New York Choral Society Presents STABAT MATER, 5/1

New York Choral Society (NYCS) will close its? 52nd season with a performance of Antonín Dvo?ák?s powerful Stabat Mater on May 1, commemorating the death of the great composer on May 1,1904. The performance will feature acclaimed soprano Angela Meade, mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford, tenor Yeghishe Manucharyan and bass-baritone Burak Bigili accompanied by the Brooklyn Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall at 2pm.

The Stabat Mater is the first of Dvo?ák?s work with a religious theme. Started after the loss of his daughter and later completed in 1877 after the death of two more of his children, this monumental piece - extremely spiritual and reflective of the composer?s personal life experiences - is one of the most powerful of Dvo?ák?s compositions.

Angela Meade, soprano, made her professional operatic debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Verdi?s Elvira in Ernani in March 2008. She had previously sung on the Met stage as one of the winners of the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She has triumphed in fifty-three vocal competitions, winning many of the opera world?s most important prizes. In addition to being a winner at the 2007 Met National Council Auditions, she was the first singer ever to take first prize in both the opera and operetta categories of Vienna?s prestigious Belvedere Competition as well as the International Press Prize and the La Scala Prize.

During the 2010 Caramoor Summer Festival, Ms. Meade made her highly acclaimed return to the festival in the title role of Bellini?s Norma. The New York Times noted her as "an impressive soprano who powered out a „Casta diva? from Bellini?s Norma that left everyone breathless." Alex Ross of the New Yorker hailed her performance as one of the top performances of 2010.

The 2010/11 season for Ms. Meade has included her European operatic debut at the Wexford Festival in the title role of Mercadante?s rarely seen Virginia. She also returned to the Metropolitan Opera to cover the title role in Rossini?s Armida. In the concert world, Ms. Meade made her debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Houston Symphony and the Palm Beach Opera singing Verdi?s Requiem and she will sing her first performance of Donna Anna in a concert version of Don Giovanni with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. In the 2011/12 season, Angela Meade will return to the Metropolitan Opera as the title role in Donizetti?s Anna Bolena as well as Elvira in Verdi?s Ernani, both productions conducted by Marco Armiliato. Tamara Mumford, mezzo-soprano, returned to the Metropolitan Opera this season for The Magic Flute and Nixon in China. She can also be seen in their upcoming productions of Das Rheingold, Ariadne auf Naxos, and The Queen of Spades. She also returns to the Opera Company of Philadelphia as the title role in the American premiere of Henze?s Phaedra. A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera?s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Ms. Mumford made her debut there as Laura in Luisa Miller, and has since appeared in their productions of Rigoletto, Ariadne Il Trittico, Parsifal, Idomeneo, Cavalleria Rusticana, the complete Ring Cycle, and The Magic Flute. Other recent opera engagements have included her debuts at the Opera Company of Philadelphia as the title role in The Rape of Lucretia, Glimmerglass Opera as the title role in Dido and Aeneas, and the Glyndebourne Opera Festival and the BBC Proms as Ottavia in L'incoronazione di Poppea. She appeared in the title role in The Rape of Lucretia, conducted by Lorin Maazel at the Castleton Festival; Principessa in Suor Angelica and Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi with the Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi di Milano.

Yeghishe Manucharyan, tenor, joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in 2007-2008, covering Iphigenie and La Traviata. In recent seasons Manucharyan has appeared in Donizetti?s Maria di Rohan at the Wexford Festival, Gerald in Lakme with The Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni at the New York City Opera, and Argirio in Rossini?s Tancredi at the Caramoor Festival. He has sang at Minnesota Opera as Rodriga in Rossini?s La donna del Lago, and at the San Diego Opera as Leicester in Donizetti?s Maria Stuarda. He made his debut as Nadir in Les pecheurs de perles with the Orquesta Symphonic del Estado de Mexico, and returned to Baltimore Opera for the Duke in Rigoletto. He also appeared at Caramoor in Donizetti?s Elisabeth.
Burak Bigili, bass-baritone, made his professional operatic debut at the Teatro alla Scala in 2002-03 as Don Alfonso in Lucrezia Borgia. Mr. Bilgili?s 2010-2011 season engagements include his Bayerische Staatsoper debut as Don Basilio in IL Barbiere di Siviglia, his role debut as Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte in Avignon, his return to the Grand Théâtre de Gèneve and the Seattle Opera as Don Basilio, and his return to Vancouver Opera as Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor. In the spring he will perform Janacek?s Glagolitic Mass with the Atlanta Symphony. Future engagements include his return to Vancouver Opera in 2012 to perform the role of Filippo II in Don Carlo. He will also debut the Dallas Opera as Don Basilio in Barbiere di Siviglia.

The New York Choral Society (NYCS), founded in 1958, has become known by audiences and critics for the quality of its performances and the diversity of its repertoire, which encompasses well-known choral masterworks as well as many compositions rarely heard in concert halls. The NYCS has presented eleven world premieres and has commissioned works by Paul Alan Levi, Morton Gould, Stephen Paulus, and Robert De Cormier.

John Daly Goodwin, Music Director of the New York Choral Society, has built on the ensemble?s tradition of excellence over the past 23 seasons to make it the chorus of choice for American Ballet Theatre, the Richard Tucker Music Foundation and the September Concert Foundation. Under his direction, the chorus has performed in China, the Czech Republic, Israel, Austria, France, Italy, and Greece. His performances of such works as Mahler?s 8th Symphony, Beethoven?s Missa solemnis, and the Requiems of Verdi, Mozart, and Brahms have achieved much critical acclaim. He has conducted more than 90 concerts around New York City, including 40 in Carnegie Hall and 7 at Lincoln Center, and has prepared choruses for Leonard Bernstein, Dennis Russell Davies, Asher Fisch, Yong Yan Hu, Yehudi Menuhin, Eve Queler, Julius Rudel, Gerard Schwarz, Leonard Slatkin, and Robert Spano.

Goodwin?s strong personal commitment to music education has led him to do extensive volunteer work with aspiring young musicians. Through Young Audiences, Artsgenesis, and the New York Choral Society?s Mini Maestros program, he has brought the gift of music to thousands of children in New York City public schools.

Tickets are $30 - $80 and can be purchased through the Carnegie Hall box office located at 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, or by visiting www.carnegiehall.org or calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800.