Musica Sacra Presents Songs and Romances, 4/23

On Monday, April 23, 2012 at 8 p.m. in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, the Musica Sacra Chorus will perform a concert featuring compositions of Romantic icons Brahms, Schubert, and Schumann. 

This Musica Sacra concert will highlight the individual sections of the all-professional ensemble with repertoire specifically for female or male voices. The women will perform Brahms' Four Songs for Women's Chorus, Two Horns and Harp, Op. 17, and the men several Schubert songs for male chorus, including Ständchen, D. 920, for which they will be joined by mezzo-soprano Silvie Jensen. The full choir comes together for selections of quartets for mixed chorus by Brahms, as well as for his boisterous Zigeunerlieder, Op. 103, with texts from Hungarian folk songs. 

Musica Sacra continues its collaboration with The Sorel Organization for this concert, featuring their 2011 Recording Grant recipient, pianist Anna Shelest, who will accompany the choir and be highlighted in Schumann's Piano Sonata in F-Sharp Minor, Op.11. Ms. Shelest has been hailed by critics as the "female reincarnation of Liszt." Her recent engagements have included debuts at Alice Tully Hall, Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, and The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and she has performed as a soloist with some of the world's most renowned orchestras, including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, under Maestro Paavo Järvi, and the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra. 

Leading the performance is the ensemble's Music Director, Kent Tritle.

Tickets ($25 and $65) are available through Carnegie Hall online (www.carnegiehall.org), by phone (CarnegieCharge, (212) 247-7800); or in person (Box Office, 57th Street & 7th Avenue).