The Western Wind Vocal Sextet to Present OF DREAMS, DESIRES, & DRAGONS: MUSIC BY WOMEN FROM HILDEGARDE TO JONI MITCHELL

The Grammy-nominated Western Wind Vocal Sextet will present "Of Dreams, Desires & Dragons: Music by Women from Hildegarde to Joni Mitchell"on Saturday, March 19 at 7:00 PM at St. John's in the Village, 218 West 11th Street, NYC (West Village). The concert celebrates Women's History Month with a rich assortment of music by classical and modern women composers. Both live in-person and live streaming tickets are available.

The program features a new commissioned work, "Certain Dragons" by Martha Sullivan; a Medieval chant by Hildegarde von Bingen; Renaissance and Baroque works by Casulana, Cazzolani, Strozzi, and Aleotti; part-songs by Fanny Hensel, Rebecca Clarke and Amy Beach; contemporary works by Tania León and Liz Hanna, and songs by Joni Mitchell.

The Western Wind singers are sopranos Linda Lee Jones and Elizabeth van Os, countertenor Eric S. Brenner, tenors Todd Frizzell and David Vanderwal, and bass Steven Hrycelak. They will be joined by guest artist Richard Kolb on lute/theorbo.

All tickets can be purchased online at http://www.westernwind.org/concerts.html. Tickets are $35 general admission, $50 (Friend), and $20 student/senior tickets. Patron and sponsor tickets are $100 ($50 tax deductible), $250 ($200 tax deductible) and $500 ($450 tax deductible). Live streaming tickets are $15 - $500 and available for purchase at https://www.musae.me/westernwind/experiences/1265/the-western. For more concert information, please call 212-873-2848 or e-mail info@westernwind.org.

Western Wind begins its 53rd year in 2022. Since 1969, this Grammy nominated vocal sextet has devoted itself to the special beauty and variety of a cappella music. The New York Times has called them "A kaleidoscopic tapestry of vocal hues." The ensemble's repertoire reveals its diverse background, from Renaissance motets to Fifties rock'n'roll, medieval carols to Duke Ellington, complex works by avant-garde composers to the simplest folk melodies. Visit them at http://www.westernwind.org.

WESTERN WIND: SIGNATURE PERFORMANCES AND RECORDINGS

In the United States, Western Wind has appeared in many distinguished venues, including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, ArtPark, Ordway Theater, the Metropolitan Museum, the Frick Museum, the Jewish Museum, Folger Shakespeare Library, Library of Congress, and Cleveland Museum of Art.

In Europe, the sextet has appeared at the Geneva Opera, performing works it commissioned: "Batéy" by Tania León and Michel Camilo and "De Orishas" by Tania León. The Western Wind has also recorded early and contemporary American vocal music for the German National Radio at Cologne and made several triumphant tours of northern Italy, performing Italian Renaissance as well as American music. The group has appeared with the RAI Orchestra and Chorus of Rome at the Rome Opera and at Venice's legendary opera house, Teatro La Fenice.

In 1985, The Western Wind premiered Cesar Franck's opera, "Stradella," for La Fenice in an outdoor Venetian setting. At the request of the State Department (USIA), The Western Wind has also performed American and Latin American music throughout East Asia. In March 2012 The Western Wind was invited to inaugurate the first Australian Jewish Choral Festival, performed widely in the Sydney area and created a special program for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

In 2007, The Western Wind won the ASCAP-Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music. In addition to their many live performances, The Western Wind appears frequently on radio, television, film and CD. A series of public radio holiday specials by The Western Wind has been broadcast nationwide since 1989 and the group has been televised on The Today Show (NBC). On film, the ensemble sings music by Philip Glass in the movies "Koyaanisqatsi" (Nonesuch Records) and "Candyman."

The Western Wind presents workshops in ensemble singing at Smith College and other venues in Washington, DC and Vermont. The ensemble is in residence at several New York City public high schools, providing intensive instruction in ensemble and solo repertoire as well as interdisciplinary lecture demonstrations. (www.westernwind.org)

SINGERS OF THE WESTERN WIND VOCAL SEXTET

Elijah Blaisdell (baritone) performs with ensembles across the country as both a soloist and a chorister. An early and new music specialist, his most recent credits include performing as an Adams Fellow with The Carmel Bach Festival, featured soloist with Grammy-Award winning ensemble The Crossing, "St. Matthew Passion" with Bach Society of St. Louis, "Coffee Cantata" and "Dido and Aeneas" with Madison Bach Musicians. He is a chorister with The Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Grammy-nominated ensemble True Concord, Grammy-winning ensemble Seraphic Fire, and Boston Lyric Opera. Blaisdell holds a Master of Music in vocal performance from New England Conservatory and resides in New York City.

Eric S. Brenner (countertenor) has been hailed for his "penetrating eloquence" (NY Times), "astonishing musicality" (NY Classical Review) and "Mr. Roboto majesty" (Stage Mage). You may recognize him as the angry monk just to Madonna's right in footage from the 2018 Met Gala. Brenner is countertenor soloist in recent performances and recording of Hannah Lash's "Requiem" (Naxos) and Du Yun's Pulitzer Prize winning "Angel's Bone" (VIA Records). Other engagements include: alto soloist in Vivaldi's "Introduction & Gloria" at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue; soprano and alto soloist in Handel's "Messiah" at Avery Fisher (Geffen) and Alice Tully Hall; Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms" at St. Thomas Church, St. John the Divine, and St. Ignatius Loyola; soprano in collaborative concerts with Les Canards Chantant and the Folger Consort at the National Cathedral; Doodle in "Scarlet Ibis" by Stefan Weisman and David Cote; and Poet in Virko Baley's "Holodomor" in Ukraine. Brenner is also co-composer with Matt Shloss of music for Rob Reese's Yahweh's Follies. He writes fiction and persists in being an incorrigible Mets fan. (www.ericsbrenner.com)

Todd Frizzell (tenor) is a native of Denver Colorado. He has spent the last 25 years performing in San Francisco, Hawaii, and New York City. He has been featured on ABC-TV's Nightline, singing music from a Mass written in the first millennium which he also performed in Limoges, France in May 2001. He has performed internationally with New York's Ensemble for Early Music. He serenaded Dame Judi Dench in June 2000 at Broadway's Ethyl Barrymore Theater. He was the tenor soloist in Handel's "Israel in Egypt" at Avery Fisher Hall with the National Chorale and soloist at Alice Tully Hall with the National Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with the Choir of St. Luke in the Fields, The New York Virtuoso Singers, Musica Antica at St. Bart's and the New York Concert Singers and has appeared at the Bard College Festival.

Linda Lee Jones (soprano), a New Orleans native, is active as a soprano, teacher and massage therapist in New York City and Central New Jersey. She has performed with prominent choral groups including Musica Sacra, the New York Choral Artists, St. Ignatius Loyola Church and the Mostly Mozart Festival as well as with some of the world's finest orchestras and conductors. Ms. Jones is a member of the professional Chorale of the Carmel Bach Festival in Carmel, CA and sings regularly with the choir of Trinity Wall Street. As a soloist, she has appeared with the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans, the Louisiana Vocal Arts Chorale, the Masterwork Chorus of NJ and the Argento Chamber Ensemble in New York. Before relocating to New Jersey, she served as Director of Music for Munholland United Methodist Church in New Orleans, where she worked with choristers of all ages. Ms. Jones hold a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance from Loyola University.

Elizabeth van Os (soprano) is one of New York City's most dynamic performers, making waves not only as soloist and ensemble member but also as a co-founder of the non-profit Pleiades Project. Opera-zine parterre noted her "striking impression" and Voce di Meche praised her "lovely, affecting" voice and "justifiable passion." Born Elizabeth Smith, she holds performance degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Brigham Young University in Idaho. (www.elizabethvanos.com)

David Vanderwal (tenor) is a native of Portland, Oregon. He has performed as a soloist with The American Bach Soloists, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, New York Collegium and Tafelmusik. Recently Mr. Vanderwal performed in Handel's "Messiah" with the St. Paul's Cathedral Choirs of Buffalo, NY, Pax Christi of Toronto, ON, Danbury (CT) Symphony Orchestra, The Mendelssohn Choir (CT) and First Congregational Church of Greenwich, CT. He performed Bach's "Easter Oratorio" and a new concert, "Mass of John Tavener," with the Choir of St. Thomas Church in New York. Mr. Vanderwal appeared at the Carmel Bach Festival in California and taught at the International Bachakademie's Stuttgart Festival in Überlingen, Germany. He also presents a set of song recitals throughout the year.