Comfort and Joy this Holiday Season

Part 1: Holiday music for virtual performance

Contributing Editor: Jonathan Campbell

We live in uncertain times. What can choral music offer? Certainty! We can bring joy to our communities, no matter the circumstances. 2020 taught us that choral musicians can overcome almost anything. If we can’t sing in person, we sing virtually. If we have to sing masked and socially distanced, we do that. And in the holiday spirit, we can bring comfort and joy to our schools, churches, and communities.

Holiday music suitable for virtual performance:

“A Facebook Christmas” by J. David Moore

Unison.

This 7-part, a cappella round, features a collection of Facebook status updates of David’s friends and family from the week of Christmas, 2009.

“Blessed Be!” by Melanie DeMore

SATB a cappella

“Blessed Be!” is a celebration of life that uses the “tree of life” metaphor to joyfully express our gratitude for human connection–to generations that have come before us and those yet to come. Melanie DeMore shares the following, when talking about her inspiration for the text in “Blessed Be!”:

“Trees are shelter. Trees are sanctuary and symbols of antiquity and strength. Trees are the living embodiment of the passage of time. They endure scarring and disease, and they become gnarled and creaky, yet they remain steadfast. They can grow despite the changes happening around them. Trees live in harmony with their surroundings much longer than humans do. They are always an inspiration, especially in winter when their skeleton forms can be seen against the pale sky.”- Melanie DeMore

“Noel, noel” by Paul John Rudoi

Two-part mixed, harp (or piano)

Equally accessible and deeply affecting, Paul John Rudoi’s “Noel, noel” is a new Christmas carol for our time. On the surface is a singable, universal melody coupled with gorgeous accompaniment for either harp or guitar. Yet it is Rudoi’s own lyrics, chronicling Jesus’ story from birth to death and beyond, that embody the full universality of the season and our own humanity.

“Infant Holy, Infant Lowly” arr. Michael Weber

SAB, piano

A beautiful and expressive telling of the Christmas story, this piece is an arrangement of a traditional Polish Christmas carol. Ranges and voice-leading are accessible to smaller or less experienced choirs. Weber’s “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly” performed by the NDSU Madrigal Singers.

About the composers

J. David Moore is a composer, arranger, conductor, teacher, and Southerner who has lived in the Upper Midwest for most of his life. His music has been called “endlessly inventive,” “glorious…haunting…breathtaking,” and “joyous…wild and elemental.” He publishes through his company Fresh Ayre Music, and is the founder and conductor of The First Readings Project, a chamber choir that acts as a resource for composers in the development and promotion of new work. He lives with his wife Anna in Minneapolis, where he bakes bread, drinks tea, and is distracted by beauty.

Melanie DeMore is one of the most outstanding vocal artists of today helping to preserve the African American Folk Tradition through song and Gullah stick pounding. She was the subject of a documentary called ‘Stick and Pound’ which showcases this tradition. She has a career spanning 30 years dedicated to teaching, lecturing, mentoring, conducting, directing and inspiring children and adults about the power of song as social and political change. Her piece is published through VocalEssence Music Press, a dynamic music publishing company that offers a select group of emerging composers the opportunity to make their music available to choirs everywhere. And we offer choruses access to new music they can’t find anywhere else. Our mission is to help choruses, conductors and composers connect in meaningful ways by publishing exciting new music for singers at all levels. VocalEssence Music Press is a subsidiary of VocalEssence, a leading arts organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Deemed “indesputably unique, confident, and innovative” through the American Prize, Paul John Rudoi’s award-winning compositions have been commissioned and performed by various ensembles and artists throughout North America and Europe, including Orphei Dränger, the Vancouver Chamber Singers, the British Trombone Society, Cantus, and the National Lutheran Choir. His work has garnered numerous grants from the Jerome Foundation, the ACF, MRAC, MSAB, the NEA, and ASCAP. His music is published through PJR Music alongside Graphite, Santa Barbara, Walton, Morningstar, and ECS music publishers. As a professional tenor vocalist, Paul has performed and recorded a wide range of music as a member of the full-time vocal ensemble Cantus. From 2008-2016, he premiered dozens of new works for male chorus, toured on four continents, and advocated for arts education and empowerment through education outreach opportunities nationwide.

Michael J. Weber is the Associate Director of Choral Activities at North Dakota State University. Dr. Weber conducts the Madrigal Singers and The Statesmen of NDSU and teaches classes in choral conducting, choral literature, and music education. The NDSU Challey School of Music Choral Series is part of the school’s mission to serve our world-wide community of musicians and supporters. The music selected for this series has a wide range of voicings and difficulties which can meet the needs of choral musicians everywhere. The NDSU Challey School of Music Choral Series is committed to publishing high-quality choral music written by composers and arrangers who believe in the power that choral music has to enrich and enhance the lives of all.

Comfort and Joy this Holiday Season

Part 2: Music for Live Performance

Contributing Editor: Jonathan Campbell

We live in uncertain times. What can choral music offer? Certainty! We can bring joy to our communities, no matter the circumstances. 2020 taught us that choral musicians can overcome almost anything. If we can’t sing in person, we sing virtually. If we have to sing masked and socially distanced, we do that. And in the holiday spirit, we can bring comfort and joy to our schools, churches, and communities.

Holiday music for live performance:

“Il-presepju tal-Milied/Christmas Cradle” by Timothy C. Takach

SATB div. a cappella

A contemporary composition in the seldom heard Maltese language, “Il-presepju tal-Milied” is a telling of the nativity scene – familiar images in an unfamiliar language. The haunting melody is repeated for each strophe in different combinations of voices until the undulating harmonies feel familiar. The final stanzas are set as a homophonic prayer, a reminder of the joy and humility found at Christmas.  

“Ring Out Ye Bells” by Dale Trumbore

SATB and piano, SA and piano, or TB and piano

“Ring Out, Ye Bells!” is a joyous new carol available in three versions. Here, an exuberant piano part mimics the powerful resonance of harps and bells. This piece sets a text by Paul Laurence Dunbar and was premiered by VocalEssence (Philip Brunelle, director) as a winner of their 2013 Welcome Christmas Carol Contest.  

“Red and Green” by Joan Szymko

SSAA, piano, and percussion or SATB, piano, and percussion

This piece will enliven any Christmas or Solstice program! English folk singer Maddy Prior (best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span) is also a gifted songwriter. “Red and Green,” from Prior’s 1996 album, has pre-Christian roots and  a definite Celtic feel; exploring humanity’s connection to earth’s seasonal changes. The driving and exciting piano part will allow your accompanist to shine! 

“Hear the Song Begin” by Dominick DiOrio

Soprano, organ

“Hear the Song Begin” is a melancholic setting of Sara Teasdale’s “Christmas Carol” for soprano and organ. Filled with wonder, pathos, and mystery, the work is a true duet for two artists who each share a yearning melody that wanders in search of the Christ child. Shepherds, kings, and wise men all appear, each in thrall to the sleeping baby Jesus.

Dominick DiOrio’s “Hear the Song Begin” performed by Jolle Greenleaf, soprano and Christian Lane, organ at Emmanuel Episcopal Church Baltimore.  

About the composers

Reviewed as “gorgeous” (Washington Post) and “stunning” (Lawrence Journal-World), the music of Timothy C. Takach has risen fast in the concert world. Applauded for his melodic lines and rich, intriguing harmonies, Takach has received commissions from various organizations including the St. Olaf Band, Cantus, Pavia Winds, Lorelei Ensemble, The Singers: Minnesota Choral Artists, VocalEssence, the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, The Rose Ensemble, and numerous high school and university choirs. His compositions have been performed on A Prairie Home Companion, The Boston Pops holiday tour, multiple All-State and festival programs and at venues such as the Library of Congress, Kennedy Center and Royal Opera House Muscat. Takach has received grants from the American Composers Forum, Meet the Composer, Minnesota State Arts Board, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, and ASCAP.

Dale Trumbore is a Los Angeles-based composer and writer whose music has been praised by The New York Times for its “soaring melodies and beguiling harmonies.” Her music has been widely performed in the U.S. and internationally by ensembles including the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Pacific Chorale, Pasadena Symphony, The Singers – Minnesota Choral Artists, and VocalEssence. She has served as Composer in Residence for Choral Chameleon and Nova Vocal Ensemble. Choral Arts Initiative’s debut album of her choral works, How to Go On, debuted at #6 on Billboard’s Traditional Classical Chart. Trumbore has written extensively about working through creative blocks and establishing a career in music in essays for 21CM, Cantate Magazine, the Center for New Music, NewMusicBox, and in her book Staying Composed: Overcoming Anxiety and Self-Doubt Within a Creative Life.

The music of young American composer Dominick DiOrio has been called “a tour de force of inventive thinking and unique colour” (Gramophone) and “[full of] sunny rays of heavenly light” (Opera News). In 2014, he was named the winner of The American Prize in Composition with the judges saying “his depth of vision, mastery of compositional technique, and unique style set him in a category by himself.” DiOrio’s music is widely performed, published, and recorded, having been presented in major venues across the United States as well as in Austria, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Sweden, and the UK. His works are published with Boosey & Hawkes, Carl Fischer, G. Schirmer, Oxford, and others; and they can be heard on albums released with Divergence, MSR Classics, Naxos of America / Seraphic Fire Media, and New Dynamic Records. Also an accomplished conductor, DiOrio is the youngest-ever tenured member of the conducting faculty at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He is the director of NOTUS, an elite chamber chorus that specializes in performing and commissioning new music of living composers. DiOrio earned the DMA, MMA, and MM degrees in conducting from the Yale School of Music, and the BM in composition from Ithaca College. He currently serves as Treasurer for the National Collegiate Choral Organization, as a member of the Board of Directors for Chorus America, and on the ACDA Composition Initiatives Standing Committee.

Joan Szymko (b.1957) is a composer and conductor living and working in Portland, Oregon where she is entering her 23rd season as the Artistic Director of Aurora Chorus. As a frequently commissioned composer with a catalog of over 100 published choral works, her music is performed by ensembles across North America and abroad. Since 2003, her music has been performed at every National Conference of the American Choral Directors Association. In 2010 the ACDA recognized Szymko’s lasting impact on the choral arts in America by selecting her as the recipient of the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Commission. Joan enjoyed a fruitful, decade-long collaboration with Robin Lane and Do Jump! Movement Theater (1994-2004) performing her original music with the company in Portland and touring on Broadway, at the Kennedy Center and at the Geffen Playhouse in LA. She has served on the choral music faculty at Portland State University (2013-15). As a visiting artist, she workshops her music with choirs in a variety of educational settings across the US and most recently, in the Netherlands.

Malcolm J. Merriweather, music director & conductor

Elliott Forrest and Rod Caspers, co-directors

The Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra

Brooklyn College Conservatory Singers

Matthew Cahill, Tami Petty, and Markel Reed

What: The Dessoff Choirs presents Considering Matthew Shepard
When: Saturday, November 6, 2021, 4:00-6:00 p.m.,
Where: New York Society for Ethical Culture Concert Hall, 2 West 64th Street, New York, NY, Train: A/B/C/D Columbus Circle
Tickets: $20-40 in Advance. To purchase, visit dessoff.org.

What: Dessoff Dialogue (virtual): Considering Matthew Shepard
When: October 28, 2021, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
How: Free – Registration required in advance at dessoff.org.

New York City, NY (For Release 10.08.21) — Hailed as “one of the great amateur choruses of our time” (New York Today) for its “full-bodied sound and suppleness” (The New York Times), the 50-member Dessoff Choirs begins its 97th season with the New York premiere of Considering Matthew Shepard by Craig Hella Johnson. Conducted by Dessoff’s Music Director Malcolm J. Merriweather and co-directed by WQXR Radio’s Elliott Forrest (Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, producer, and director) and Rod Caspers, this 100-minute, three-part oratorio is a musical response to the tragic death of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man who has become an American icon and a symbol for hope and empowerment. This lightly-staged performance features The Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra, Brooklyn College’s Conservatory Singers, soloists Matthew Cahill in the part of Matthew Shepard, soprano Tami Petty, and baritone Markel Reed.

On October 6, 1998, University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was kidnapped, beaten, and left to die in what became an infamous act of brutality and one of America’s most notorious anti-gay hate crimes. He is the subject of Considering Matthew Shepard, Johnson’s evocative and compassionate first concert-length work. The choral composer channeled his own emotional response to Shepard’s death the only way he knew how — through music and words. “In composing Considering Matthew Shepard I wanted to create, within a musical framework, a space for reflection, consideration and unity around his life and legacy,” explained Craig Hella Johnson (b.1962).

Considering Matthew Shepard premiered in 2018 in Austin, Texas, performed by Johnson’s choral group Conspirare, and has subsequently toured nationally. It was broadcast on PBS and received a Grammy nomination for its 2016 recording (Harmonia Mundi). According to The Washington Post, “Considering Matthew Shepard demonstrates music’s capacity to encompass, transform and transcend tragedy. Powerfully cathartic, it leads us from horror and grief to a higher understanding of the human condition, enabling us to endure.”

Johnson set lyrics taken from Shepard’s personal journal, writings from his parents, newspaper reports, and a wide range of poetic and soulful texts by poets including Hildegard of Bingen, Lesléa Newman, Michael Dennis Browne, and Rumi. Jason Marsden, executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, helped Johnson research the piece. “Matt loved the theatre, films and music, and so it is fitting that a growing part of how he is honored and remembered is through the artistic achievements of those who, like myself, mourned his passage and refused to fully heal from the shock we all felt at his violent, needless death,” said Johnson. “The piece actually became a whole lot more than just the story of the suffering. It needed to become this larger invitation to return to love. And to return to remember who we are as human beings, in the deepest sense of our essence.”

Audiences describe the work as “brilliant,” “powerful,” “innovative,” “dazzling,” and “gripping.” The Bay Area Reporter wrote: “It has the richness, depth and complexity to compel repeated hearing, and the power to get you the first time out.” The Chicago Tribune hailed the piece, saying: “Listen to this music…and you’ll encounter the antithesis of despair and gloom. Yes, Considering Matthew Shepard conjures the horror of the crime, but through its synthesis of poetry, excerpts from Shepard’s journal and comments from his parents, the piece renders Shepard much more than just a victim: He’s a real-life, multidimensional person whose death led Johnson not only to lament what happened but to point toward a better path for humanity.”

About The Dessoff Choirs

The Dessoff Choirs, one of the leading choruses in New York City, is an independent chorus with an established reputation for pioneering performances of choral works from the Renaissance era through the 21st century. Since its founding in 1924, Dessoff’s concerts, professional collaborations, community outreach, and educational initiatives are dedicated to stimulating public interest in and appreciation of choral music as an art form that enhances the culture and life of our times. With repertoire ranging over a wide variety of eras and styles, Dessoff’s musical acumen and flexibility has been recognized with invitations from major orchestras for oratorios and orchestral works. Past performances include Britten’s War Requiem and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Lorin Maazel in his final performances as Music Director with the New York Philharmonic. Over the course of its nearly 100-year history, Dessoff has presented many world premieres, including works by Virgil Thomson, George Perle, Paul Moravec, and Ricky Ian Gordon; the first American performance in nearly 100 years of Montemezzi’s opera La Nave with Teatro Grattacielo; and the American premieres of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 5 and Sir John Tavener’s all-night vigil, The Veil of the Temple. Dessoff’s recent discography includes MARGARET BONDS: THE BALLAD OF THE BROWN KING AND SELECTED SONGS, a debut recording of Margaret Bonds’s crowning achievement, which was cited as a “Best Classical Recording of 2019” by WQXR-FM Radio; REFLECTIONS, featuring music by Convery, Corigliano, Moravec, and Rorem; and GLORIES ON GLORIES, a collection of American song featuring composers from Billings to Ives. The Dessoff Choirs is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Please visit dessoff.org for more information.

About Malcolm J. Merriweather

Conductor Malcolm J. Merriweather is Music Director of The Dessoff Choirs, founded in 1924, and known for pathbreaking performances of choral works from the pre-Baroque era through the 21st century. Merriweather enjoys a versatile career with performances ranging from the songs of Margaret Bonds to gems of the symphonic choral repertoire. The baritone can be heard on the GRAMMY nominated recording of Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road (NAXOS). Hailed by Opera News as “moving…expertly interpreted,” Margaret Bonds: The Ballad of the Brown King & Selected Songs (AVIE) has earned considerable praise around the world. An Associate Professor, he is Director of Choral Studies and Voice Department Coordinator at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, and the Artistic Director of “Voices of Haiti,” a 60-member children’s choir in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, operated by the Andrea Bocelli Foundation.

Merriweather is excited to resume in-person rehearsals and concerts. Highlights of his 2021-2022 season include the world premiere performance and recording of Credo and Simon Bore the Cross by Margaret Bonds; a performance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art entitled, The Beauty of Holiness; and performances with Syracuse Opera, North Carolina Opera, and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. During the pandemic, Merriweather’s 2020-2021 season has been enriched with guest lectures and virtual appearances around the world, most notably at Yale University and Columbia University. He has inaugurated a series of virtual events entitled “Dessoff Dialogues.” These conversations emphasize matters of social justice, equity, and inclusion as they relate to classical music and the choral art.

Merriweather’s 2019-2020 season included Fauré’s Requiem; Rutter’s The Sprig of Thyme; and Gregg Smith’s Continental Harmonist with The Dessoff Choirs. He was engaged by the Columbus Symphony Orchestra for Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road, and at the Eastman School of Music for the American Choral Directors Association Eastern Division Conference in Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. The COVID-19 global pandemic forced cancellations with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.

Merriweather holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting from the studio of Kent Tritle at the Manhattan School of Music, where his doctoral dissertation “Now I walk in Beauty, Gregg Smith: A Biography and Complete Works Catalog” constituted the first complete works list for the composer and conductor. He received Master of Music degrees in Choral Conducting and in Vocal Performance from the studio of Rita Shane at the Eastman School of Music, as well as his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Syracuse University, summa cum laude. His professional affiliations include membership in Pi Kappa Lambda, the American Choral Directors Association, and Chorus America. Connect with him on Twitter and Instagram @maestroweather.

About the Soloists
Matt Cahill believes that each of us is inextricably linked with the world around us, and that by shifting the way we pay attention to that world, we can find the deep inner beauty, truth, and peace that has been waiting both outside and inside of us all along. His quest to find, live, create, and share that deep inner beauty, truth, and peace has drawn labyrinthine lines through traditional professions and art forms. One constant is that there is always music, play, and movement. His professions include actor, singer, model, writer, director, choreographer, artistic director, administrator, producer, and teacher. His art forms include film, television, physical theater, musical theater, concert, opera, movement, and the Alexander Technique. As Le Monde in Paris declared, “you really want to hear him in either an opera or a musical. He has a big presence, a warm baritone voice, immense humanity, and the gift of an actor.”

Tami Petty is a recent Award Winner of the Joy in Singing Competition and has performed with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, and Voices of Ascension at Alice Tully Hall, for which The New York Times hailed her “powerful soprano”; Her upcoming engagements include her debut with the Modesto Symphony as the soprano soloist in Poulenc GLORIA and Richard Strauss VIER LETZTE GESÄNGE with the Brooklyn Art Song Society. Ms. Petty’s favorite oratorio and concert performances include Orff CARMINA BURANA with Lehigh Choral Arts, Beethoven MISSA SOLEMNIS with Choral Society of Grace Church NYC, Britten WAR REQUIEM at the ACDA’s Eastern Division Concert, Brahms GERMAN REQUIEM with Manchester Choral Society, Beethoven SYMPHONY NO. 9 with Altoona Symphony, Mozart REQUIEM with Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, Dvorak TE DEUM with St. George Choral Society, Vaughan Williams A SEA SYMPHONY with Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, DONA NOBIS PACEM with New Hampshire Music Festival, and Strauss VIER LETZTE GESÄNGE with St. Joseph Symphony. Ms. Petty’s repertoire also includes both soprano and mezzo-soprano operatic roles, including the title role in SUOR ANGELICA with Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, Leonore (FIDELIO) with Fort Collins Symphony, the Mother (AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS) with historic Grace Church in New York City, and Berta (IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA) with Cincinnati Opera and Central City Opera, among others. She is a recipient of career grants from the Richard Tucker Foundation, the Lotte Lehmann Foundation and the Lotte Lenya Competition.

Markel Reed, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, has been featured in various concerts, recitals and performances throughout the U.S., Canada and in Europe. His repertoire includes: Schaunard in La Bohème, Il County in Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Leporello in Don Giovanni, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and John Sorel in The Consul. As a passionate conveyor of the operatic repertoire, Mr. Reed is a wonderful interpreter of both the standard, as well as contemporary works. Following the shutdowns of Covid-19, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ first live season of 2021 saw Markel in the premiere of acclaimed The Tongue & The Lash composed by Damien Sneed and written by Karen Chilton. Born out of racial turbulence following George Floyd’s death, the role of James Baldwin in the piece provided an apt conduit to express the difficult topic. In March of 2020, Markel premiered Nkeiru Okoye’s masterwork entitled Black Bottom with the Detroit Symphony. It is a musical depiction of a historically black community of the same name. In the Summer of 2019, he originated the role of “Chester” in the premiere of Terence Blanchard’s acclaimed opera Fire Shut up in my Bones with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Following this, Mr. Reed had the pleasure of singing in the Metropolitan Opera’s Grammy winning production of Porgy and Bess. As a member of Utah Opera’s Resident Artist Program, Mr. Reed performed the roles of Masetto in Don Giovanni, Dancaïre in Carmen, Kromov in The Merry Widow and covered the role of Brian Castner in the western premiere of Jeremy Howard Beck’s The Long Walk. Mr. Reed was featured in a revue of original miniature operas as part of a collaboration between Utah Opera, the Bee (a story telling organization based in Salt Lake City) and local composers, entitled Operas on the Hive. Prior to his residency with Utah Opera, Mr. Reed was a young artist with Kentucky Opera during the 2014-15 season where he performed the role of Count Paris in Romeo et Juliette. He has also performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Bronx Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Soo Theatre Project, National Music Festival, Utah Symphony, Opera Louisiane, dell’Arte Opera, Lyric Opera Studio Weimar, Hartford Opera Theater, Lighthouse Opera, Utopia Opera, Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Markel Reed pursued his Bachelors of Music Performance at Oakwood University and is an alumnus of the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre program.

# # #

New York Premiere of Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard (Nov 6)

Messiah Sing (Dec 3) Christmas at The Met:

Margaret Bonds’s The Ballad of the Brown King (Dec 19)

New York Premiere of Margaret Bonds’s Credo (Apr 28)

DessoffSample-012.jpeg

New York City, NY (For Release September 20, 2021)— Hailed as “one of the great amateur choruses of our time (New York Today) for its “full-bodied sound and suppleness (The New York Times),” The Dessoff Choirs today announced its 2021-22 season. Marking its first live, in-person performance in almost two years, The Dessoff Choirs kick- starts its 97th season with the New York premiere of Considering Matthew Shepard co- directed by WQXR’s Elliott Forrest and Rod Caspers. This year’s traditional holiday programs include Dessoff’s debut performance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, presenting Margaret Bonds’s Christmas cantata, The Ballad of the Brown King, along with works by jazz great Mary Lou Williams. The season concludes with the New York premiere of the orchestral editions of two neglected Bonds cantatas: Credo (edition by Dr. Rollo Dillworth of Temple University) inspired by W.E.B. Du Bois’s essay, and Simon Bore the Cross (edition by Malcolm J. Merriweather), a collaboration with Langston Hughes. Dessoff welcomes some of today’s rising opera stars as soloists including Matthew Cahill (New York City Opera), Laquita Mitchell (San Francisco Opera), Markel Reed (Metropolitan Opera), Noah Stewart (Covent Garden), Lucia Bradford (New York City Opera), and more. (The complete season schedule is below.)

As Malcolm J. Merriweather, Dessoff’s ninth Music Director explains, “The Dessoff Choirs has been bringing beautiful music to New Yorkers for nearly 100 years. It was challenging and heartbreaking to not perform with each other and for our audiences for the past two years. We look forward to returning more resilient, energetic, humble, and generous. I have no doubt our choristers will sing their hearts out!”

The 2021-22 season shines a spotlight on African-American composer Margaret Bonds (1913-1972), a significant figure in the fight for civil rights. This season’s concerts mark the latest in Dessoff’s ongoing exploration of Bonds’s important work. In 2019, Dessoff released The Ballad of the Brown King (ArkivMusic/Avie) to much acclaim. According to WQXR Radio it was one the Best Classical Recordings of the year. “

All 2021-22 performances are conducted by Malcolm J. Merriweather. Tickets are priced at $20-40, and only available for purchase at dessoff.org.

About The Dessoff Choirs

The Dessoff Choirs, one of the leading choruses in New York City, is an independent chorus with an established reputation for pioneering performances of choral works from the Renaissance era through the 21st century. Since its founding in 1924, Dessoff’s concerts, professional collaborations, community outreach, and educational initiatives are dedicated to stimulating public interest in and appreciation of choral music as an art form that enhances the culture and life of our times. With repertoire ranging over a wide variety of eras and styles, Dessoff’s musical acumen and flexibility has been recognized with invitations from major orchestras for oratorios and orchestral works. Past performances include Britten’s War Requiem and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Lorin Maazel in his final performances as Music Director with the New York Philharmonic.

Over the course of its nearly 100-year history, Dessoff has presented many world premieres, including works by Virgil Thomson, George Perle, Paul Moravec, and Ricky Ian Gordon; the first American performance in nearly 100 years of Montemezzi’s opera La Nave with Teatro Grattacielo; and the American premieres of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 5 and Sir John Tavener’s all-night vigil, The Veil of the Temple. Dessoff’s recent discography includes REFLECTIONS, featuring music by Convery, Corigliano, Moravec, and Rorem; GLORIES ON GLORIES, a collection of American song featuring composers from Billings to Ives; and MARGARET BONDS: THE BALLAD OF Nearly 60 years after its premiere, conductor Malcolm J. Merriweather and the phenomenal New York-based Dessoff Choirs have at last provided a way to experience Margaret Bonds’ genius cantata, The Ballad of the Brown King.” Dessoff brings this Christmas cantata to the stage at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of the choir’s annual holiday programming. Wrapping up Dessoff’s season is the New York premiere of the orchestral version of Bonds’s little-known Credo. THE BROWN KING AND SELECTED SONGS, a debut recording of Margaret Bonds’s crowning achievement, which was cited as a “Best Classical Recording of 2019” by WQXR-FM Radio. The Dessoff Choirs is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Please visit dessoff.org for more information.

About Malcolm J. Merriweather

Conductor Malcolm J. Merriweather is Music Director of The Dessoff Choirs, founded in 1924, and known for pathbreaking performances of choral works from the pre-Baroque era through the 21st century. Merriweather enjoys a versatile career with performances ranging from the songs of Margaret Bonds to gems of the symphonic choral repertoire. The baritone can be heard on the GRAMMY nominated recording of Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road (NAXOS). Hailed by Opera News as “moving…expertly interpreted,” Margaret Bonds: The Ballad of the Brown King & Selected Songs (AVIE) has earned considerable praise around the world.

An Associate Professor, he is Director of Choral Studies and Voice Department Coordinator at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, and the Artistic Director of “Voices of Haiti,” a 60-member children’s choir in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, operated by the Andrea Bocelli Foundation.

Merriweather is excited to resume in-person rehearsals and concerts. Highlights of his 2021-2022 season include the world premiere performance and recording of Credo and Simon Bore the Cross by Margaret Bonds; a performance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of Margaret Bonds’s Ballad of the Brown King; and performances with Syracuse Opera, North Carolina Opera, and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. During the pandemic, Merriweather’s 2020-2021 season has been enriched with guest lectures and virtual appearances around the world, most notably at Yale University and Columbia University. He has inaugurated a series of virtual events entitled “Dessoff Dialogues.” These conversations emphasize matters of social justice, equity, and inclusion as they relate to classical music and the choral art.

Merriweather’s 2019-2020 season included Fauré’s Requiem; Rutter’s The Sprig of Thyme; and Gregg Smith’s Continental Harmonist with The Dessoff Choirs. He was engaged by the Columbus Symphony Orchestra for Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road, and at the Eastman School of Music for the American Choral Directors Association Eastern Division Conference in Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. The COVID-19 global pandemic forced cancellations with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.

Merriweather holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting from the studio of Kent Tritle at the Manhattan School of Music, where his doctoral dissertation “Now I walk in Beauty, Gregg Smith: A Biography and Complete Works Catalog” constituted the first complete works list for the composer and conductor. He received Master of Music degrees in Choral Conducting and in Vocal Performance from the studio of Rita Shane at the Eastman School of Music, as well as his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Syracuse University, summa cum laude. His professional affiliations include membership in Pi Kappa Lambda, the American Choral Directors Association, and Chorus America. Connect with him on Twitter and Instagram @maestroweather.

THE DESSOFF CHOIRS 2021-22 SEASON

Considering Matthew Shepard

Saturday, November 6, 2021, 4:00-6:00 p.m.; Pre-concert talk: 3:15 p.m.
New York Society of Ethical Culture Concert Hall, 2 West 64th Street, New York City

Marking its New York premiere, Dessoff presents a lightly staged performance of Considering Matthew Shepard, a three-part fusion oratorio about Matthew Shepard, a young, gay student who was kidnapped, severely beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die. The story is illustrated by a variety of musical styles seamlessly woven into a unified whole and a wide range of poetic and soulful texts by poets Hildegard of Bingen, Lesléa Newman, Michael Dennis Browne, and Rumi. Passages from Matt’s personal journal, interviews and writings from his parents Judy and Dennis Shepard, newspaper reports and additional texts by Johnson and Browne are poignantly appointed throughout the work. Performers: The Dessoff Choirs, Dessoff Orchestra, Matthew Cahill (Matthew Shepard), Tami Petty (soprano), Markel Reed (baritone), Brooklyn College Conservatory Singers. Co-directed by WQXR’s Elliott Forrest (Peabody-winning broadcaster, producer and director) and Rod Caspers.

Considering Matthew Shepard Craig Hella Johnson (b. 1962)

Messiah Sing

Friday, December 3, 2021, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Union Theological Seminary, 3041 Broadway, New York City

Dessoff holds its popular annual Handel Messiah Sing. Audience members are invited to join the choir for Messiah choruses; solos are performed by Dessoff members.

Messiah George Friderick Handel (1685-1759)

Christmas at The Met

Sunday, December 19, 2021, 3:00-5:00 p.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Avenue, New York City

The Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra usher in the winter solstice with Margaret Bonds’s Christmas cantata, The Ballad of the Brown King, along with shimmering choral works by Mary Lou Williams, featuring Black Christ of the Andes as the centerpiece. These works display the bittersweet intersection of music, poetry, religion, and the Civil Rights movement in America.

The Ballad of the Brown King was written in 1954/1960 to a libretto by Bonds’s long- time collaborator, Langston Hughes. The cantata focuses on the journey of the Three Kings through the lens of Balthazar, the Black king. Dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr., the piece is characterized by call-and-response textures, jazz harmonies, gospel vocalizations, calypso rhythms, and syncopated gestures. Using these styles Bonds affirms Black identity and its place in classical music during a tumultuous time in United States history.

Similarly, jazz pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams wrote Black Christ of the Andes out of inspiration from the Second Vatican Council and the Civil Rights movement. A devout Catholic, Williams often infused her music with themes of social justice, and she served as an activist from the stage and podium.

Performers: The Dessoff Choirs, Dessoff Orchestra, Laquita Mitchell (soprano), Noah Stewart (tenor), Lucia Bradford (mezzo-soprano), Ashley Jackson (harp), Nathaniel Gumbs (organ), Steven Ryan (piano)

The Ballad of the Brown King Credo
Lazarus
Our Father

Act of Contrition
St. Martin de Porres I have a dream

Credo

Margaret Bonds (1913-1972) Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981)

Thursday, April 28, 2022, 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Pre-concert talk: 6:45 p.m.

Church of the Heavenly Rest, 1085 5th Avenue, New York City

Dessoff continues its mission to perform rarely heard choral masterpieces with the New York orchestral premiere of Margaret Bonds’s Credo. Portions of the work were performed in 1972, just four weeks after the composer’s untimely death. In the mid- 1960s, Bonds focused her attention on the writings of civil rights activist and sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois. Du Bois’s essay Credo (1913) so inspired Bonds that she immediately began to compose her cantata on its text. The seven-movement piece was dedicated to the memories of poet Langston Hughes and singer-actress Abbie Mitchell. The text promotes unity and social equality, and Bonds expertly portrays the sentiment with rich harmonies and exciting motifs.

Simon Bore the Cross, an Easter cantata written in collaboration with Langston Hughes, is another rarely performed Bonds work. As in Ballad of the Brown King, the protagonist is again a black man, Simon, a role model for helping lift the lives of others. By performing and recording these overlooked works, Dessoff shines a light on Bonds’s neglected but important contribution to the American music canon.

This concert is made possible in part through the support of the Church of Heavenly Rest NYC and Reverend Matthew Heyd.

I BELIEVE: CREDO (world premiere) Margaret Bonds (1913-1972) Simon Bore the Cross

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