New York Choral Society Presents 'For Those We've Loved' Today
By: BWW News Desk Apr. 08, 2015
The New York Choral Society and Music Director David Hayes continues its season today, April 8, 2015 at 8:00 pm at Carnegie Hall with a program titled For Those We've Loved. The program includes On The Transmigration of Souls by John Adams and When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd by Paul Hindemith. The critically acclaimed Young People's Chorus of New York City, mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer, baritone Lee Poulis and The Mannes Orchestra will be joining the New York Choral Society for this performance.
This concert is a journey into the innermost depths of our hearts, souls and emotions. It transcends the historic events that are commemorated in John Adams' On The Transmigration of Souls and Paul Hindemith's When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd. It is a transformative journey filled with portraits of everyday life and people that reaffirms and celebrates the strength and durability of the American spirit.
John Adams' Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning composition, On The Transmigration of Souls, was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 2002 to commemorate the first anniversary of the attacks of September 11. Adams says his intent was to create a "memory space" akin to being in a great cathedral, where you experience a sense of something otherworldly and feel the collected energy of generations of souls. In a review of this work, David Schiff of The Atlantic has said, "... like the greatest music of the past-Bach, Beethoven, Mahler-[Adams' music] can take us beyond...troubles and complexities to states of serenity, wisdom, and peace."
Paul Hindemith's When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd was commissioned by Robert Shaw in 1946 to memorialize President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who had died the previous year. The text is by American poet Walt Whitman; his grand elegiac poem When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd was inspired by the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. The piece has been described as Hindemith's "only profoundly American work" and as "a work of genius".
Music Director David Hayes says "I'm extremely pleased to be continuing my third season as Music Director with this exceptional program. This season, we expanded our activities to include performances around New York City as we continue to bring exciting and thought-provoking programming to our Carnegie Hall audiences. I'm especially pleased to be working with The Young People's Chorus of New York City and establishing a new collaborative relationship with The Mannes Orchestra and Mannes College The New School for Music."
PROGRAM
Wednesday, April 8, 2015 at 8:00 pm
David Hayes, conductor
CARNEGIE HALL
For Those We've Loved
On The Transmigration of Souls by John Adams
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd by Paul Hindemith
THE NEW YORK CHORAL SOCIETY
The New York Choral Society (NYCHORAL), 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 175-voice symphonic chorus has been widely recognized for its outstanding performances at prestigious music venues around the world.
For more than half a century NYCHORAL 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 NYCHORAL have also served as "ambassadors of music" abroad, with concert tours to Italy, Austria, China, France, Israel, Mexico, Croatia, Greece, and the Czech Republic. In 2014, NYCHORAL toured Central Europe and performed in a high mass in St. Stephens Cathedral, Vienna, in Mátyás-templom, Budapest, and at Banffy Castle in Romania.
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 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 The New School for Music; Interim Director of Orchestras at Temple University; and Staff Conductor of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra.
The 2014-2015 season marks Mr. Hayes' third season as Music Director of the New York Choral Society.
Mr. Hayes 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 André 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.
WEBSITE
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets: $30 - $80
Call (212) 247-3878 or visit www.nychoral.org
Box office, 57th Street and 7th Avenue
CarnegieCharge 212-247-7800
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