Trinity Church Announces 2025 Spring Season

Trinity's spring lineup—featuring world-renowned artists and emerging voices—embodies the church's focus on peacemaking  and celebrates the transformative power of art to inspire change and healing.

From uplifting spirituals of the African diaspora to compositions forged in resistance, every performance invites audiences to engage deeply with music's ability to foster compassion and connect us to a greater purpose.

Trinity's 2025 spring season of free and accessible concerts will open on February 2 with soprano Sonya Headlam in a program exploring the African diaspora on the Congregation Arts Allegro series Sunday Afternoon Music. Later this season, the Allegro series will feature emerging vocal artists from the Borough of Manhattan Community College and the Dorill Initiative on April 27. On February 13, Trinity Choir led by Director of Music Melissa Attebury presents a stirring program of works born of oppression and resistance that were created in the crucible of World War II. From calls to action to intimate expressions of love and faith, the program culminates in its title work, Figure humaine, Francis Poulenc's choral masterpiece and hymn to freedom, a work that resonates as a universal cry for justice and hope. “These works renew hope, offer comfort, and present us with deep questions—reminding us of the essential role of music in our lives and the life of our city,” says Attebury.

On February 16, Trinity will host Grammy Award–winning saxophonist Gary Bartz (who was just named 2024 Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts) as a part of its Jazz Icons series. Trinity will also continue its Jazz at One series in May with performances by Camille Thurman, Godwin Louis, Andromeda Turre, Jeremy Pelt, and the Dave Stryker Quartet.

On March 6, Downtown Voices will join forces with chamber choir Amor Artis for Musical Multitudes, a program showcasing the extraordinary range of choral expression and celebrating the power and majesty of the human voice. On March 20, Trinity will present Lenten Meditations: Remorse to Redemption, featuring works written specifically for Lent and Holy Week, sung by the countertenors, tenors, and basses of the Trinity Choir and conducted by Thomas McCargar for his first full-length concert at Trinity. On March 30, Melissa Attebury will lead the Trinity Youth Chorus and Trinity Baroque Orchestra to perform Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden, J. S. Bach's arrangement of Pergolesi's famous Stabat Mater.

On May 1 and May 2, Trinity will present two performances of Verdi's Requiem in collaboration with The Dessoff Choirs, who are celebrating their 100th anniversary this season and will be joined by Downtown Voices, Trinity Choir, NOVUS, and powerhouse soloists Angela Meade, J'Nai Bridges, Won Whi Choi, and Kevin Short. The performance will also include the world premiere of a new choral work by Tania León, commissioned by Dessoff for the centennial.

Trinity's Pipes at One series will resume on May 6 with international virtuoso organist, pianist, and composer Angela Kraft Cross, continuing on May 13 with organist Mina Marie Jelinek and May 20 with organist Sarah Simko. Alex Leonardi, a current organ scholar at Trinity Church, will perform on May 27, and prize-winning organist Emily Amos will perform on June 3.

Trinity's beloved Bach at One series will continue in a string of performances from May 7 through June 4, where Trinity Choir and Trinity Baroque Orchestra will perform several works by J. S. Bach under the direction of organist Avi Stein. Some of these same works will be performed again in The Chapel of All Saints (a more intimate setting whose organ differs from the one in St. Paul's Chapel in that its tuning method is ideal for Western music's earliest keyboard repertoire) on May 15 and June 5, as part of Trinity's Tiny Concerts series. Melissa Attebury will direct the Trinity Choir and Trinity Baroque Orchestra for Bach at One: Ascension on May 28 to perform Bach's BWV 11, written in 1738 for the Feast of the Ascension, among other works.

On May 17, Trinity will present a program titled Of Which I Dream, which takes its name from the Langston Hughes poem “I Dream a World.” The concert will include works from the classical and contemporary canon, performed by the Trinity Youth Chorus, led by Peyton Marion.

On June 4, Downtown Voices and NOVUS present the world premiere of Stephen Main's The Image, in a program with the same title. This new oratorio will be paired with Jessie Montgomery's powerful work Divided.

“At a critical moment for the essential role of art in building a compassionate and just world, the works we are presenting this spring inspire hope and foster empathy and connection,” says Melissa Baker, Trinity's Director of Artistic Planning.

Events are free and open to the public. Registration is highly recommended. Please find more information here.