New York Choral Society to Perform Arvo Part & Beethoven at Carnegie Hall

The New York Choral Society (NYChoral) and NYChoral Orchestra under the baton of Music Director David Hayes will perform celebrated Estonian composer Arvo Pärt's 1985 composition Te Deum in conjunction with Beethoven's Mass in C on Friday evening, February 5, 2016, 8 p.m. at Stern Hall at Carnegie Hall. Soloists will include soprano Caroline Worra, mezzo-soprano Leah Wool, tenor Dominick Chenes, and baritone Corey McKern.

Tickets $30 - $75 from CarnegieCharge, 212-247-7800, at the Box Office (57th & 7th,) or www.carnegiehall.org.

Arvo Pärt's Te Deum, not often performed, uses his characteristic tintinnabuli compositional style. Tintinnabulation, a new kind of tonality in which the notes of a triad are maintained in slow arpeggios or drones while other voices unfold melodies on the notes of the scale, has informed Pärt's music since he first experimented with this technique in 1976. Scored for choruses, wind harp, strings, and prepared piano, the Te Deum sounds simultaneously ancient and modern, and embodies a genuine expressivity. Of the Te Deum text, Part has written it contains "immutable truths," reminding him of the "immeasurable serenity imparted by a mountain panorama." "I had to draw this music gently out of silence and emptiness."

Beethoven's first Mass, written fifteen years before his far more frequently performed "Missa Solemnis," combines elements of Classical style with Romantic expression. At its premiere, the Mass in C was not well received. Today, however, it is regarded as having a directness and an emotional appeal that "Missa Solemnis" seems to lack. This concert follows NYChoral's performance of excerpts from Pärt's works at the New School for Music's Tishman

Auditorium as part of the Arvo Pärt Day January 24th which was presented by the New York Choral Society, the Mannes School of Music and the Arvo Pärt Project.

An essential force in the New York choral scene since its founding in 1959, The New York Choral Society (NY Choral) is widely known for the outstanding artistic quality of its performances of choral masterworks as well as rarely performed and new compositions. In addition to its regular season appearances at Carnegie Hall, the 175-voice strong New York Choral Society has appeared at every major venue in the New York City area, including Avery Fisher Hall, the Metropolitan Opera House, Madison Square Garden, NJPAC, and St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Under the visionary artistic leadership of Music Director David Hayes since the 2012-2013 season, the New York Choral Society has further expanded upon its artistic mission to present a wide variety of choral repertory alongside masterworks of the 20th and 21st century, including John Adams's On The Transmigration of Souls, Hindemith's When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd, and the New York premiere of Jennifer Higdon's The Singing Rooms, featuring violinist Jennifer Koh. Dedicated to carrying its tradition of musical excellence and community engagement beyond the Manhattan cultural centers, the New York Choral Society launched Christmas Around New York in December 2014, bringing family-friendly Christmas concerts to new audiences in all the boroughs of New York City.

Highlights of previous seasons include performances of Mendelssohn's St. Paul, Berlioz' L'enfance du Christ, Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony, Holst's rarely performed Hymn of Jesus, and Beethoven's Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, all at Carnegie Hall conducted by Music Director David Hayes. The 2011-2012 season marked the 25th and final season of Music Director John Daly Goodwin and included two compositions commissioned by the New York Choral Society, Robert De Cormier's Legacy and Morton Gould's Quotations, as part of an all-American program at Carnegie Hall.

A sought-after guest artist in New York City for many decades, the New York Choral Society has collaborated with the Lincoln Center Festival, Cirque de Soleil, New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, New York Youth Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Juilliard Symphony, and the Opera Orchestra of New York and has performed with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Placido Domingo, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta, Yehudi Menuhin, Julius Rudel, Robert Shaw, Leonard Slatkin, Patrick Summers, Robert Spano, and Michael Tilson Thomas.

NYChoral has also regularly appeared as guest artists at the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala and with Andrea Bocelli. Recently members of NYChoral sang at the 80WSE and CHEAP's production of The Magic Flute, a re-imagining of the narrative of Mozart's celebrated musical drama.

International tours have included the Chinese premiere of Mahler's Eighth Symphony in Beijing in 2002; per- formances of Mahler's Symphonies No. 2 and 8 in Mexico City with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto in 2010 and 2011; a return to Beijing for performances at the Olympic Cultural Festival in 2008; and several European tours with appearances in France, Austria, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Greece, the Czech Republic, and Israel.

Each summer since 1960 the New York Choral Society has produced a popular series of Summer Sings, open readings of the choral literature led by prominent conductors in the New York area. Recently, Summer Sings have been held at Symphony Space, and continue to provide a wonderful musical opportunity to the community and to attract new singers to the chorus.

Music Director David Hayes is a conductor with an unusually broad range of repertory, spanning the symphonic, oratorio/choral and operatic genres. His role as Music Director of the New York Choral Society complements his other roles as Music Director of the Mannes Orchestra and Staff Conductor of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Hayes served on the conducting staff of The Philadelphia Orchestra from 2001-2011. In May 2015 he completed twenty-three years as Music Director of the critically acclaimed professional vocal ensemble The Philadelphia Singers, which was the resident chorus of The Philadelphia Orchestra from 2000-2011. He has also served as a cover conductor for the New York Philharmonic as well as for Sir André Previn on the Curtis Symphony Orchestra's 1999 European Tour with Anne-Sophie Mutter.

In addition to his work with the New York Choral Society this season, Mr. Hayes also conducted the Mannes Orchestra in two concerts at Alice Tully Hall, including an adventurous program featuring Ives's Central Park in the Dark, Varèse's Intégrales, and Morton Feldman's Coptic Light as well as Sibelius's Fifth Symphony. Their second program on April 8th features symphonies by Arvo Pärt and Anton Bruckner. Mr. Hayes returned to the Curtis Opera Theatre for a production of Massenet's Manon in November 2015, and he travels to Italy to conduct at the Spoleto Festival Italy in summer 2016.

Mr. Hayes is in demand as guest conductor with both orchestras and opera companies across North America. Recent guest conducting engagements have included a production of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore for Opera Memphis, Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, and the East Coast premiere performances of Tan Dun's Tea: A Mirror of Soul for the Opera Company of Philadelphia. Mr. Hayes also conducted the finals of the Fulbright Piano Competition with the Artosphere Festival Orchestra.

Past seasons have included concerts with such significant ensembles as The Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra 2001, Curtis Opera Theatre, European Center for Opera and Vocal Art, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Washington Chorus, Louisiana Philharmonic, Berkshire Choral Festival and the Verbier Festival.

Trained as a violinist and violist, Hayes received his Bachelor of Music in musicology from the University of Hartford and a diploma in Orchestral Conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Otto Werner Mueller. He also studied with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School. He served on the Board of Directors of Chorus America from 2000 to 2009.

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