The Crossing Adds Performance to Sold Out Run of arms and the man at Park Avenue Armory

Winner of the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance, The Crossing, led by conductor Donald Nally, performs of arms and the man on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, September 20, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at New York's Park Avenue Armory. The evenings feature the 24-voice ensemble of The Crossing with three cellists (Thomas Mesa, Arlen Hlusko, and Sujin Lee) and will explore the timeless themes of nationalism and war while navigating personal stories of joy and despair.

Of arms and the man is designed to utilize the Armory's historic reception rooms with cello solos punctuating the transitions between the spaces. The program features a New York premiere by 2018 Pulitzer Prize finalist Ted Hearne, the nation's preeminent composer of works of social advocacy, co-commissioned by Park Avenue Armory and The Crossing. Donald Nally describes, "The concert takes a look at life and war and life during war from a number of angles: national pride, grief, and anger. Ted's new piece is going to fit into this overall theme of how we agree or disagree across nations and continents and what we're actually doing when we act on those alliances or arguments. In of arms and the man, The Crossing continues to ask complex questions for which there may be no easy answers."

Two works of Gabriel Jackson will anchor the program. First is Our flags are wafting in hope and grief, which looks at national identity in the struggle for freedom through a poem of Latvian poet Doris Koreva, with the timely words "A moment has come-a moment so brief, perhaps a point of no return. A voicing of freedom at whatever cost, cannot now be recanted." Jackson's Rigwreck, is a virtuosic exploration of the role of money and power in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, written for The Crossing's 2013 project, The Gulf (between you and me), and is based on a text by Pierre Joris.

The program also includes Toivo Tulev's setting of Walt Whitman's "A child said, what is the grass"; a rare performance of David Lang's depart for three cellos and women, and the New York premiere of his "last spring"; Louis Andriessen's Ahania Weeping; the New York premiere of Benjamin C.S. Boyle'sEmpire of Crystal; "Sanctus" from Sebastian Currier's Night Mass; Suzanne Giraud's Johannisbaum; the New York premiere of David Shapiro'sSumptuous Planet; and "Conversation on the Mountain" from Kile Smith's Where flames a word.

Of the program, Donald Nally says, "Park Avenue Armory asked me to develop a program for their ornate historic reception rooms. Being the Armory, I got thinking about how the military has changed since those rooms were built; how it was a point of honor for the aristocracy that today mostly avoids it at all cost. The concert takes a look at life and war and life during war from a number of angles. Some of it is national pride, some of it is grief, some of it is anger. Ted's new piece is going to fit into this overall theme of how we agree or disagree across nations and continents and what we're actually doing when we act on those alliances or arguments."

of arms and the man
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. - SOLD OUT
Thursday, September 20, 2018 at 5:00 p.m.
Thursday, September 20, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. - SOLD OUT
Park Avenue Armory, Board of Officers Room | 643 Park Avenue | New York, NY
Tickets: Visit www.armoryonpark.org or call 212.933-5812

Performers:
The Crossing
Thomas Mesa, Arlen Hlusko, and Sujin Lee, cellos

Program:
Ted Hearne - world premiere
David Lang -depart
Gabriel Jackson -Our flags are wafting*
Kile Smith - "Conversation on the Mountain" fromWhere flames a word*
Louis Andriessen -Ahania Weeping*
Suzanne Giraud -Johannisbaum
David Shapiro -Sumptuous Planet (New York premiere)
Sebastian Currier - "Sanctus" fromNight Mass
Gabriel Jackson -Rigwreck*
Benjamin CS Boyle - Empire of Crystal* (New York premiere)
David Lang - last spring (New York premiere)
Toivo Tulev - A child said, what is the grass?*

*commissioned by The Crossing

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