's various incarnations – from Dessoff's core group of 50 singers, to the Symphonic Choir assembled for larger engagements and Chamber Choir selected to present more intimate works. Since its founding in 1924, Dessoff's mission is to enrich the lives of its audiences and members by giving voice to new or rarely heard, forgotten music and composers; and to bring great choral works to New York audiences in new ways. Dessoff concerts, professional collaborations, community outreach, and educational initiatives are dedicated to stimulating public interest in and appreciation of choral music as an art form that enhances the culture and life of these times.

With repertoire ranging over a wide variety of eras and styles, Dessoff's musical acumen and flexibility has been recognized with invitations from major orchestras for oratorios and orchestral works. Past performances include Britten's War Requiem and Mahler's Symphony No.8 with Lorin Maazel in his final performances as Music Director with the New York Philharmonic. Over the course of its near-100-year history, Dessoff has presented many world premieres, including works by Virgil Thomson, George Perle, Paul Moravec, and Ricky Ian Gordon; the first American performance in nearly 100 years of Montemezzi's opera La Nave with Teatro Grattacielo; and the American premieres of Philip Glass's Symphony No.5 and John Tavener's all-night vigil, The Veil of the Temple.

Dessoff's world-premiere recording of Margaret Bonds's Credo and Simon Bore the Cross was released in February 2023 and received rave reviews. WRTI wrote that “Margaret Bonds: Credo, Simon Bore the Cross brings new luster, and the utmost care of execution. Under the baton of Malcolm J. Merriweather, The Dessoff Choirs has a profound simpatico with Bonds' mature compositional style...” We are also featured on a new album from Roomful of Teeth, Rough Magic, in a recently commissioned Eve Beglarian work, None More Than You.

Other recent discography includes Margaret Bonds: The Ballad of the Brown King & Selected Songs, a debut recording of Margaret Bonds's crowning achievement, which was cited as a “Best Classical Recording of 2019” by WQXR-FM Radio; Reflections, featuring music by Convery, Corigliano, Moravec, and Rorem; and Glories on Glories, a collection of American song featuring composers from Billings to Ives.

The Dessoff Choirs is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Learn more at www.dessoff.org.

About Malcolm J. Merriweather

Grammy-nominated conductor, Malcolm J. Merriweather, is the Director of the New York Philharmonic Chorus and Music Director of New York City's, The Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra. He is a Professor of Music and the Tania León Chair of Music at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.

He is a sought-after interpreter of symphonic choral works most recently conducting grand performances of Bach's St. John Passion, Mendelssohn's Elijah, and Handel's Messiah. In addition to core symphonic works, he is known for the world premiere recordings of The Ballad of the Brown King, Credo, and Simon Bore the Cross by Margaret Bonds (AVIE Records) with The Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra. A frequent guest conductor, he has conducted the Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Novus Orchestra and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Merriweather opens his season conducting works of Mary Lou Williams at Disney Concert Hall for Solange Knowles series, Glory to Glory (A Revival For Spiritual and Devotional Art). At the historic Town Hall he conducts Brahms's Requiem for the centennial celebration of the Dessoff Choirs with soloists Will Liverman, baritone, and Joélle Harvey, soprano. He leads the Buffalo Philharmonic in performances of Paul Moravec's Sanctuary Road and Margaret Bonds's Montgomery Variations. His season concludes with performances of Verdi's Requiem at Trinity Church, Wall Street.

Highlights from his 2023-2024 included a return to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to conduct choir and orchestra in the world premiere of Handel: Made in America with Terrance McKnight and soloists, Latonia Moore, J'Nai Bridges, Noah Stewart, and Davóne Tines. With the Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra, he conducted Mendelssohn's Elijah, and two contemporary oratorios about the lives of Sojourner Truth (Valerie Capers) and Anne Frank (James Whitbourn). Continuing in his role as Director of the New York Philharmonic Chorus, he prepared the professional choir for the reprise of Émigré, An Oratorio, and Mahler 2 with the New York Philharmonic. In China with the New York Philharmonic Choir, he prepared the ensemble for the world premiere of Émigré with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

Maestro Merriweather's 2022-2023 began leading the Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Novus Orchestra in three performances (staged) of Considering Matthew Shepard. His new appointment as Director of the New York Philharmonic Chorus launched by preparing the professional choir for three programs throughout the season for Maestro Jaap van Zweden including Beethoven's Ninth Symphony for the reopening of David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center. With the Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra, he conducted Duruflé's Requiem, Bach's St. John Passion, and motets by Vicente Lusitano, the first Black composer to have music published. This season included the long-awaited release of the premiere recording of Margaret Bonds's Credo and Simon Bore the Cross with the AVIE label.

He has served on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and was the founding Artistic Director of “Voices of Haiti,” a 60-member children's choir in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, operated by the Andrea Bocelli Foundation.

Dr. Merriweather has earned degrees from Eastman, Manhattan School of Music, and Syracuse University and was a fellow at Tanglewood. Connect with him on Twitter and Instagram @maestroweather and at malcolmjmerrweather.com