Oratorio Society of New York to Perform Handel's MESSIAH at Carnegie Hall, 12/23

"Having performed Messiah annually since 1874, the [Oratorio Society of New York] has as firm a claim on tradition-minded listeners as any choir in New York," Allan Kozinn wrote in The New York Times in 2008. "And as notions about Baroque style have led to a preference for smaller ensembles in this music, the Oratorio Society has held the line for choral grandeur, fielding nearly 200 singers for its Messiah."

And so, on Monday, December 23, 2013, at 8:00 PM-the eve of Christmas Eve-at Carnegie Hall, the Oratorio Society of New York will offer its 204th performance of Handel's Messiah in the grand style for which it is celebrated. Music Director Kent Tritle leads the 200-voice chorus, currently marking its 141st concert season, and a quartet of young soloists: Kathryn Lewek, soprano; Rebecca Ringle, mezzo-soprano; Nicholas Phan, tenor, and Dashon Burton, bass-baritone, who was the 2012 first-prize-winner of the OSNY's Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition.

"The Oratorio Society is a large chorus," says Kent Tritle, "and my teachers always said to me that large choruses can't move. One of the things that makes our Messiahs so great is that this chorus does move! Their execution of the melismas, affectionately referred to as 'the runs'-is phenomenal."

The OSNY's Carnegie Hall series comes to a close with a performance of Bach's epic St. Matthew Passion on May 20, 2014, with soloists Nicholas Phan as the Evangelist, Kevin Deas as Christus, and Leslie Fagan, Susanne Mentzer, Matthew Plenk, and Kelly Markgraf. In the course of the 2013/14 season, Mr. Tritle will conduct all three of Bach's great choral masterworks: the St. Matthew Passion with the OSNY, the St. John Passion at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; and the Mass in B Minor at the Manhattan School of Music.

In addition to having its own annual Carnegie Hall series, on March 6, 2014, the OSNY will be the guest chorus for a performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, to be conducted by Sir Roger Norrington with the Orchestra of St. Luke's. And in March 2014, the OSNY will hold its 38th annual Lyndon Woodside Oratorio Solo Competition, the only competition to focus exclusively on oratorio singing. The competition draws more than 100 applicants from around the world. Finals will be held on Saturday, April 5 in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall.

Kent Tritle, one of America's leading choral conductors, is in his ninth season as Music Director of the Oratorio Society of New York. Called "the brightest star in New York's choral music world" by The New York Times, he is also Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Music Director of Musica Sacra, the longest continuously performing professional chorus in New York. In addition, Tritle is Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music and is a member of the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School. He is the host of the weekly radio show "The Choral Mix with Kent Tritle," an hour-long radio program on New York's Classical 105.9 WQXR and www.wqxr.org. An acclaimed organ virtuoso, he is also the organist of the New York Philharmonic and the American Symphony Orchestra. www.kenttritle.com

Soprano Kathryn Lewek, who makes her Metropolitan Opera debut singing the role of the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, five days after her Messiah performance, has been praised by The New York Times for a "luscious sound . . . that lifted Handel's phrases beautifully." In addition to making her Washington Opera debut, also as Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, she will perform the role with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, as well as sing the role of the Fairy in Cendrillon with New Orleans Opera, and the role of Angelica in Orlando with Hobart Baroque in Tasmania. http://kathrynlewek.com

Praised by Opera News for her "richly focused voice," young mezzo-soprano Rebecca Ringle made her Metropolitan Opera mainstage debut last season, singing Rossweisse in Die Walküre, which she also sang for the Tanglewood Festival. She made her role debut as Rosina in IL Barbiere di Siviglia with Fargo-Moorhead Opera and performed with the Bard Music Festival in Stravinsky's Requiem Canticles. www.rebeccaringle.com

Named one of National Public Radio's Favorite New Artists of 2011, Nicholas Phan continues to distinguish himself as one of today's most compelling young tenors. This Benjamin Britten centennial season, Phan is garnering praise for his focus on and affinity for the composer's music, and for his most recent recordings, Winter Words, and Still Falls the Rain, both all-Britten discs. www.nicholas-phan.com

Praised for his "nobility and rich tone," (The New York Times) and his "enormous, thrilling voice seemingly capable . . . [of] raising the dead;" (Wall Street Journal), bass-baritone Dashon Burton's 2013/14 season will find him making his debut with The Cleveland Orchestra in Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen led by Franz Welser-Möst, returning to the Charlotte Symphony for the St. Matthew Passion which he also sings on tour in the Netherlands, and making a debut with Boston's Handel & Haydn Society in Handel's Samson.