The Clarion Choir & Orchestra to Perform Bach's Mass In B Minor at the Park Avenue Christian Church

The four-time GRAMMY-nominated Clarion Choir, one of the leading professional vocal ensembles in the country, and The Clarion Orchestra, which plays on period Baroque instruments, performs Bach's monumental Mass in B Minor on May 1. The concert takes place in the clear acoustics of the beautiful Park Avenue Christian Church, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The one-time performance will be conducted by Steven Fox, the GRAMMYⓇ-nominated artistic director of Clarion.

Bach's grand mass setting is a compilation of music the composer wrote at different stages of his life and career. The composite piece has become one of the most beloved of all choral works, showing different facets of the composer's creativity and spirituality. It is widely recognized as one of Bach's most significant musical expressions.

Performance Details: 

Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at 8 p.m.
Park Avenue Christian Church
1010 Park Avenue (at 85th Street), New York
Get your tickets HERE ($35 - $80).

The Clarion Choir
The Clarion Orchestra performing on period instruments
Steven Fox, conductor

With soloists:

• Jessica Beebe, Molly Quinn, and Nola Richardson, sopranos
• Hannah Baslee and Aryssa Burrs, altos
• Brian Giebler and Oliver Mercer, tenors
• Scott Dispensa, baritone
• Joseph Beutel, bass

About The Clarion Choir

The Clarion Choir is one of the country's leading professional vocal ensembles. It has performed on some of the great stages of North America and Europe. In 2019 and 2023, the Choir joined The English Concert and Harry Bicket for their annual Handel tour, performing in venues such as the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, the Barbican in London, Cal Performances in Berkeley, Théatre des Champs Elysée in Paris, L.A. Opera and Carnegie Hall, in performances of Handel's Semele and Solomon.

The Clarion Choir most recently received its fourth GRAMMYⓇ Award nomination for Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil, released in 2023 on the label Pentatone. The All-Night Vigil, also known as "Vespers," is an evening service that goes into daybreak, symbolizing the resurrection of Christ. The work, and the album, embodies a message of hope emanating from the darkness - a sentiment that is both universal and also very timely. In May 2023 Fox and Clarion performed Rachmaninoff's choral masterpiece at Carnegie Hall, in celebration of the Russian composer's 150th birthday.

The Clarion Choir was formed in 2006 and made its Lincoln Center debut in 2011, performing Bach chorales as part of the White Light Festival with organist Paul Jacobs. In 2014, the choir gave the New York premiere of a lost Russian masterwork from the 1920s, Passion Week, by Maximilian Steinberg. In October of 2016, Clarion premiered the work in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and London. The performance was featured on PBS, and the recording - the choir's first - received nominations for a GRAMMY and for BBC Music Magazine's Choral Award. The choir has since performed and recorded other works from the period, such as Kastalsky's Memory Eternal, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Classical charts, and the same composer's Requiem, which received "Editor's Choice" in Gramophone. Fox and The Clarion Choir were also nominated for the "Best Choral Performance" GRAMMYⓇ for Kastalsky: Requiem (2020), and Kastalsky: Memory Eternal (2018).

The Clarion Choir has performed regularly in recent years as part of the Live Arts series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including presentations of large-scale Renaissance works by Victoria, Palestrina, Tavener, Josquin, and Guerrero in the Medieval Sculpture Hall and the Met Cloisters. In recent years Clarion has collaborated with The Knights and Eric Jacobsen, Susan Graham, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Isabel Leonard, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Leonard Slatkin, and Madonna, at the 2018 Met Gala. For more information, visit clarionsociety.org.

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