Musica Viva Brings an Evening of Sacred Songs to All Souls NYC
The program's capstone is a 60-minute a capella masterpiece of the modern choral repertory: Path of Miracles by Joby Talbot.
By: Stephi Wild Jan. 05, 2026
New York City's leading chamber choir, Musica Viva NY, will present EL CAMINO: Talbot, Casals and Victoria, a one-night only winter concert on the Upper East Side at All Souls NYC on Sunday, February 22, 2026, at 5:00 p.m with a pre-concert talk at 4:15pm. Weaving together voices of lament, resilience, and spiritual transformation across centuries, the acclaimed Musica Viva NY chorus takes listeners on a journey from lamentation to revelation. The program's capstone is a 60-minute a capella masterpiece of the modern choral repertory: Path of Miracles by Joby Talbot.
Dramatizing the medieval religious pilgrimage along Spain's famous Camino de Compostela, the four movements of Path of Miracles are titled with the names of the four main staging posts of the 'Camino Frances,' the central axis of a network of pilgrimage routes to Santiago. Written by British composer Joby Talbot (b.1971) with passages in English, Galician and Latin, this iconic and impactful piece made a lasting mark on the international choral scene. “This is musical mysticism at its richest and most greedy – grasping from all traditions and sources and treasuring each element in this musical collage. But it's a work whose patchwork fragments need the energy of live performance to really knit, relying on the charge of emotion, of ritual, to integrate them into a larger artistic gesture.” (Gramophone)
Also on the program are two sorrowful O vos omnes, as well as a trio of African American spirituals blending traditional spiritual elements with complex choral layering and call-and-response. “It is hard to imagine, but there was a time when harmony was considered unruly,” explains Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, Artistic Director & Conductor of Musica Viva NY. “Two people singing different notes was considered offensive when the Catholic Church decreed anything other than Gregorian chant or plainsong. With this in mind, we look forward to channeling our rebellious side and sharing these wonderful pieces of polyphony with today's modern audiences.”
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 Church. 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 stars Samuel Ramey and 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 will tour in Spain under the auspices of Teatro Real of Madrid.
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