Past Performances

University of Michigan Men's Glee Club

April 07, 2022

The highlight of this program was the world premiere of the multi-movement work To Repair, composed by Tesfa Wondemagegnehu. This poignant piece focuses on confronting racial inequity and inspiring hope for a better America, incorporating elements of traditional African American spirituals and text from notable Black authors. The project was born from Wondemagegnehu’s 60-day pilgrimage across the eastern United States, where he fully immersed himself within Black communities to learn more about the struggles faced by marginalized individuals.

The concert also featured works composed by Benjamin Britten, Uzee Brown, Michael McGlynn, Connor Koppin, Rosephanye Powell, Robert Schumann, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Timothy C. Takach.

The Wartburg Choir

April 29, 2022

Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center

The program THE PATH OF TRANSCENDENCE was a multidimensional exploration of the many ways humanity seeks to overcome ordinary limitations. The Wartburg Choir led this journey with a program structured around five themes of transcendence, from the human to the divine.

This diverse program included a varied repertoire ranging from works by J.S. Bach to modern American composers like Abbie Betinis, whose piece BAR XIZAM was sung in the original Farsi. The program also included traditional works by Wartburg Choir founder F. Melius Christiansen and a premiere of Kyle Pederson’s CHOOSE LOVE, composed specifically for the choir’s 85th anniversary tour. The concert also featured works composed by Ily Matthew Maniano, Vytautas Miškinis, Robert A. Hobby, Eurydice V. Osterman, Pavel Chesnokov, C. Hubert, H. Parry, M. Thomas Cousins, and André Thomas.

This dynamic program featured choirs from across the country coming together for a powerful program that explores the concept of “hope” – how it is forged and perseveres against humanity’s greatest challenges. Led by acclaimed guest conductors this performance was one of the rare opportunities to experience high-level choral music with custom visual projection in Carnegie Hall.

The first half featured Andrea Ramsey’s Suffrage Cantata – a journey that begins with “degradation” and concludes in triumph with the phrase “moving forward into light.” She views historical sexism through an audacious lens: Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History – and seeks to finally give voice to the heroic American women that brought about the passage of the 19th amendment.

After intermission, the National Masterwork Chorus and orchestra performed Herschel Garfein and Robert Cohen’s Alzheimer’s Stories which lays bare the fact that night will surely fall, but implores us to sing into the void: “Sing anything. Love and music are the last things to go.”

FOREVER MUSIC

June 11, 2022

Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, Carnegie Hall

FOREVER MUSIC - a concert of timeless choral and operatic works featuring the National Opera Chorus & Orchestra led by Maestro Nicolás Dosman. Guest soloists included Alyson Cambridge (Soprano), David Margulis (Tenor), and Sidney Outlaw (Baritone).

The program included works that vary between moods and time periods, from raucous to ethereal, from modern to ancient, in a way that suggests it might be possible to experience everything all at once. There’s a line in the first half, from the aptly named Forever Music, that sums the program up nicely. We find ourselves in “A labyrinth of dreams / Where present, past and future meet upon a narrow bridge of time.” And all set to beautiful projection design!

The second half of the performance was a journey through beloved works from the operatic repertoire with premiere soloists, National Opera Chorus & Orchestra. This performance included works by the masters of Italian bel canto opera Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini paired with the forerunners of the American canon Gershwin, Bernstein and Scott Joplin. And including Bizet’s masterpiece “Carmen” and the timeless Habanera with soprano and chorus.