LUX AETERNA

Musica Viva NY Presents LUX AETERNA: A Light-Inspired Choral Concert Featuring a World Premiere by Richard Einhorn May 21, 2023

“Musica Viva NY is a treasured institution” – Front Row Center

“Music Director Hernandez-Valdez not only took advantage of its dimensions but gave the
partly-professional chorus, balance and clarity. One rarely encounters spirituality within the
prison-confining pallid walls of a church. This was the exception.” – ConcertoNet

New York, NY (For Release 04.17.23) — New York City’s leading chamber choir, Musica Viva
NY, presents LUX AETERNA: a one-night only performance on Sunday, May 21, 2023, at 5:00
p.m., at All Souls Church on the Upper East Side. Known for its well-balanced and eclectic
programming, in this concert Musica Viva NY elicits the spiritual and transformational power of eternal light through music. The program includes six radiant pieces such as the revelatory Lux Aeterna by Morten Lauridsen and the world premiere of The Luminous Ground by Richard
Einhorn commissioned by Musica Viva NY. (Scroll down for complete program details.)
Lux Aeterna, or “Eternal Light”, serves as the foundation for this concert’s collection of illustrious works. Building on the sensorial experience of producing, seeing and/or feeling light, this seasonending concert is the choir’s response to its March 2023 program: THE SORROW AND THE BEAUTY. Musica Viva NY’s artistic director and conductor Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez explains: “We are ending our season on a positive, high note! This joyful and bright concert is a fitting juxtaposition to our Spring concert which was filled with sadness and suffering. We encourage audiences to join us for this concert of optimism, creativity, and renewal.”

The program begins with the explosive Starburst, a brief one-movement work for string orchestra written by Jessie Montgomery, “one of the most distinctive and communicative voices in the U.S. (BBC).” Performed back-to-back are S.S. Wesley’s beloved 1850 anthem Thou Wilt Keep Him in Perfect Peace and its choral fantasy set almost 150 years later, The Darkness Is No Darkness, by the prolific British composer Judith Bingham. Continuing its theme of luminosity, Musica Viva NY performs two requiems that are less somber and more enlightening in tone: Franz Schubert’s Mass No. 2 in G Major is one of the most popular settings of the mass ordinary; and Morton Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna, a requiem inspired by the death of the composer’s mother.

Commissioned by Musica Viva NY is the world premiere of Richard Einhorn’s The Luminous
Ground for SATB chorus, strings, and piano. Inspired by the widely-known artist James Turrell
and his groundbreaking light installations (recently on display at The Pace Gallery and The
Guggenheim), the composer seeks to turn the sculptures’ contemplative nature into a slow,
gradually changing soundscape that always remains still and hushed. “According to the great
Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna, ‘The Luminous Ground’ is that stage in a person’s progress
towards enlightenment when ‘the pacifying light of wisdom dawns’ and ‘attachment and
aversion have thoroughly ceased’,” explains Einhorn. “It is a nearly unimaginable state of
serenity, but one that is evoked, for me, by the extraordinary light sculptures of James Turrell.”

About Musica Viva NY

Praised by The New York Times as an “excellent chorus”, Musica Viva NY is a chamber choir of
30+ professionals and highly skilled volunteers. Since its founding in 1977, Musica Viva NY has
been based in Manhattan’s historic All Souls Church. Under the baton of Artistic Director
Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, its mission is to bring world-class music to a widening community through its annual concert series, community engagement programs, and an ambitious artistic vision. Musica Viva NY’s imaginative programming offers joy, solace and renewal in a complex world. Presenting a broad repertoire of new compositions and classic masterworks, Musica Viva NY emphasizes artistic excellence and transformative interpretations to ennoble the human spirit.

Musica Viva NY regularly commissions and premieres new American music and is committed to performing the work of living American composers, women composers and composers of color, including works that are socially conscious and address social, racial or environmental issues.

Since 2014, Musica Viva NY has commissioned and performed works by Bora Yoon, Seymour
Bernstein, Elena Ruehr, Joseph Turrin, Alexandra T Bryant, Gilda Lyons, Richard Einhorn, Steve Reich, Frank Ticheli, Morten Lauridsen, Florence Price, Frank Ferko, Lori Laitman, Trent Johnson, George Walker, Joel Thompson, Missy Mazzoli, Randall Thompson and Jesse Montgomery, among others. MusicaViva.org

Ticketing + Program Information:
Sunday, May 21, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. (pre-concert talk at 4:00 p.m.)
All Souls Church, 1157 Lexington Avenue, New York City, New York
Train 6 to 77th Street or N/Q/R to 86th Street
Tickets: $40 ($30 for students) are available from MusicaViva.org.
Musica Viva NY choir
Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, conductor
Artists TBA – chamber ensemble

Program: LUX AETERNA: Schubert, Einhorn, Lauridsen and others
Starburst (2021) by Jessie Montgomery
The Darkness Is No Darkness (1994) by Judith Bingham
Thou Wilt Keep Him in Perfect Peace (1850) by Samuel Sebastian Wesley
Mass No. 2 in G Major (1815) by Franz Schubert
The Luminous Ground (2023) by Richard Einhorn world premiere
Lux Aeterna (1997) by Morten Lauridsen

1157 Lexington Avenue
New York, New York 10075
United States