TWILIGHT OF THE HIMALAYAS and More Set for New York Choral Society's 2013-14 Season

Music Director David Hayes has announced the New York Choral Society's (NYCS) 56th concert season.

The season opens on September 22, 2013, when the New York Choral Society will make a guest appearance with the Detroit Symphony under the direction of Yongyan Hu in a performance of a new piece by Xaiogang Ye, Twilight of the Himalayas at Avery Fisher Hall. On November 17, NYCS will appear as guest performers for the 20th time at the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala at Avery Fisher Hall. The NYCS make its 11th appearance with Andrea Bocelli at the Barclays Center on December 11. For the holiday season the New York Choral Society will present Christmas at Carnegie Hall on December 17 with a program of classical, contemporary and traditional Christmas music featuring mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson. The season concludes on April 29 at Carnegie Hall with Gustav Holst's The Hymn of Jesus and the New York Premiere of Pulitzer prize-winning Jennifer Higdon's The Singing Rooms with Jennifer Koh, violin.

2013-14 marks the second season for David Hayes as Music Director.

2013-14 SCHEDULE:

September 22, 2013, 3:00 PM
Detroit Symphony / Beijing Modern Music Festival
Yongyan Hu, conductor
Avery Fisher Hall

The New York Choral Society will make a guest appearance with the Detroit Symphony under the direction of Yongyan Hu in a performance of a new piece by Xaiogang Ye, Symphonic Poems: Twilight of the Himalayas at Avery Fisher Hall.

November 17, 2013, 6:30 PM
Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala Avery Fisher Hall

NYCS will join mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, 2013 Richard Tucker Award Winner and some of the opera world's brightest stars as guest artists for the 20th consecutive year in the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala at Lincoln Center. Program and conductor to be announced.

December 11, 2013, 8:00 PM
Andrea Bocelli
Barclays Center

The NYCS makes its 11th appearance with Andrea Bocelli at the new Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn.

December 17, 2013, 8:00 PM
Christmas at Carnegie Hall David Hayes, conductor Carnegie Hall

The New York Choral Society will present Christmas at Carnegie Hall, an evening of music sure to put everyone in a holiday mood. The program will include classical works by Verdi, Respighi, and Finzi as well as more contemporary holiday music. The program will conclude with beautiful and sophisticated arrangements of traditional Christmas carols featuring mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson. This performance will be conducted by David Hayes, Music Director of the New York Choral Society.

April 29, 2014, 8:00PM
David Hayes, conductor
Carnegie Hall

The 2013-2014 season comes to a close with a performance of Gustav Holst's rarely performed The Hymn of Jesus and the New York Premiere of award-winning composer Jennifer Higdon's The Singing Rooms, commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra as a concerto for violin and chorus, with a special appearance by acclaimed violinist Jennifer Koh. NYCS Music Director David Hayes conducts.

ABOUT THE NEW YORK CHORAL SOCIETY: The New York Choral Society (NYCS), founded in 1958, has become known by audiences and critics for the quality of its performances and the diversity of its repertoire, which encompasses well-known choral masterworks as well as many compositions rarely heard in concert halls. The 180-voice symphonic chorus has been widely recognized for its outstanding performances at prestigious music venues around the world.

For more than half a century NYCS has enriched the cultural life of the New York community by performing a rich variety of choral music from classic to contemporary pieces, including newly commissioned works, to some 10,000 people per year; and by fostering interest and participation in choral music through education and community outreach, especially to children. Since 1984 the singers of NYCS have also served as "ambassadors of music" abroad, with many concert tours to Italy, Austria, China, France, Israel, Mexico, Croatia, Greece and the Czech Republic. In 2012, NYCS gave three concerts in Sicily, performing to enthusiastic audiences at the Piazza del Duomo in Cefalù; the Basilica in Montalbano; and the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania.

David Hayes, Music Director of the New York Choral Society: David Hayes is a conductor with an unusually broad range of repertory, spanning the symphonic, oratorio/choral and operatic genres. His new role as Music Director of the New York Choral Society complements his existing roles as Music Director of The Philadelphia Singers; Music Director of the Mannes Orchestra; and, Staff Conductor of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Hayes has served on the conducting staff of The Philadelphia Orchestra from 2001-2011. He has also served as a cover conductor for the New York Philharmonic as well as for Sir Andre Previn on the Curtis Symphony Orchestra's 1999 European Tour with Anne-Sophie Mutter.

Recent guest-conducting engagements have included a production of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore for Opera Memphis, conducting Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and the East Coast Premiere performances of Tan Dun's Tea: A Mirror of Soul for the Opera Company of Philadelphia as well as conducting the finals of the Fulbright Piano Competition with the Artosphere Festival Orchestra.

Past seasons have included concerts with such significant ensembles as The Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra 2001, Curtis Opera Theatre, European Center for Opera and Vocal Art, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Washington Chorus, Louisiana Philharmonic, Berkshire Choral Festival and the Verbier Festival.

Trained as a violinist and violist, Hayes received his Bachelor of Music in musicology from the University of Hartford and a diploma in Orchestral Conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Otto- Werner Mueller. He also studied with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School. He served on the Board of Directors of Chorus America from 2000-2009.

For more information, visit www.nychoral.org. For ticket information, call (212) 247-3878 or go online.