Oratorio Society of New York to Present Handel's MESSIAH, 12/22

"Annual performances of Handel's Messiah have been a New York tradition from the time New York culture began to assert itself," says Oratorio Society of New York Music Director Kent Tritle. English choral societies, inspired by grand performances of Messiah at Westminster Abbey at the turn of the 19th century, would perform the work periodically, but the Oratorio Society of New York made it an annual tradition in New York City - in 1874, the year after the Society was founded.

On Monday, December 22, 2014, at 8:00 PM at Carnegie Hall, the Oratorio Society of New York will offer its 205th performance of Handel's Messiah in the grand style for which it is renowned. "As notions about Baroque style have led to a preference for smaller ensembles in this music, the Oratorio Society has held the line for choral grandeur, fielding nearly 200 singers for its Messiah," wrote Allan Kozinn in The New York Times in 2008. And in 2013 Corinna da Fonseca Wollheim noted in the Times, "when the entire chorus belted out the word 'wonderful' in 'For unto us a child is born' the effect was exactly that."

Music Director Kent Tritle, who is marking his tenth season as OSNY Music Director, leads the 200-voice chorus, and a quartet of rising young soloists: soprano Emalie Savoy, mezzo-soprano Sara Murphy, tenor Mingjie Lei, and baritone Sidney Outlaw.

OSNY 142nd Season Continues with Verdi, Bernstein, and Orff

The Oratorio Society of New York's Carnegie Hall series ends on Tuesday, May 5, 2015, with a pairing of two 20th-century symphonic choral masterworks appropriate for spring-Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and Orff's Carmina Burana, with soloists soprano Jennifer Zetlan, tenor Peter Tantsits, and baritone Takaoki Onishi, and the Choristers of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Kent Tritle will conduct the Orff, and OSNY Associate Conductor David Rosenmeyer, who is also celebrating his tenth season with the OSNY, will lead the Bernstein. (Watch a video of Kent Tritle talking about the OSNY season.)

In addition, Tritle has invited the OSNY to perform Verdi's epic Requiem at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where he serves as Director of Cathedral Music and Organist, on Thursday, March 26, 2015, as part of the Cathedral's Great Music in a Great Space series. The OSNY will be joined by the Manhattan School of Music Symphonic Chorus and Symphony Orchestra; Mr. Tritle is the School's Director of Choral Activities. The Requiem soloists will be soprano Lori Guilbeau, mezzo-soprano Sara Murphy; tenor Alex Richardson, and bass Matthew Anchel.

Kent Tritle, one of America's leading choral conductors, is in his tenth season as Music Director of the Oratorio Society of New York. Called "the brightest star in New York's choral music world" by The New York Times, he is also Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Music Director of Musica Sacra, the longest continuously performing professional chorus in New York. In addition, Tritle is Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music and is 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. www.kenttritle.com

Emalie Savoy, soprano, has joined the Opera Studio at Salzburg State Theater in Austria for the 2014-15 season. Recent credits include the role of Countess Ceprano in the Metropolitan Opera's staging of Verdi's Rigoletto in February 2013, which was broadcast as part of the Met's Live in HD series. She made her Met Opera debut during the 2011-12 season as Kristina in Leoš Janá?ek's The Makropulos Case and sang the title role in Gluck's Armide in a joint Metropolitan Opera-Juilliard production about which Anthony Tommasini said in The New York Times, "the gifted soprano Emalie Savoy sang with plush sound, fiery temperament and cool elegance." Ms. Savoy made her New York Philharmonic debut in Janá?ek's The Cunning Little Vixen, conducted by Alan Gilbert. www.savoymusic.net

Sara Murphy, "a gorgeous, deep, dark mezzo-soprano" (The New York Times), is a versatile rising artist in concert, opera and recital. Highlights of the current season include the Ligeti Requiem, Schnittke's Nagasaki and Hindemith's The Long Christmas Dinner with American Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leon Botstein, the Verdi Requiem with Oratorio Society of New York and the Manhattan School of Music Symphonic Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kent Tritle, and a return to the Cincinnati May Festival in recital. www.saramurphymezzo.com

Mingjie Lei, tenor, a native of Hengyang, China, is rapidly gaining acclaim in the United States. This season he makes his company debut as Conte de Lerma in Don Carlo with Opera Philadelphia, and sings excepts from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette (Roméo) with New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. He will join the Ryan Opera Center of Lyric Opera of Chicago in May 2015. Highlights of last season include his Carnegie Hall debut singing Messiah with the Cecilia Chorus. Mingjie Lei has received awards from the Gerda Lissner Foundation Vocal Competition, Opera Index, the Mario Lanza Institute, Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, and Giulio Gari Foundation.

Sidney Outlaw, baritone, sang in the OSNY's November performance of Haydn's Die Schöpfung, and recently sang the title role in Mendelssohn's Elijah with the OSNY. This rising young baritone from Brevard, North Carolina, recently finished his first opera recording for Naxos Records, Darius Milhaud's Oresteia of Aeschylus, singing the role of Apollo. Lauded by The New York Times as a "terrific singer" and the San Francisco Chronicle as "an opera powerhouse," Sidney Outlaw was the Grand Prize winner of the Concurso Internacional de Canto Montserrat Caballe in 2010. http://sidneyoutlaw.com

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