Musica Sacra Presents Annual Performances of Handel's Messiah 12/21-22
By: Gabrielle Sierra Nov. 22, 2010
For over 45 years, Musica Sacra has delighted audiences with its annual performances of Handel's Messiah. On Tuesday, December 21, and Wednesday, December 22, both at 8 pm at Carnegie Hall, Musica Sacra performs Handel's masterpiece once again with music director Kent Tritle conducting the luminous Musica Sacra Chorus and Orchestra and vocal soloists Jennifer Zetlan, soprano; Matthew Shaw, countertenor; Colin Balzer, tenor; and Tyler Duncan, baritone.
Allan Kozinn of the New York Times called Musica Sacra's 2009 performances of Messiah "exceptional. The choristers sang with full-bodied and admirably unforced sound...with robust basses and radiant sopranos." Considering its relatively compact size-this year featuring 32 choristers-"the group can produce enormous power [yet a] focused, trim sound."
Mr. Tritle, in his fourth season as music director of Musica Sacra, conducts "an impressively transparent and vibrant Messiah," writes Mr. Kozinn. "His tempos [were] fleet and the textures clear...the music-making was beguilingly natural."
For its two 2010 performances Musica Sacra is joined by four soloists:
? Jennifer Zetlan, soprano, recently sang Laoula in Chabrier's Étoile at New York City Opera, and made her Nashville Opera debut as Madeline Usher in Glass's Fall of the House of Usher. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Second French Actress in Prokofiev's War and Peace and will sing the role of Xenia in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov next season. Zetlan is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she performed Nannetta in Verdi's Falstaff and Emily in Ned Rorem's Our Town, among others.
? Matthew Shaw, countertenor, appears this season as Ottone and Nutrice in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden and at the Semperoper Dresden. Recent highlights include Tolomeo in Händel's Giulio Cesare with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and with Oper Kiel; Endimione for a new production of La Calisto at the Grand Theatre de Geneve; and, in September, Athamas in Handel's Semele in a new production of Robert Carsen at Theater an der Wien under the baton of William Christie alongside Cecilia Bartoli.
? Colin Balzer, tenor, appeared during the 2009-10 season with the Atlanta Symphony and Roberto Abbado; with Collegium Vocale Gent and Philippe Herreweghe; at the Aix-en-Provence Festival under Louis Langree; and on the distinguished Philadelphia Chamber Music Society series. Winner of competitions in Stuttgart, Munich, and more, he has appeared in recital at London's Wigmore Hall, the Britten Festival in Aldeburgh, the Vancouver Chamber Music Festival, the Wratislavia Cantans in Poland, and at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden
? Tyler Duncan, baritone, has appeared in concert with the Spoleto Festival, Princeton Festival, Early Music Vancouver, and the Munich Chamber Orchestra, and this season performs with the Québec and Winnipeg Symphonies, Calgary Philharmonic, the Philharmonie der Nationen, San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque and Portland Baroque. He won the 2008 New York Oratorio Society Competition and the 2007 Prix International Pro Musicis Award, among other honors.
Ticket prices range from $25-$128, and are available through Carnegie Hall online (www.carnegiehall.org), by phone (CarnegieCharge, (212)247-7800); or in person (Box Office, 57th Street & 7th Avenue).
ABOUT MUSICA SACRA
Highlights of previous seasons include performances of Mozart's Mass in C Minor, Bach's St. John Passion, Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel and Arvo Pärt's Stabat Mater for WNYC's ‘New Sounds Live' at the World Financial Center; and Edgard Varèse's Etude pour Espace with the International Contemporary Ensemble and So Percussion at the 2010 Lincoln Center Festival.
Musica Sacra has recorded on the RCA, BMG, and Deutsche Grammophon labels, including the first all-digital recording of Messiah released in 1982 by RCA/BMG and reissued on "High Performance," BMG's audiophile label.
Kent Tritle is one of America's leading choral conductors. Called "the brightest star in New York's choral music world," he is Music Director of Musica Sacra and the Oratorio Society of New York; founder and Music Director of Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, the acclaimed concert series at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York City; Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music; and a member of the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School. An acclaimed organ virtuoso, he is also the organist of the New York Philharmonic and the American Symphony Orchestra.Highlights of Kent Tritle's 2010-2011 season include performances of Handel's Jephtha (St. Ignatius Loyola) and Israel in Egypt (Musica Sacra), and Mendelssohn's Elijah (Oratorio Society of New York); premieres of works by Viktor Kalabis and Juraj Filas (St. Ignatius Loyola); performance and recording of new works by Daniel Brewbaker, Christopher Theofanidis, and Behzad Ranjbaran, among others (Musica Sacra), performances of such choral gems as Strauss's Deutsche Motette and Beethoven's Christ on the Mount of Olives (St. Ignatius Loyola); Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem with the forces of the Manhattan School of Music; and the annual performances of Handel's Messiah with Musica Sacra and the Oratorio Society of New York. Kent Tritle marks his fourth season in 2010-2011 as Music Director of Musica Sacra, the longest continuously performing professional chorus in New York City. Recent concerts by New York's premier professional chorus performing sacred music in concert halls have included Mozart's Mass in C Minor at Carnegie Hall, Bach cantatas at Alice Tully Hall, a program of works by Arvo Pärt and Morton Feldman for a WNYC New Sounds Live concert; Bach's Mass in B Minor and St. John Passion, and the annual performances of Handel's Messiah at Carnegie Hall.Kent Tritle has made more than a dozen recordings on the Telarc, AMDG, Epiphany, Gothic, VAI and MSR Classics labels. His most recent CDs with the Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola, Ginastera's The Lamentations of Jeremiah and Schnittke's Concerto for Choir; and Wondrous Love, music from 1,000 years of sacred repertoire, have been praised by Gramophone, the American Record Guide, and The Choral Journal. Mr. Tritle holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from The Juilliard School in organ performance and choral conducting and has been on the Juilliard faculty since 1996, currently directing a graduate practicum on oratorio in collaboration with the school's Vocal Arts Department, and teaching choral conducting. He has been featured on ABC World News Tonight, National Public Radio, and Minnesota Public Radio, as well as in The New York Times. For more information, sound clips, and updated concert information, visit www.kenttritle.com.CONCERT LISTING:Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at 8:00 pmWednesday, December 22, 2010 at 8:00 pmCarnegie Hall (57th Street at 7th Avenue)GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL: MESSIAHMusica Sacra Chorus and Orchestra
Kent Tritle, music director and conductor
Jennifer Zetlan, soprano
Matthew Shaw, countertenor
Colin Balzer, tenor
Tyler Duncan, baritone Tickets: $25-$128
To order, visit Carnegie Hall online (www.carnegiehall.org), call CarnegieCharge (212)247-7800; or visit the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 57th Street & 7th Avenue.
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