Schedule

Dec
9
Sat
Messiah Sing @ James Memorial Chapel, Union Theological Seminary
Dec 9 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Messiah Sing @ James Memorial Chapel, Union Theological Seminary | New York | New York | United States

Join the Dessoff Choirs for an afternoon at James Chapel singing through one of the most beloved seasonal classics, Handel’s Messiah. Participants may join to sing or listen. The soloists will come from The Dessoff Choirs membership.

Malcolm J. Merriweather, conductor

Dec
10
Sun
Welcome Yule! @ Saint John's Church, Brooklyn
Dec 10 @ 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Welcome Yule! @ Saint John's Church, Brooklyn | New York | United States

The Dessoff Choirs ushers in the winter solstice with a concert of seasonal repertoire and contemporary arrangements of carols. The concert opens with Gregg Smith’s motet Alleluia: Von Himmel Hoch, a setting of the chorale tune of the same name. Brahms’s romantic and lush trilogy, Drei geistliche Chöre is performed by the sopranos and altos of the choir followed by the full choir singing three motets by living composers Ned Rorem, Nancy Wertsch, and James Bassi. We also celebrate Hanukkah with Simchu Nu, by Leonard Bernstein. A set of popular carols will complete the concert including a candlelit rendition of Silent Night for all to sing. Welcome Yule! is the perfect way to shepherd us into the holiday spirit.

Alleluia: Von Himmel Hoch Gregg Smith (1931-2012)
Carol: O come all ye faithful John Francis Wade (1711-1786)
arr. David Willcocks (1919-2015)
Drei geistliche Chöre
   O Bone Jesu
   Adoramus te
   Regina coeli
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
O magnum mysterium (Serenity) Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978)
Wake, O Earth Nancy Wertsch (b.1943)
Quem pastores James Bassi (b. 1961)
Simchu na Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
Carol: Hark the herald angels sing Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
arr. Daniel Fortune and Malcolm J. Merriweather
Light one candle arr. Robert De Cormier (b. 1922)
Carol of the Bells arr. Peter J. Wilhousky
Carol: Silent night Franz Xaver Gruber (1787-1863)
“Hallelujah” from Messiah George Friderick Handel (1685-1759)
Mar
11
Sun
The Little Match Girl Passion @ The Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral
Mar 11 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
The Little Match Girl Passion @ The Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral | New York | New York | United States

The Dessoff Choirs presents David Lang’s the little match girl passion, a work that evokes passion through stasis, repetition, and the unexpected combination of percussion instruments with voices. The composer describes his inspiration for setting the text:

What drew me to The Little Match Girl is that the strength of the story lies not in its plot but in the fact that the horror and the beauty are constantly suffused with their opposites. Andersen tells this story as a kind of parable, drawing a religious and moral equivalency between the suffering of the poor girl and the suffering of Jesus.

In addition, Dessoff performs J.S. Bach’s Komm Jesu, komm, the fourth installment (over three seasons) of Bach’s six motets and as part of our Bernstein tribute, “II. Adonai, roi, lo ehsar” from Chichester Psalms.

Komm Jesu, komm, BWV 229 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
“II. Adonai, roi, lo ehsar” from Chichester Psalms Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
the little match girl passion David Lang (b.1957)
Apr
28
Sat
Freedom Concert @ Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew
Apr 28 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Freedom Concert @ Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew | New York | New York | United States

The Dessoff Choirs’ Freedom Concert, modeled after “freedom concerts” presented by the late Coretta Scott King, offers a choral tapestry of music that reflects on events of the past while promoting hope for the future. Featured works include Ralph Vaughan Williams’ plea for peace, Dona nobis pacem (1936); Robert Sirota’s homage to the nine victims of the Mother Emanuel AME massacre, Prelude and Spiritual for Mother Emanuel; works by female composers; and a commissioned work written by David Hurd. The concert closes with the well-known civil rights freedom song Oh Freedom.

“Dona nobis pacem” from Mass in B minor Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Dona nobis pacem Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
“III. Adonai, Adonai Lo gavah libi” from Chichester Psalms Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
Prelude and Spiritual for Mother Emanuel Robert Sirota (b.1949)
commissioned work David Hurd (b.1950)
Cry Peace Libby Larsen (b.1950)
Blessed Assurance Nancy Wertsch (b.1943)
We shall walk through the valley Undine Smith Moore (1904-1989)
Oh, Freedom arr. Malcolm J. Merriweather and Charles Duke
May
7
Mon
World Premiere: Paul Moravec’s “Sanctuary Road” @ Carnegie Hall
May 7 @ 8:00 pm – 10:30 pm

Led by preeminent conductor Kent Tritle, Malcolm returns to Carnegie Hall to sing the baritone solos in the world premiere of Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road, an oratorio about the Underground Railroad, commissioned by the Society.

Kent Tritle, conductor

May
19
Sat
Faure Requiem and Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem
May 19 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Faure Requiem and Vaughan Williams's Dona Nobis Pacem

Malcolm joins The Masterwork Chorus to sing the baritone solos in two of his favorite works: ​Fauré Requiem’s and Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Dona nobis pacem​.

Christopher Shepard, conductor

Aug
11
Sat
Mostly Mozart Festival @ The Cathedral of St. John the Divine
Aug 11 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

John Luther Adams, In the name of the Earth
West Chorus, Malcolm J. Merriweather, conductor

Sep
3
Mon
Celebrity Fight Night, Italy @ Performances at Porto Venere, Arena di Verona, Firenze, and the Vatican
Sep 3 – Sep 11 all-day

Voices of Haiti on Tour
Performances: Porto Venere, Arena di Verona, Firenze, and the Vatican

Oct
20
Sat
Carnegie Hall Music Educators Workshop @ Carnegie Hall
Oct 20 @ 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Malcolm J. Merriweather, clinician

Nov
2
Fri
Joe Hisaishi Symphonic Concert @ Carnegie Hall
Nov 2 @ 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Hollywood Film Orchestra
Brooklyn College Symphonic Choir, Malcolm J. Merriweather, conductor