The New York Choral Society to Present Handel's ISRAEL IN EGYPT

The New York Choral Society will present Handel's biblical oratorio Israel in Egypt under the baton of Music Director David Hayes, on Tuesday evening, May 10th, 2016, 8pm at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium. Composed entirely from selected passages from the Bible's Old Testament, Israel in Egypt relates the harshness of the Israelites' captivity in Egypt and their subsequent triumphant escape from the Pharaoh's oppressive regime. Israel in Egypt is atypical in Handel's choral output, as it contains little solo material and is dominated by large-scale virtuosic choruses that exhibit Handel's mastery as a musical storyteller.

NYChoral's performance of Israel in Egypt will feature some of the most promising young singers as soloists: sopranos Christine Brandes and Sarah Shafer, mezzo-soprano Lauren Eberwein, tenor Benjamin Bliss, baritone Jarrett Ott and bass-baritone Brandon Cedel.

Tickets are $30-$80 and are available for purchase at http://www.nychoral.org/events/handel/.

An essential force in the New York choral scene since its founding in 1959, The New York Choral Society (NYChoral) is widely known for the outstanding artistic quality of its performances of choral masterworks as well as rarely performed and new compositions. In addition to its regular season appearances at Carnegie Hall, the 175-voice strong New York Choral Society has appeared at every major venue in the New York City area, including Avery Fisher Hall, the Metropolitan Opera House, Madison Square Garden, NJPAC, and St. Patrick's Cathedral. The most recent New York concert of NYChoral took place at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium February 5, 2016 and featured Arvo Pärt's Te Deum and Beethoven's Mass in C, Op. 86. George Grella praised the performance in the New York Classical Review:

"Depending on the demands of the music, they were grand or intimate, warm or dark. [The Mass is C] was fine and impressive in every way. Hayes' pace in the Beethoven felt ideal; relaxed but flowing forward easily. The phrases had the opportunity to rise and fall as if the music were breathing."

Under the visionary artistic leadership of Music Director David Hayes since the 2012-2013 season, NYChoral has expanded its artistic mission to present a wide variety of choral repertory. Alongside masterworks of the 20th and 21st century, NYChoral has performed John Adams's On The Transmigration of Souls, Hindemith's When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd, and the New York premiere of Jennifer Higdon's The Singing Rooms, featuring violinist Jennifer Koh.

Dedicated to carrying its tradition of musical excellence and community engagement beyond the Manhattan cultural centers, NYChoral launched Christmas Around New York in December 2014, bringing family-friendly Christmas concerts to new audiences in all the boroughs of New York City.

Highlights of previous seasons include performances of Mendelssohn's St. Paul, Berlioz' L'Enfance du Christ, Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony, Holst's rarely performed Hymn of Jesus, and Beethoven's Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, all at Carnegie Hall conducted by Music Director David Hayes. The 2011-2012 season marked the 25th and final season of Music Director John Daly Goodwin and included two compositions commissioned by the

New York Choral Society, Robert De Cormier's Legacy and Morton Gould's Quotations, as part of an all-American program at Carnegie Hall.

A sought-after guest artist in New York City for many decades, NYChoral has collaborated with the Lincoln Center Festival, Cirque de Soleil, New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, New York Youth Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Juilliard Symphony, and the Opera Orchestra of New York and has performed with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Placido Domingo, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta, Yehudi Menuhin, Julius Rudel, Robert Shaw, Leonard Slatkin, Patrick Summers, Robert Spano, and Michael Tilson Thomas.

NYChoral has also regularly appeared as guest artist at the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala and with Andrea Bocelli. Recently members of NYChoral sang at the 80WSE and CHEAP's production of The Magic Flute, a re-imagining of the narrative of Mozart's celebrated music drama.

International tours have included the Chinese premiere of Mahler's Eighth Symphony in Beijing in 2002; performances of Mahler's Symphonies No. 2 and 8 in Mexico City with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto in 2010 and 2011; a return to Beijing for performances at the Olympic Cultural Festival in

2008; and several European tours with performances in France, Austria, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Greece, the Czech Republic, and Israel.

Each summer since 1960 the New York Choral Society has produced a popular series of Summer Sings, open readings of the choral literature led by prominent conductors in the New York area. Recently, Summer Sings have been held at Symphony Space, and continue to provide a wonderful musical opportunity to the community and to attract new singers to the chorus.

Music Director David Hayes is a conductor with an unusually broad range of repertory, spanning the symphonic, oratorio/choral and operatic genres. His role as Music Director of the New York Choral Society complements his other roles as Music Director of the Mannes Orchestra and Staff Conductor of the Curtis Symhony Orchestra. Mr. Hayes served on the conducting staff of The Philadelphia Orchestra from 2001 to 2011. In May 2015 he completed 23 years as Music Director of the critically acclaimed professional vocal ensemble The Philadelphia Singers, which was the resident chorus of The Philadelphia Orchestra from 2000-2011. He has also served as a cover conductor for the New York Philharmonic as well as for Sir André Previn on the Curtis Symphony Orchestra's 1999 European Tour with Anne-Sophie Mutter.

In addition to his work with NYChoral this season, Mr. Hayes also conducts the Mannes Orchestra in two concerts at Alice Tully Hall, including an adventurous program featuring Ives's Central Park in the Dark, Varèse's Intégrales, and Morton Feldman's Coptic Light as well as Sibelius's Fifth Symphony. Their second program on April 8th features symphonies by Arvo Pärt and Anton Bruckner. Mr. Hayes returned to the Curtis Opera Theatre for a production of Massenet's Manon in November 2015, and he travels to Italy in the summer of 2016 to conduct the chamber chorus of Umbrian Serenades in Spoleto.

Mr. Hayes is in demand as guest conductor with both orchestras and opera companies across North America. Recent guest conducting engagements have included a production of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore for Opera Memphis, 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. Mr. Hayes also conducted 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, Mr. 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 is once again on the Board of Directors of Chorus America, a post he held from 2000 to 2009.

American soprano Christine Brandes enjoys an active career in North America and abroad, performing at many of the most distinguished festivals and concert series, in programs ranging from recitals and chamber music to oratorio and opera. This season, Ms. Brandes appears on the opera stage as Iris in Semele, under the baton of Sir Charles Mackerras, for her debut with the San Francisco Opera-Euridice in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice with the Opera Festival of New Jersey-an in the role of Pamina in the Opera Company of Philadelphia's Die Zauberflöte. Her concert schedule includes return engagements with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra and appearances at the Montreux Festival with the Freiburger Barockorchester in W.A. Mozart's Il Sogno di Scipione as well as in solo recital.

Praised for her "luminous voice" and "intensely expressive interpretations" (The New York Times), and named "remarkable, artistically mature" and "a singer to watch" by Opera News, soprano Sarah Shafer is quickly emerging as a sought-after operatic and concert artist. She recently made debuts in leading roles in two world- premiere productions with San Francisco Opera; Marco Tutino's Two Women in the role of Rosetta, and Mary Lennox in Lennox in The Secret Garden. Other recent roles include Adina in L'Elisir D'Amore with Opera Memphis, Barbarina and the cover role of Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at the Glyndebourne Festival and the BBC Proms in London's

Royal Albert Hall, Papagena in Opera Philadelphia's Die Zauberflöte, and Nuria in its production of Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar. Next season she will be appearing as Adina in Opera Philadelphia's production of L'Elisir D'Amore.

Known for her "soulful, dusky mezzo" and "engrossing depth of tone"(The Philadelphia Inquirer) mezzo-soprano Lauren Eberwein is a rising young talent in her final year at the Curtis Institute of Music.

This season Ms. Eberwein is a member of Opera Philadelphia's Emerging Artist Program and made her main stage debut as Olivia in Jennifer Higdon's Cold Mountain. Her upcoming operatic engagements include the character of Clairon in Richard Strauss's Capriccio with Opera Philadelphia and Marcellina in the opera based on Beaumarchais' Le Nozze di Figaro with the Curtis Opera Theater. Handel's Israel in Egypt with NYChoral marks her Carnegie Hall debut.

American tenor Benjamin Bliss is a recent graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera. Mr. Bliss, recipient of Lincoln Center's 2016 Emerging Artist Award for his work with The Metropolitan Opera, was also the recipient of the Mozart and Plácido Domingo awards at the 2015 Francisco Viñas International Competition in Barcelona. Opera News praised his performance as Lenski in the opera Eugene Onegin at the Aspen Opera Theatre Center:

"Bliss emerged as the singing star of this production, his tenor soaring through Lenski's impassioned music, producing a confident sound that smoothly transitioned from low to high..."

In the 2015-2016 season, Mr. Bliss will return to The Metropolitan Opera as Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, conducted by James Levine, and made his European debut in the same role with Glyndeborne Festival on tour. He also returns as a principal artist at Los Angeles Opera, where he recently appeared as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte under the baton of James Conlon, as well as to Des Moines Metro Opera as Belmonte.

On the concert stage, Mr. Bliss debuted with the New York Philharmonic singing Tony in Bernstein's West Side Story Concert Suite No. 1 with Alan Gilbert, Haydn's Creation and Cassio in Otello at the Cincinnati May Festival with James Conlon, and in holiday concerts with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Lexington Philharmonic. Mr. Bliss concludes the season with his company debut at Santa Fe Opera as Flamand in a new production of Strauss's Capriccio, directed by Tim Albery.

Baritone Jarrett Ott is a former student of Marlena Malas at the Curtis Institute of Music and a member of Opera Philadelphia's Emerging Artists Program. He was recently named one of twenty-five "Rising Stars" by Opera News, and called "charismatic" and "remarkable" by The New York Times and Baltimore Sun, respectively.

In the 2015-2016 season, Jarrett performs W.P Inman in the East Coast premiere of Cold Mountain with Opera Philadelphia as well as the Marchese D' Obigny in La Traviata. He also makes his European concert debut with the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris, performing pieces by Vito Zuraj and Bac, conducted by Matthias Pintscher.

Other roles have included The Count in Strauss's Capriccio, a co-production with Opera Philadelphia and Curtis Opera Theatre, Masetto in Don Giovanni with The Santa Fe Opera, as well as the Center for Contemporary Opera in

Kenneth Fuchs' Falling Man in Symphony Space in New York City. Mr. Ott will also give several recitals in North America under the auspices of The Brooklyn Art Song Society.

Mr. Ott recently made professional debuts with Gotham Chamber Opera, Opera Philadelphia, The American Symphony Orchestra, and Annapolis Opera as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte.

Bass-baritone Brandon Cedel is in his third year and final season of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. This season, in addition to his performance at Carnegie Hall with NYChoral, Mr. Cedel makes his company debut with Boston Lyric Opera as Colline in a new production of Puccini's La Bohème, followed by his company and role debuts with the Grand Théâtre de Genève as Theseus in a new production of Britten's A

Midsummer Night's Dream. He will make his company debut with Pittsburgh Opera as Don Basilio in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, and recently returned to The Metropolitan Opera as the Sergeant in Richard Eyre's new production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut, conducted by Fabio Luisi. Mr. Cedel will have his Bayerische Staatsoper company debut as Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni. Orchestral appearances in Mr. Cedel's season feature concert performances of Strauss'Salome with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin. He will conclude this season with his company and role debut as Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze de Figaro with the Castleton Festival.

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