LUMINOSITY to Feature World Premiere of Richard Einhorn Work

Musica Viva NY, New York City's premier chamber choir, continues its 2026–27 season with LUMINOSITY: Pärt, Whitbourn and Einhorn, a one-night only concert on Sunday, December 6, 2026, showcasing the extraordinary power of light.

Musically and poetically, the various forms and interpretations of light range from the internal divine light of Christ to the grace of love, peace, reflection, and spiritual illumination. Spanning nearly nine centuries, this program journeys from the mystical visions of Hildegard von Bingen and the meditative stillness of Arvo Pärt to contemporary reflections on dawn, hope, and transcendence by Joanna Marsh and James MacMillan. At its heart are James Whitbourn's luminous meditation Luminosity and the world premiere of Richard Einhorn's The Radiant Ground, commissioned by Musica Viva NY. 

“It is no surprise that impressive compositions in music history deal with the representation of light. The association of sound and light has been explored in millennia. Musica Viva NY is thrilled to add a newly commissioned piece to the repertoire by Richard Einhorn bringing the impressive natural event of sunlight in music. We hope audiences will enjoy and appreciate light as a source of wonder, renewal and connection.”   - Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, Conductor/Artistic Director of Musica Viva NY

The program's capstone is the world premiere of The Radiant Ground by Richard Einhorn. This new choral work features choir, three tenor trombones and one of today's leading Japanese Taiko drumming troupes, Soh Daiko. Einhorn was inspired by the fourth stage on the Buddhist path to enlightenment which is the goal of perfecting the quality of joyful effort. As he considered how to portray joyful effort in music, he was reminded of a taiko ensemble performance he saw many years ago. Einhorn recalls: “Multiple drummers beat immense drums and moved in elaborate choreography around the drums with both reverence and purpose. The broad smiles of the performers struck me as an ideal visual and musical metaphor for joyful effort — as did their pouring sweat!” The texts, sung in Sanskrit, are a collage of excerpts from the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist canon, masters such as Candrakīrti and Shantideva, as well as anonymous sources. 

The program also includes two works inspired by the divine light of Christ: Joanna Marsh's The Hidden Light about the womb of the travel-weary Mary as she journeys through the darkness toward Bethlehem; and von Bingen's O coruscans lux reflecting the celestial starry light personifying Christ and the Church. James MacMillan's The Strathclyde Motets: O Radiant Dawn draws its inspiration from the fifth "O" Antiphon (O Oriens), a traditional Latin liturgical text sung on December 21 during the final days of Advent. The seven-movement Luminosity by James Whitbourn celebrates the power of creative love that glows with hypnotic brilliance. Musica Viva NY also presents Arvo Pärt's sparkling Spiegel im Spiegel, for piano and viola, inspired by the acoustic and visual illusion of infinite reflection.

About Musica Viva NY

Musica Viva NY is a non-profit arts organization that was established nearly 50 years ago. Its mission is to bring world-class music to a wide community through an annual concert series, an active community engagement program, and an ambitious artistic vision. Under the baton of Artistic Director Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez since 2015, Musica Viva NY strives to offer joy, solace and renewal in a complex world by presenting new compositions and classic masterworks in transformative interpretations that ennoble the human spirit.
 
Musica Viva NY's superb chamber choir and world class collaborating instrumentalists make their concert home in Manhattan's historic All Souls NYC. It regularly combines its presentation of the classical repertoire with less widely known works, as part of its commitment to perform the works of living American composers, women composers and composers of color, including works that address social, racial or environmental issues. 

Composers whose works have been featured in recent Musica Viva NY performances include Florence Price, Alexandra T Bryant, Steve Reich, Frank Ticheli, Missy Mazzoli, Alice Walker, Joel Thompson and Jesse Montgomery.

Musica Viva NY has commissioned and premiered numerous works by contemporary composers including Bora Yoon, Seymour Bernstein, Elena Ruehr, Joseph Turrin, Bruce Saylor, Jean-Louis Petit, Eugenio Toussaint, Gilda Lyons, Richard Einhorn, Trent Johnson and Trevor Weston.

Beyond high-quality concert performances, Musica Viva NY also serves the communities of New York City through a growing variety of rich community engagement programs. Currently, Musica Viva NY partners with New York city public schools, extracurricular youth ensembles, New York Public Library branches and the All Souls' Monday Night Hospitality dinner program, offering free performances, artist clinics, interactive workshops, and more. Musica Viva NY has nurtured young artists throughout its half century of existence. Great musicians who have been Musica Viva NY singers and soloists include the Metropolitan Opera star Renée Fleming, and Broadway's Aladdin, Michael Maliakel.

Its discography's latest addition Crimson Roses: Contemporary American Choral Music (Naxos) features a crowning performance by mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade. An indispensable recording of contemporary American choral music by Joseph Turrin, Richard Einhorn, and Gilda Lyons, Crimson Roses is hailed for its “warmth, vitality and cohesion (Gramophone),” and “superbly articulated, tonally rich and keenly balanced exceptional performances (Fanfare).”

The organization was founded as an annual concert series in 1977 by Walter Klauss, who directed the group for 38 years, and adopted the name “Musica Viva” in 1985. Under Walter Klauss' baton the choir toured in Paris (2004), Germany and Czechoslovakia (2006) and Italy (2012). In 2026 it toured in Spain under the auspices of Teatro Real of Madrid.

PROGRAM INFO:

Musica Viva NY - chamber choir 
Alejandro Hernandez Valdez - conductor/piano
Trent Johnson - organ