The Oratorio Society of New York begins its four-concert 2019-20 season on Tuesday, November 5, with a special program at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. New York's standard for grand choral performance will present two touchstone works of 20th century choral repertoire that shine in the cathedral's resonant acoustic: Excerpts from Sergei Rachmaninoff's Vespers (also known as All-Night Vigil), an a cappella work of remarkable spirituality, and the Requiem of Maurice Duruflé in the version for soloists, chorus, and organ.
Contralto Kirsten Sollek and tenor John Riesen are featured as soloists in the Rachmaninoff work, written in 1915 in a world riven by WWI and in the lead-up to the Russian Revolution of 1917. It is called by ClassicFM "a haunting cornerstone of the choral repertoire ... a quiet, reflective and deeply moving set of vespers." Duruflé's Requiem, written in 1947 and the composer's masterpiece, is heard here in the version for soloists, chorus, and organ. Featured performers are Kirsten Sollek, contralto; David Pike, baritone; Arthur Fiacco, Jr., cello; and David Briggs, organ. Of the piece, the composer said, "This Requiem is not an ethereal work which sings detached from worldly anxiety. It reflects, in the unchangeable form of the Christian prayer, the anguish of man facing the mystery of his last ending."
The OSNY 2019-20 season continues with three concerts at Carnegie Hall featuring the chorus's 146th annual performance of Handel's Messiah; the U.S. premiere of a new critical edition of Brahms's A German Requiem; and the world premiere of an OSNY commission - A Nation of Others by Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell:
Contralto Kirsten Sollek has been called "...an appealingly rich alto" and "...true contralto" by The New York Times. Concert appearances include Handel's Dixit Dominus and Duruflé's Requiem with Saint Thomas Fifth Avenue and Handel's Resurrezione with the Helicon Foundation. Very active in contemporary music, she has worked extensively with composer John Zorn, premiering his music in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and Israel. www.kirstensollek.com
Rising young tenor John Riesen's recent performances have included Alfredo in La Traviata (Gulfshore Opera, Tri-Cities Opera), Younger Thompson in Glory Denied (Opera Birmingham, Des Moines Metro Opera), Candide in Candide (Chautauqua Opera), and his Lincoln Center debut as Tony in West Side Story Suite (New York City Ballet). www.johnriesen.com
Baritone David Pike has a widely varied repertoire covering early music, oratorio, symphonic, opera and commissioned works. In his native Canada, in the U.K., and across Europe, he has worked with leading ensembles including Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London Philharmonic and the Schweizerkammerchor under the direction of conductors including Dutoit, Jurowski, Koopman, Marriner, Mehta, Rattle, and Zinman. www.davidjohnpike.com
Proclaimed as a "distinguished chamber musician of impressive virtuosity" by Consort Magazine, Arthur Fiacco, Jr. is principal cellist for the Orchestra of the Oratorio Society of New York, the Musica Sacra Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola, and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine and St. Patrick's Cathedral. He is also a member of the renowned Orchestra of St. Luke's.
David Briggs, currently Artist-in-Residence at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, is an internationally renowned organist. With an extensive repertoire spanning five centuries, he is known across the globe for his brilliant organ transcriptions of symphonic music by composers such as Mahler, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Elgar, Bruckner, Ravel, and Bach. Fascinated by the art of Improvisation since a child, David also frequently performs improvisations to silent films. www.david-briggs.org
The Oratorio Society's Music Director since the 2005-6 season, Kent Tritle is also Music Director of the professional chorus Musica Sacra, and Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where he directs the concert series Great Music in a Great Space. Mr. Tritle is Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music and a member of the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School. An acclaimed organ virtuoso, he is the organist of the New York Philharmonic and the American Symphony Orchestra. www.kenttritle.com
Since its founding in 1873, the Oratorio Society of New York has become the city's standard for grand choral performance. It has given world, U.S., and New York premieres of works as diverse as Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem (1877), Berlioz' Roméo et Juliette (1882), a full-concert production of Wagner's Parsifal at the Metropolitan Opera House (1886), Britten's The World of the Spirit (1998), Filas's Requiem (2015), Moravec's Blizzard Voices (2013) and Sanctuary Road (2018), and Ranjbaran's We Are One (2018). On its 100th anniversary the Oratorio Society received the Handel Medallion, New York City's highest cultural award, in recognition of these contributions. www.oratoriosocietyofny.org.
Videos