DCINY Presents VOCAL COLORS At Carnegie Hall Featuring ZIMBE! – A Choral Arrangement Of African Songs 

DCINY (Distinguished Concerts International New York) presents Vocal Colors, a celebration of choral tradition and innovation, featuring composer and conductor Alexander L'Estrange and his popular work Zimbe!, a choral arrangement of traditional African songs performed by an international choir of children and adults and accompanied by a jazz quintet. At the second act of the evening, conducted by Matthew Melendez, the Great Bend Chorale performs the world premiere of composer John Muehleisen's Borders, commissioned by the choir, and Andrey Stolyarov's Out of the depths. The concert will be held on Friday, May 24, at 7 pm at Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall. Tickets start at $20 and may be purchased by visiting DCINY.org.

Zimbe! is a vibrant 40-minute fusion of African song and jazz, charting a day in the life of an African village. There are simple children's playground songs from Ghana and Zimbabwe, a Xhosa lullaby for mothers of the victims of Apartheid, a rousing drinking song, and music used at religious ceremonies. L'Estrange has infused his unique arrangements with references to jazz, classical and 'world' music. The work will be performed by an international choir of youth and adult singers hailing from Dorking Choral Society, Greater Boston Intergenerational Chorus, The International Choir of Ho Chi Minh City, and Kinard Core Knowledge Middle School Choir.

Zimbe! was commissioned by Dorking Choral Society and their Music Director Justin Doyle, and premiered 10 years ago with local youth choirs accompaniment by the Call Me Al Jazz Quintet (with the composer on double bass). Since its premiere, Zimbe! has been performed over 200 times all over the world.

Alexander L'Estrange is a British choral composer and arranger. His compositional voice is characterized by the distinctive combination of the British choral tradition and jazz, reflecting the composer's own musical background as a chorister at New College, Oxford, and a professional jazz pianist and bass player. From large-scale choral works which draw together singers of all ages to more intimate sacred anthems and part-songs, it is this combination which has contributed to the universal appeal of his music. L'Estrange's flagship work is Zimbe! Come sing the songs of Africa! Zimbe!'s success has spawned a series of commissions in a similar vein including Ahoy! Sing for the Mary Rose, Song Cycle: vive la vélorution! and the award-winning Wassail! Carols of comfort and joy.

The Great Bend Chorale is a community ensemble from Mason County. Washington. Open to all ages, members of the Chorale perform regionally in collaboration with professional artists and under the leadership of Matthew Melendez. The Chorale premieres Borders, a new work by Seattle composer John Muehleisen. The multi-movement piece explores first contacts between Westerns explorers as they encounter the first people of the Pacific Northwest. The work marries indigenous melodies with Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and English folk tunes.

John Muehleisen's music has been described as "... lush, powerful, condensed...". His popular oratorios are Pietá, 2012 and But Who Shall Return Us Our Children: A Kipling Passion, 2017. He has been Composer-in-Residence for Seattle's Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble almost continuously since 1996, was the final composer-in-residence for the Dale Warland Singers (2003-2004) and served two seasons in residence with Seattle's Choral Arts Northwest (2011-2012 and 2016-2017).

Andrey Stolyarov is a Russian-born American composer, conductor, singer, and educator. Out of the depths for mixed choir, treble choir, organ, and orchestra won the 2016 John Kuzma Young Composers Award. His piece Ebb & Flow won first prize at the 2014 ISAM Festival Joseph Dorfman International Composition Competition in Ochsenhausen, Germany. Stolyarov is Co-director of The Hartford New Music Festival, Director of Music at West Avon Congregational Church in Avon, CT, and Artistic Director of NoteNova Publishing.

DISTINGUISHED CONCERTS INTERNATIONAL NEW YORK (DCINY)
Founded in 2007 by Iris Derke and Jonathan Griffith, with its first public performance in January 2008, DCINY is a leading producer of dynamic musical entertainment in renowned international venues. Over 40,000 musicians representing 49 countries and all 50 United States have participated in DCINY productions. Since the inception of the company, DCINY has produced 17 world premieres and more than 200 concerts for over 200,000 audience members.

With unforgettable, world-class concert experiences, empowering educational programs, and a global community of artists and audiences, DCINY changes lives through the power of musical performance. In addition to being selected four times for Inc. 5000, DCINY has received national recognition with multiple American Prizes: Jonathan Griffith, Founder and Music Director of Distinguished Concerts Orchestra (Winner 2014 American Prize in Conducting, Professional Orchestra Division), DCINY's General Director and Co-Founder Iris Derke and the DCINY Team (Winner 2015 American Prize in Arts Marketing), and Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) has been recognized by LUX Life Magazine as the Most Outstanding Musical Education Program 2019 - New York.