Voices of Ascension Brings Voices of Mannahatta to the Church of the Ascension

Voices of Ascension will present Voices of Mannahatta on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. at The Church of the Ascension. The program explores the history of the land on which the concert hall stands, on the unceded lands of the Munsee Lenape, Mannahatta Island.

“Our role in showcasing choral music as a powerful lens for exploring the human experience has never been more vital,” said Executive Director of Voices of Ascension, Jonathan Bradley. “As Voices of Ascension celebrates 35 years, this concert continues our long-standing commitment to commissioning and premiering new choral works by female composers. We are honored to collaborate with the brilliant Danielle Jagelski, an extraordinary roster of Native American artists, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Raven Chacon, and the esteemed International Contemporary Ensemble for this groundbreaking event—one that not only honors our legacy but also ushers in an exciting new chapter in our history.”

In collaboration with Eagle Project - NYC's only Lenape-led performing arts organization - this concert features the multimedia world premiere of Holy Ground by composer and guest Artistic Director Danielle Olana Jagelski (Oneida/Ojibwe). Written for five voices, with singers from the Mvskogee, Acoma Pueblo, Anishinaabe, and Taíno Nations, the work is accompanied by video imagery created by visual artist Sage Ahebah Addington, a Diné artist from Breadsprings, New Mexico (Dinetah) whose work focuses on cultural dissonance, material, and personal history. 

"Holy Ground is a piece written for the land on Fifth Avenue between 10th and 11th Streets on Mannahatta in Sapokanikan; right near Kintecoying in Lenapehoking; Nimaamaa-aki just like everywhere else,” Jagelski said. “It is also written to be sung with that land, in the acoustic conditions of the building currently standing there - the Church of the Ascension. This piece, written for 5 voices and percussion, is an effort to listen to this little plot of land - what she has to say to those who inhabit it, and what we have to say to her?”

Through Holy Ground, Jagelski encourages the questions:

"What happens if we sing with the land, rather than to her?
What will happen if we stop excavating, but instead start listening?
What will happen if, rather than extracting, we nourish?
What if while learning, we un-learn too?

What does she have to teach us?

Do you think that we are the ones who made this ground holy?"

Alongside traditional Lenape song devised and performed by Eagle Project’s Founder and Artistic Director Opalanietet Pierce specifically for this concert, and choral music written by contemporary North American Indigenous composers, the program also includes performances of Andrew Balfour's Vision Chant, the US premiere of Juno Award-winning composer Cris Dersen’s Triumph of the Euro-Christ, and Raven Chacon's Pulitzer Prize-winning composition Voiceless Mass featuring International Contemporary Ensemble.