National Chorale to Present 49th HANDEL'S MESSIAH SING-IN This December

National Chorale, New York's premier professional choral company, under the Artistic Direction of Everett McCorvey, continues its 2016-2017 Season at Lincoln Center with the 49th presentation of Handel's Messiah Sing-In on Tuesday, December 20, 2016 at 8pm at the David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, NYC.

The performance features Eric Brenner, Roderick George, Kevin Maynor and Jessica Sanding.

Join an audience-chorus of almost 3,000 voices under the batons of 17 eminent conductors. Celebrate choral singing and sing in New York's most joyous and popular Holiday Season music event!

Tickets are available at www.nationalchorale.com, or by calling (212) 333-5333.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Eric Brenner, Countertenor returns to the David Geffen Hall stage with the Chorale. Hailed for his "astonishing solo singing" and "penetrating eloquence" (New York Times), countertenor Eric S. Brenner has been privileged to perform on many of the world's premier halls with many of the world's finest conductors. Eric made his solo debut in Bernstein's Chichester Psalms at Cornell University. He has sung the work many times since then, including performances at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola with Sacred Music in a Sacred Space. Some of Eric's current projects include eight sold-out performances in the role of Doodle in Stefan Weissman's and David Cote's highly acclaimed chamber opera, Scarlet Ibis, singing opposite actress Lili Taylor in Suzanne Bocanegra's Bodycast at CounterCurrent, Houston, TX; world premiers by Jessica Meyer and Doug Balliet with the Colonials; Volpino in Haydn's Lo Speziale in Rochester, NY; and Tolomeo in Händel's Giulio Cesare in Roanoke, VA. Eric also covered David Daniels in the role of Didymus in Händel's Theodora on tour with the choir of Trinity Wall Street and English concert under Maestro Harry Bickett.

Roderick George, Tenor performs for the first time at the Sing-In. Tenor Roderick George has garnered acclaim in performances on the operatic and concert stages throughout the United States and abroad. Regularly engaged as a soloist in major concert and oratorio works, his repertoire spans from Handel's Messiah and Mozart's Requiem, through Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Rossini's Stabat Mater, to Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and contemporary works by Adolphus Hailstork, Nathaniel Dett and H. Leslie Adams. His international engagements have included performances throughout Russia with the Orpheus Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of the Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre. He has also made appearances at several international music festivals and venues including Festival Internacional de Musica Sacra in Ecuador, La Folle Journée, the largest classical music festival in France, the Cayman Arts Festival of the Grand Cayman Islands, the American Cathedral in Paris, the Lensoveta House of Culture in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wexford Opera House in Ireland and the Spaso House of the United States Embassy in Moscow. On the operatic stage, Mr. George has performed a diversity of leading lyric tenor roles including Rodolfo in La Bohéme, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Alfredo in La Traviata, Roméo in Roméo et Juliette, Gérald in Lakmé, the title role of Albert Herring, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, Ralph Rackstraw in HMS Pinafore, Camille de Rosillion in The Merry Widow and Sportin' Life in Porgy and Bess. During the 2016-17 season, he will make his role debut as Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore with Opera Birmingham.

Kevin Maynor, Bass joins the Chorale at the SIng-In for the first time. Mr. Maynor has scored success in over 50 operatic roles in five different languages. The first apprentice artist from the West to study at the Bolshoi in Moscow, Mr. Maynor is a Fulbright Award winner and a recipient of the George London Award as well as a Richard Tucker Career Grant winner. Critics have praised his charismatic stage presence as well as his superb voice and powerful, resonant tone" and the jewel in his dark bass voice."

In 2015 - 2016, Kevin Maynor appeared at The New Jersey Performing Arts Center in the title role in the opera, Garvey by Michael Raphael. The season also included Homage to a King, a new dramatic oratorio written for him and for French Horns and Trombones, by Julius Williams at Aljira, a center for contemporary art, as well as a new Operatic work from Anthony Davis, FIVE, on the Central Park Five. Maynor also performed his acclaimed conceptual concert for voice and piano, Malcolm X: a commentary in Essex County Weequahic Park. He will follow with JOE LOUIS by Count Basie, originally written for Paul Robeson.

Jessica Sandidge, Soprano sings her first performance in the Messiah Sing-In. Of her recent performance in Donizetti's Poliuto The New York Times wrote: "...Soprano Jessica Sandidge sang beautifully as Paolina, her dynamic control and expressive gesture notable throughout." Other recent performances include her Carnegie Hall debut as Soprano in Fauré's Requiem with Manhattan Concert Productions and Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) with Long Island Opera. She has performed such roles as, Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Micaela (Carmen), Violetta (La Traviata), Nedda (Pagliacci), Musetta (La Bohème), Freia (Das Rheingold), Janthe (Der Vampyr), and a New York Times acclaimed performance of Colette (The Reformed Drunkard) with Little Opera Theater of New York. She has performed with such companies as Opera New Jersey, Martina Arroyo's Prelude to Performance, New York Grand Opera, Opera Ischia, SongFest, Chelsea Opera, Lowell House Opera, and the Liederkranz Opera Theater. She recently made her second appearance at Carnegie Hall singing Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) with the NY Metamorphosis Ensemble. Upcoming performances include Mimì (Bohème) at Prelude to Performance this summer, Soprano in Dan Forrest'sRequiem for the Living, Soprano in Ivo Antognini's World Premiere of A Prayer for Mother Earth at Carnegie Hall, and Soprano in Handel'sMessiah with the National Chorale. She will also be joining the roster at the Metropolitan Opera next season covering Jano (Jenufa).

Everett McCorvey, Artistic Director, is a native of Montgomery, Alabama. He received his degrees from the University of Alabama, including a Doctorate of Musical Arts. He has performed in many cities around the world and theaters across the country, including the Metropolitan Opera, the John F. Kennedy Center, Aspen and Blossom Music Festivals, Radio City Music Hall, and performances throughout Italy, England, Spain, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Austria, Japan, China, Brazil, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, Peru and France. Among his many accomplishments, Dr. McCorvey was the catalyst for developing a widely recognized opera program at the University of Kentucky, which is listed by the Richard Tucker Foundation as one of the top recommended opera training programs. Dr. McCorvey is also the Founder and Music Director of the American Spiritual Ensemble, a group of 24 professional singers performing spirituals and other compositions of African-American composers. In its nineteen-year history, the group has presented over 250 concerts, including 19 tours of the United States and 17 tours of Spain and other European countries. The unique sound molded by Dr. McCorvey has garnered the group world-wide attention and interest.

The National Chorale, New York's premier professional choral company, is celebrating its 49th Lincoln Center Season at David Geffen Hall, previously Avery Fisher Hall, with its continuing series of choral orchestral masterworks and 20th century American Classics.

Founded in 1967, the National Chorale is the only professional choral company in the United States to have established and maintained an annual subscription season in the major New York City concert halls - 49 seasons in David Geffen Hall, with additional concerts at Carnegie Hall. It presents a broad repertory of choral-orchestral works; seldom-performed works from many stylistic periods; opera-in-concert; American music theatre; and contemporary works, including commissions by the Chorale for its Lincoln Center Season.

In addition to its Avery Fisher Hall series, the Chorale has toured nationally; presented 19 summer seasons of New York Festival of American Music Theater concerts in Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park and parks throughout the New York area; concert tours of New York State and New York City; vocal-instrumental chamber music series, and Concerts for Young People.

The National Chorale is a leader in the development of choral singing in the New York City area. The New York Times calls the National Chorale "one of the most firmly established professional choral groups in the country."

For 49 years, the Chorale has also presented vocal music education programs for NYC public schools, developing singing participation and future audiences for choral and vocal music. National Chorale's contracts with the NYC Department of Education provide year-long artist-in-residence programs for elementary, middle and high schools throughout the city. The Chorale regularly tours New York area schools, presenting concerts and choral workshops; and will present the popular 24th annual New York City High School Choral Festival, the 7th annual Elementary School Choral Festival and 4th annual Middle School Choral Festival in May 2017, with 36 participating high school, elementary and middle school choirs and more than 2,700 student singers from all five Boroughs of the City.

The Chorale also has a major Partnership with the NYC Professional Performing Arts High School in Manhattan, now in its 7th year, where a team of Chorale artist/teachers lead and develop the PPAS Vocal/Choral Program daily throughout the school year. The PPAS Choir will perform at Lincoln Center at each National Chorale performance during the 2016-2017 Season.

In 1962, Philharmonic Hall-renamed Avery Fisher Hall in 1973 and later renamed David Geffen Hall in 2015-became one of the first buildings to be completed on the Lincoln Center site and home to one of its first resident organizations, the world-renowned New York Philharmonic, the oldest symphony orchestra in the U.S. Today, David Geffen Hall hosts notable performances by acclaimed orchestras and artists from around the globe, as well as galas, film premieres, graduations, and conferences. Located on the north side of Josie Robertson Plaza facing Lincoln Center's iconic Revson Fountain, David Geffen Hall's spacious lobby and promenade feature such eminent artwork as Rodin's bust of Gustav Mahler and Dimitri Hadzi's sculpture The Hunt, in addition to wraparound views of the Lincoln Center campus.