Musica Viva NY Releases CRIMSON ROSES: Contemporary American Choral Music

New York City's leading chamber choir, Musica Viva NY, has released a new album Crimson Roses: Contemporary American Choral Music. On its first release for Naxos, Musica Viva NY reveals why it has recently been hailed as a treasured institution. The album showcases the choir's gifts as performers and interpreters and bridges its deep and far-reaching exploration of the full contemporary choral spectrum. Led by Musica Viva NY's artistic director/conductor, Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, celebrating his 10th year at the choir's helm, 30+ singers and orchestra perform an indispensable compilation of contemporary American choral music by three living composers: Joseph Turrin, Richard Einhorn, and Gilda Lyons.

The album opens with the eponymous And Crimson Roses Once Again Be Fair (2018) by Joseph Turrin (b.1947). To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the World War One Armistice, Musica Viva NY and others co-commissioned this 45-minute cantata based on powerful poetry of the Great War. It includes poems by Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, and Vera Brittain as well as other poets who fought, died, or were bereaved during the conflict. In 14 concise but abundantly rich movements Turrin gives vivid snapshots of the war-reflecting its horror, profound sadness, and hope. According to Oberon's Grove, "Mr. Turrin's epic cantata shows his own excellence in writing music - both moving and finely-crafted - for instruments and voices alike. And Crimson Roses Once Again Be Fair deserves a place of pride in the repertory of choral groups worldwide." Performing the solo part is mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, "one of America's finest artists and singers" (The New York Times). Despite retiring from full-time performing in 2010, Ms. von Stade made this performance due to her special connection with Vera Brittain's poem Perhaps in Joe Turrin's cantata. She said Perhaps is "such a meaningful poem for me as my Dad was killed in WWII while my Mom was expecting me. She never got over losing him so I'm creating this wonderful chance to honor her. Her name was Sara Clucas von Stade." The soprano solo is sung by Musica Viva NY soloist Erinn Sensenig.

Richard Einhorn's The Luminous Ground is a deeply reflective and spiritually engaging work inspired by the widely-known artist James Turrell and his groundbreaking light installations. Scored for SATB chorus, strings, and piano which was written for, and premiered by Musica Viva NY in 2023, composer Richard Einhorn (b.1952) seeks to turn the sculptures' contemplative nature into a slow, gradually changing soundscape that always remains still and hushed. "According to the great Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna, 'The Luminous Ground' is that stage in a person's progress towards enlightenment when 'the pacifying light of wisdom dawns' and 'attachment and aversion have thoroughly ceased'," explains Einhorn. "It is a nearly unimaginable state of serenity, but one that is evoked, for me, by the extraordinary light sculptures of James Turrell."

Closing the album is Gilda Lyons' a capella work Momotombo (2022) inspired by the spectacular volcanic landscape of Nicaragua. Since early childhood, composer Gilda Lyons (b.1975) was read the rich, rhythmic poetry of Rubén Darío by her Nicaraguan mother who had a deep and layered connection to his work. His poem Momotombo embraces the eternal nature of one of Nicaragua's greatest volcanoes. In the liner notes, Lyons wrote: "I traced a line from Darío to the sources he references in his poem-Victor Hugo, from Les raisons du Momotombo; and E. G. Squier's account of the old friars who went up the volcano and did not come back-and beyond-referencing Oviedo's History of the Indies and a letter to court from Bartolomé de las Casas-all of which exist in the shadow of the eternal Momotombo."

About Frederic von Stade

Mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade continues to be extolled as one of the music world's most beloved figures, and has enriched the world of classical music for four and a half decades. Though she retired from full-time performances in 2010, she continues to make special appearances in concert and opera. Her career has taken her to the stages of all the world's great opera houses and concert halls. She has made over 70 recordings with every major label, and her recordings have garnered six GRAMMY nominations, two Grand Prix du Disque awards, the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Italy's Premio della Critica Discografica, and "Best of the Year" citations by Stereo Review and Opera News. In 1998 France appointed von Stade an officer of L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and in 1983 she was given an award at The White House by President Reagan in recognition of her significant contribution to the arts. In January 2024 she was inducted into the 2023 Opera Hall of Fame by OPERA America.

About Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez

Esteemed conductor and pianist Dr. Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez is artistic director of Musica Viva NY and director of music at the historic Unitarian congregation of All Souls NYC in Manhattan. He is also artistic director and co-founder of the New Orchestra of Washington, and artistic director of the Victoria Bach Festival. He has been recognized as a conductor with the incisive clarity of someone born to the idiom. Since taking the helm at Musica Viva NY in 2015, Hernandez-Valdez has presented an exceptionally broad and innovative repertoire in each of the choir's seasons, engaging and inspiring audiences with remarkable interpretations of familiar and new works, and exploring the acoustical capabilities of the historic sanctuary of All Souls NYC and other venues in New York City. A passionate advocate of new music, Hernandez-Valdez has commissioned and premiered works by a significant number of remarkable composers. He is the recipient of a 2016 Shenandoah Conservatory Alumni of Excellence Award. He resides in New York City. AlejandroHernandezValdez.com

About Musica Viva NY

Musica Viva NY is a non-profit arts organization that was established nearly 50 years ago. Its mission is to bring world-class music to a wide community through an annual concert series, an active community engagement program, and an ambitious artistic vision. Under the baton of Artistic Director Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez since 2015, Musica Viva NY strives to offer joy, solace and renewal in a complex world by presenting new compositions and classic masterworks in transformative interpretations that ennoble the human spirit. Musica Viva NY's superb chamber choir and world class collaborating instrumentalists make their concert home in Manhattan's historic All Souls NYC. It regularly combines its presentation of the classical repertoire with less widely known works, as part of its commitment to perform the works of living American composers, women composers and composers of color, including works that address social, racial or environmental issues. Composers whose works have been featured in recent Musica Viva NY performances include Florence Price, Alexandra T Bryant, Steve Reich, Frank Ticheli, Missy Mazzoli, Alice Walker, Joel Thompson and Jesse Montgomery.

Musica Viva NY has commissioned and premiered numerous works by contemporary composers including Bora Yoon, Seymour Bernstein, Elena Ruehr, Joseph Turrin, Bruce Saylor, Jean-Louis Petit, Eugenio Toussaint, Gilda Lyons, Richard Einhorn, Trent Johnson and Trevor Weston. Beyond high-quality concert performances, Musica Viva NY also serves the communities of New York City through a growing variety of rich community engagement programs. Currently, Musica Viva NY partners with New York city public schools, extracurricular youth ensembles, New York Public Library branches and the All Souls' Monday Night Hospitality dinner program, offering free performances, artist clinics, interactive workshops, and more. Musica Viva NY has nurtured young artists throughout its half century of existence. Great musicians who have been Musica Viva NY singers and soloists include the Metropolitan Opera stars Samuel Ramey and Renée Fleming, and Broadway's Aladdin, Michael Maliakel.

The organization was founded as an annual concert series in 1977 by Walter Klauss, who directed the group for 38 years, and adopted the name "Musica Viva" in 1985. Under Walter Klauss' baton the choir toured in Paris (2004), Germany and Czechoslovakia (2006) and Italy (2012). MusicaViva.org

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