Cathedral Of St. John The Divine's GREAT MUSIC IN A GREAT SPACE Series Continues With Musica Sacra
Musica Sacra is the longest continuously-performing professional chorus in New York City.
By: A.A. Cristi Oct. 18, 2022
The 2022-2023 season of the Great Music in a Great Space concert series continues with Musica Sacra's Music for a Gothic Space on on Tuesday, October 25, 2022 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue (at 112th Street).
Conducted by Kent Tritle, Director of Cathedral Music, Musica Sacra brings music by women composers to the fore in this intimate concert held in the Cathedral's Nave. Using the ancient form of the mass as a guiding structure, Kent Tritle has created an assembled whole from mass movements selected from medieval repertoire; from the Gregorian chant mass specific to the date of October 25, St. Crispin's Day; and from music by composers Janet Wheeler, Amy Summers, Olivia Sparkhall, and Sarah McDonald.
"We have chosen marvelous choral settings by living women composers to function within the structure as would have the ancient motets," says Kent Tritle. "Thus, we have a structure which serves its own purpose for the presentation of this music, yet highlights these new compositions in a stimulating and freeing way."
Tickets begin at $35 and are available directly from Musica Sacra's website. For more information about the 2022-23 season of Great Music in a Great Space, visit the Cathedral's website.
PROGRAM
Gregorian propers for Multiple Martyrs, out of Pascal Time
(Missa De Pluribus Martyribus: Extra Tempus Paschale)
Alleluia, I heard a voice Janet Wheeler
Nunc dimittis Amy Summers
Crux fidelis Sarah McDonald
Dona nobis pacem Olivia Sparkhall
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is the Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. It is chartered as a house of prayer for all people and a unifying center of intellectual light and leadership.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cathedral has responded to changing needs in the local community and across the city and state. People from many faiths and communities worship together in daily services held online and in person; the soup kitchen serves roughly 50,000 meals annually; social service outreach has an increasingly varied roster of programs to safely provide resources and aid to the hardest-hit New Yorkers; the distinguished Cathedral School prepares young students to be future leaders; Advancing the Community of Tomorrow, the renowned preschool, afterschool and summer program, offers diverse educational and nurturing experiences; the outstanding Textile Conservation Lab preserves world treasures; concerts, exhibitions, performances and civic gatherings allow conversation, celebration, reflection and remembrance-such is the joyfully busy life of this beloved and venerated Cathedral.
Since its founding in 1964 by conductor Richard Westenburg, the mission of Musica Sacra has been to create definitive, professional, choral performances of the highest caliber: profound statements made simply and elegantly. It does so with concerts, recording, the commissioning and performing of new choral works, and collaborating with other top tier performing arts organizations.
Musica Sacra is known for its interpretations of the masterpieces of choral music - Tallis's Spem in Alium, the choral oeuvre of J. S. Bach, the masses of Mozart and Haydn, the Requiems of Mozart, Brahms, and Fauré, Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, Strauss's Deutsche Motette, Bruckner's motets, and Schönberg's Friede auf Erden, among others - and its involvement in contemporary repertoire; the group has given the world and New York premieres of choral works by composers including Benjamin Britten, Dave Brubeck, Anthony Davis, Aaron Copland, David Diamond, Aram Khachaturian, Duncan Patton, Vincent Persichetti, Daniel Pinkham, Bernard Rands, and Peter Schickele.
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