Tuesday, December 10, 2019

A mainstay of Christmas in New York, Concerts at Saint Thomas presents The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys’ performances of Handel’s Messiah with New York Baroque Incorporated. Hailed by The New York Times as “one of the most prominent and special [Messiahs] of the city,” these concerts have become an annual tradition for many, heralding the coming of the festive season.

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A mainstay of Christmas in New York, Concerts at Saint Thomas presents The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys’ performances of Handel’s Messiah with New York Baroque Incorporated. Hailed by The New York Times as “one of the most prominent and special [Messiahs] of the city,” these concerts have become an annual tradition for many, heralding the coming of the festive season.

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Join the Boys of the Saint Thomas Choir and harpist, Sara Cutler, this holiday season to experience the spirit of Christmas with Benjamin Britten’s dramatic sequence of carols alongside other favorites. Having an earlier-than-usual start time, this family-friendly concert lasts one hour.

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In the third of five recitals in the 2019-2020 Grand Organ Series, Nathan Laube plays The Miller-Scott Organ for the first time. Laube, “Once a ‘rising star,’ is now an international star, and his consummate musicianship is justifiably celebrated worldwide.” (The Tracker) His program, featuring some of his own transcriptions for organ, will present works of Wagner, Liszt and J.S. Bach.

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The King’s Singers are consistently welcomed on the world’s great stages and have been throughout their history. They are ambassadors for musical excellence around the globe and have an ongoing commitment to new music that has resulted in an extraordinary wealth of original works as well as leading to some fantastic collaborations. Concerts at Saint Thomasis honored to host them for the first time at Saint Thomas Church. Ranging from Orlandus Lassus to Stanley Glasser to Billy Joel, they bring with them one of their favorite and most-versatile programs, An Audience with The King’s Singers.

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In the fourth installment of the Grand Organ Series, American Fulbright Scholar, Joy-Leilani Garbutt presents the music of Jeanne Demessieux and les compositrices françaises. A culmination of her own research in France, Garbutt plays a program of rediscovered French organ music composed by Claude Arrieu, Elsa Barraine, Nadia Boulanger, and other women of the early 20th century.

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The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys are joined once again by New York Baroque Incorporated for the wonderful and under-performed ‘stile galant’ oratorio by J. S. Bach’s illustrious son, C. P. E. Bach. Die letzten Leiden des Erlösers (The Last Sufferings of Christ) was first performed in 1770, and until 1785 was performed in Bach’s native Hamburg every year. Contemplative and dramatic by turns, this refined music offers a beautiful introduction to the spirituality of the season.

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In preparation for Easter and reflection of Passiontide, Holy Monday brings a chamber performance of François Couperin’s Leçons de ténèbres, an intimate and delicate setting of Jeremiah’s Lamentation texts for two sopranos, viola-da-gamba and continuo.

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On April 7th, we will hear Marcel Dupré’s vivid and dramatic tone poem based on the Fourteen Stations of the Cross, Le Chemin de la Croix, Op. 29. In between each movement of this poème symphonique will be read the English translations of intense poetic responses to the Stations by Paul Claudel (1868-1955), one who experienced a sudden religious conversion at the age of eighteen while listening to the choir sing Vespers in the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. Although a poet, Claudel’s professional life included spells as French vice-consul here in New York and as the French ambassador to Washington, D.C. (1928–1933).

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Presented as part of their Sesquicentennial Tour, Keble College Choir is one of Oxford’s leading mixed-voice ensembles. Since 2015, the group has toured France, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Czech Republic, as well as widely in the UK, and regularly broadcasts on BBC Radio. Highlights from the past year include the release of a new recording of the music of the ‘English Handel’ William Hayes with the Oxford-based period instrument ensemble Instruments of Time & Truth, and a new association with The Academy of Ancient Music with a recording of the music of Francisco Valls.

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In the Choir’s final appearance of the 2019-2020 season, Concerts at Saint Thomas presents some of the finest homegrown choral and organ music written in recent years. Come and be both surprised and edified by the glorious music of Calvin Hampton, Leo Sowerby (the ‘Dean’ of 20th century Episcopal music), Paul Creston, former chorister Julian Wachner, Peter Hallock, Nico Muhly, Jake Runestad, Josh Fishbein and others.

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In the last of the season’s Grand Organ Series recitals, Associate Organist Benjamin Sheen will explore the vast tonal range of the Miller-Scott organ in a unique program featuring music from his native England, including works inspired by one of the world’s most vibrant and revered cities. London has inspired a number of notable composers and this recital will feature brand new transcriptions of Edward Elgar’s ‘Cockaigne’ Overture, Eric Coates’ ‘London Suite’ and other works by C.H.H. Parry, Percy Whitlock and William Walton.