Oratorio Society of New York 2015-16 Season to Feature Merryman's 'Jonah,' Handel/Mozart & More

The Oratorio Society of New York (OSNY), New York's standard for grand choral performance, will mark its 2015/16 season with performances of two major symphonic choral works written within the past 20 years. Leading OSNY in its 143rd season will be Kent Tritle, in his 11th year as music director.

The OSNY season opens Monday, November 2, with the Carnegie Hall premiere of Juraj Filas' massive Requiem, Oratio Spei (Prayer of Hope), dedicated to the victims of terrorism. On Monday, December 21, for their annual sold-out holiday performance of Handel's Messiah, Mr. Tritle and the OSNY reprise their critically acclaimed 2011 presentation of Mozart's rarely-heard arrangement of the work. The series ends Monday, May 9, as Mr. Tritle pairs two works spanning two centuries: the New York premiere of Marjorie Merryman's Jonah, written in 1995, and Haydn's revered "Lord Nelson" Mass, written in 1798.

Furthermore, on Thursday, February 25, Mr. Tritle will lead the combined forces of the OSNY, the Cathedral Choristers of St. John the Divine, and the Manhattan School of Music (MSM) Symphonic Chorus and Orchestra in Mahler's Symphony No. 8, "Symphony of a Thousand," as part of the Cathedral's Great Music in a Great Space series. This will be OSNY's first performance of the epic Mahler Symphony in its 143-year history. On Thursday, April 7, OSNY and the other choruses and soloists will perform and record the work in the world premiere of an organ transcription, written and played by David Briggs.

On Saturday, April 9, OSNY will celebrate the 40th anniversary of its annual Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition by presenting the 2015 finals in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. Mr. Tritle joins other leading figures in the choral and vocal fields as judges.

Nov 2-FILAS' REQUIEM: The OSNY opens its 2015/16 season and Carnegie Hall subscription series on Monday, November 2, with a work that has become closely identified with its music director. Mr. Tritle led the US premiere of Juraj Filas' Requiem, Oratio Spei, at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in 2011 (with a choir of 60 singers), and he conducted the work's debut recording, a project of the New York-based Harmony Foundation, in Prague with the Prague Symphony and Kühn Mixed Choir in 2013.

Filas had just begun composing the work when the 9/11 attacks occurred. He finished it a year later, and dedicated it to all victims of terrorism. Mr. Tritle is eager to bring it to Carnegie Hall for the first time, because "it gives New York a glimpse into the international response to 9/11." Describing Filas as "bridging the Romantic and modern eras," Mr. Tritle calls the Requiem "a magnificent piece on the scale of the Verdi Requiem. At times it has great grandeur and drama, and at other times it is hauntingly intimate."

All three soloists have sung the work with Mr. Tritle: soprano Susanna Phillips and baritone John Michael Moore appeared in the US premiere, and tenor Matthew Plenk sang in the recording. Ms. Phillips, who will appear at the Metropolitan Opera for her eighth consecutive season, sang with OSNY in last season's Haydn's Creation. Mr. Plenk sang in OSNY's 2013 St. Matthew Passion, while Mr. Moore makes his OSNY and Carnegie Hall debuts. In a unique connection, as a youth he played drums in a band with Mr. Tritle's brother in their native Iowa.

December 21-HANDEL/MOZART'S MESSIAH: In December 2011, Mr. Tritle led OSNY in Mozart's 1789 arrangement of Handel's Messiah, which had once been widely performed but now is done infrequently. "What makes this so fascinating is that we're getting Handel with the imagination of Mozart," explains Mr. Tritle. "Mozart 'modernized' the orchestra to include trombones, two flutes, two clarinets, two horns and divided bassoons. He also reassigned several arias for the singers he worked with-just as Handel had done." For example, the tenor, rather than the soprano, sings "Rejoice Greatly," and the bass, rather than the mezzo, sings "But Who May Abide."

On Monday, December 21, OSNY will present the arrangement again, featuring four soloists who have all sung Messiah with OSNY, and, in Mr. Tritle's words, "can do both Baroque and Classical equally well": soprano Emalie Savoy, who also sang with OSNY in Britten's War Requiem; mezzo-soprano Sara Murphy, who was the 2013 winner of the Lyndon Woodside Competition and sang in last season's Messiah and the Verdi Requiem; tenor Nicholas Phan, who was the narrator for the 2013 St. Matthew Passion; and bass Matt Boehler who appeared in the 2008 Messiah.

February 25-MAHLER'S "SYMPHONY OF A THOUSAND": Among Mr. Tritle's other roles is that of Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music. In a desire to re-envision the great massive choral concerts of the 19th century, he created what he calls "a synergistic collaboration" among the three organizations that resulted in a concert of Verdi's Requiem at the Cathedral last March. "The experience was amazing," he remembers. "We filled the Cathedral with 300 performers and 2,000 audience members, and we still had to turn people away."

That collaboration will continue on Thursday, February 25, as Mr. Tritle leads OSNY, the MSM Symphonic Chorus and Orchestra, and the Cathedral Choristers (the Cathedral's children's choir), in Mahler's Symphony No, 8, "Symphony of a Thousand." "I played the organ for this piece in Lorin Maazel's final performance with the New York Philharmonic, but I've never conducted it, and I'm thrilled I'll be leading OSNY in its first performance of the work," says Mr. Tritle. "It begins with an exuberant, bright setting of "Veni, Creator Spiritus" and then takes a completely different and very dark turn with the final act of Goethe's Faust. Yet it is totally transcendent throughout." For the eight soloist parts, Mr. Tritle will use both professionals, including the Verdi Requiem mezzo-soprano Sara Murphy, and singers from the MSM graduate program.

On Thursday, April 7, also at the Cathedral, there will be a special encore presentation of the Symphony featuring the world premiere of an organ transcription by David Briggs. Mr. Briggs will play the Cathedral organ and be joined by the OSNY, MSM chorus, Cathedral Choristers and the soloists of February 25, led by Mr. Tritle. The work will be recorded for the Pro Organo label.

May 9-MERRYMAN: Jonah (New York premiere) / HAYDN: Missa in Angustiis, "Lord Nelson": For OSNY's final 2015/16 concert at Carnegie Hall on Monday, May 9, Mr. Tritle presents a program with a "nautical" theme that spans nearly 200 years. He pairs Marjorie Merryman's 1995 oratorio, Jonah, which The Washington Post called "an artistic treasure," with Haydn's towering 1798 mass dedicated to Lord Horatio Nelson.

Currently Provost and Dean of the College at the Manhattan School of Music, Ms. Merryman is, as Mr. Tritle describes, "a composer whose works are very layered. She writes for the voice like a beautiful art song." He adds that "the Merryman pairs very nicely with the Haydn, both for its nautical theme and because both orchestras use Classical instrumentation." The "Lord Nelson" was the first piece Mr. Tritle chose to focus on when he was studying choral conducting at Juilliard. "This Mass is such a captivating listen. Haydn made some very special contrasting uses of dramatic elements, and I think that's why it's so popular."

The four soloists for the Haydn are led by soprano Rachel Rosales, who has appeared with OSNY at Carnegie Hall and on tour. Mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway makes her OSNY debut with this program. Tenor John Matthew Myers, who is also narrator for Jonah, was a soloist for OSNY's Britten War Requiem. Baritone Philip Cutlip, who sings the part of Jonah, was a soloist in Mr. Tritle's first Messiah as music director.

40th ANNUAL woodside ORATORIO-SOLO COMPETITION: On Saturday, April 9, OSNY will hold its 40th annual Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition, which remains the only major competition to focus exclusively on oratorio singing. The competition receives more than 125 applications, and in a process led by OSNY Associate Conductor David Rosenmayer, eight finalists are selected to perform at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall before a panel of judges that includes Mr. Tritle, He says, "through the Competition we've been able to shine a bright spotlight on this repertoire and encourage singers, who would otherwise just prepare for opera, to consider the richness of oratorio music."

TICKETS: All performances of the OSNY Carnegie Hall series will take place on the Perelman Stage of Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall.

Subscriptions are available at www.oratoriosocietyofny.org.

· 3-concert subscriptions are $243-$68.

· 2-concert subscriptions are $162-$45.

· Single tickets are $90-$25. They go on sale in the fall and be may be purchased at the Carnegie Hall Box Office or through CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800. They are also available at www.oratoriosocietyofny.org.

· Mahler Symphony No. 8 tickets will be available after Labor Day at www.stjohndivine.org.

· Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition tickets are $25. Tickets will go on sale in February, and may be purchased at the Carnegie Hall Box Office or through CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800. They will also be available next spring at www.carnegiehall.org.

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