The Dessoff Choirs Presents BRAHMS' REQUIEM: CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF DESSOFF

The Dessoff Choirs – led by Music Director Malcolm J. Merriweather – presents the inaugural program of its 100th anniversary season performing Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem on Saturday, November 2, 2024 at 4:00 p.m. at The Town Hall. 

In this celebratory program featuring renowned artists baritone Will Liverman and soprano Joélle Harvey, Dessoff invites all Dessoff Alumni to join on stage for this beloved work. In addition, Dessoff welcomes back former conductors Kent Tritle and Christopher Shepard who will speak and conduct some of the Requiem movements. This program holds special significance as Brahms and Otto Dessoff (founder Margarete Dessoff's father) were friends. Brahms provided Dessoff the opportunity to conduct the premiere of his Symphony No. 1, and Dessoff dedicated his String Quartet in F, Op. 7 to Brahms. Further, The Town Hall has been an important partner to The Dessoff Choirs, as the group has performed at the venue over 50 times since its initial concert in 1926.

The following month, Dessoff offers its annual holiday concerts: Messiah Sing on Friday, December 6, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. at James Chapel, Union Theological Seminary, which provides audience members the opportunity to join the choir for Handel's vibrant choruses, with Dessoff members performing the arias; and two renditions of Welcome Yule: Willkommen, süßer Bräutigam on Saturday, December 7, 2024 at 4:00 p.m. at James Chapel, Union Theological Seminary and Sunday, December 8, 2024 at 4:00 p.m. at St. Philips Episcopal Church (Brooklyn).

Founded in 1924 by Margarete Dessoff, The Dessoff Choirs has been a fixture in the New York classical music scene ever since. Known for introducing unknown, long-forgotten, or newly composed works to American audiences, Dessoff's nine music directors have continued expanding Margarete's legacy, each in their own way. Malcolm J. Merriweather, Dessoff's current music director, has used this podium to reintroduce the works of Black women composers including Margaret Bonds, Florence Price, and Valerie Capers, along with commissioning new works. Dessoff's season continues to combine tributes to the past with works performed under Margarete Dessoff's baton with Verdi's Requiem and a new commission by Tania León.

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Program Information

Brahms Requiem
Saturday, November 2, 2024 at 4:00 pm
The Town Hall | 123 W 43rd St | New York, NY
Tickets: $25-$100
Link: www.dessoff.org/events/brahms-requiem 

Program:
JOHANNES BRAHMS: Ein deutsches Requiem

Artists:
The Dessoff Choirs & Orchestra
Dessoff Alumni
Will Liverman, baritone
Joélle Harvey, soprano
Malcolm J. Merriweather, Music Director and conductor
Kent Tritle, conductor
Christopher Shepard, conductor

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About The Dessoff Choirs
The Dessoff Choirs, one of the leading choruses in New York City, is an independent chorus with an established reputation for pioneering performances of choral works from the Renaissance era through the 21st century. Founded in 1924 by Margarete Dessoff, the chorus is celebrating its centennial during the 2024-25 season with programs that reflect music from its rich history and move us forward into the next 100 years with new collaborations and commissions.

The ‘s' in Choirs connotes the group's various incarnations – from Dessoff's core group of 50 singers, to the Symphonic Choir assembled for larger engagements and Chamber Choir selected to present more intimate works. Since its founding in 1924, Dessoff's mission is to enrich the lives of its audiences and members by giving voice to new or rarely heard, forgotten music and composers; and to bring great choral works to New York audiences in new ways. Dessoff concerts, professional collaborations, community outreach, and educational initiatives are dedicated to stimulating public interest in and appreciation of choral music as an art form that enhances the culture and life of these times.

With repertoire ranging over a wide variety of eras and styles, Dessoff's musical acumen and flexibility has been recognized with invitations from major orchestras for oratorios and orchestral works. Past performances include Britten's War Requiem and Mahler's Symphony No.8 with Lorin Maazel in his final performances as Music Director with the New York Philharmonic. Over the course of its near-100-year history, Dessoff has presented many world premieres, including works by Virgil Thomson, George Perle, Paul Moravec, and Ricky Ian Gordon; the first American performance in nearly 100 years of Montemezzi's opera La Nave with Teatro Grattacielo; and the American premieres of Philip Glass's Symphony No.5 and John Tavener's all-night vigil, The Veil of the Temple.

Dessoff's world-premiere recording of Margaret Bonds's Credo and Simon Bore the Cross was released in February 2023 and received rave reviews. WRTI wrote that “Margaret Bonds: Credo, Simon Bore the Cross brings new luster, and the utmost care of execution. Under the baton of Malcolm J. Merriweather, The Dessoff Choirs has a profound simpatico with Bonds' mature compositional style...” We are also featured on a new album from Roomful of Teeth, Rough Magic, in a recently commissioned Eve Beglarian work, None More Than You.

Other recent discography includes Margaret Bonds: The Ballad of the Brown King & Selected Songs, a debut recording of Margaret Bonds's crowning achievement, which was cited as a “Best Classical Recording of 2019” by WQXR-FM Radio; Reflections, featuring music by Convery, Corigliano, Moravec, and Rorem; and Glories on Glories, a collection of American song featuring composers from Billings to Ives.

The Dessoff Choirs is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Learn more at www.dessoff.org.

About Malcolm J. Merriweather
Grammy-nominated conductor and baritone Malcolm J. Merriweather is the ninth Music Director of New York City's Dessoff Choirs, known for its performances of great choral works from the pre-Baroque era through the 21st century.

In addition, Merriweather is the Director of the New York Philharmonic Chorus. He is the Tania León Chair of Music and Full Professor at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. He was the founding Artistic Director of “Voices of Haiti,” a 60-member children's choir in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, operated by the Andrea Bocelli Foundation.

He enjoys a versatile career with performances ranging from the songs of Margaret Bonds to gems of the symphonic choral repertoire. The baritone can be heard on the GRAMMY-nominated recording of Paul Moravec's Sanctuary Road (NAXOS). Hailed by Opera News as “moving…expertly interpreted”, Margaret Bonds: The Ballad of the Brown King & Selected Songs and Credo & Simon Bore the Cross by Margaret Bonds (AVIE Records) has earned considerable praise around the world. At the invitation of Solange Knowles, he joined the interdisciplinary studio and creative agency, Saint Heron, for performances with Voices of Harlem and The Clark Sisters in Glory to Glory: A Revival of Devotional Art.

Highlights from his 2023-2024 season include a trip to China with The New York Philharmonic Choir for the world premiere of Émigré, An Oratorio with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. He returns to The Metropolitan Museum of Art for the world premiere of Handel: Made in America with soloists, Latonia Moore, J'Nai Bridges, Noah Stewart, and Davóne Tines. Continuing in his role as Director of The New York Philharmonic Chorus, he prepares the professional choir for the reprise of Émigré, An Oratorio and Mahler 2 with The New York Philharmonic. With The Dessoff Choirs, he conducts Mendelssohn's Elijah, and two contemporary oratorios about the lives of Sojourner Truth (Valerie Capers) and Anne Frank (James Whitbourn).

Maestro Merriweather's 2022-2023 began leading The Choir of Trinity Wall Street in three performances (staged) of Considering Matthew Shepard. His new appointment as Director of The New York Philharmonic Chorus launched preparing the professional choir for three programs throughout the season for Maestro Jaap van Zweden including Beethoven's Ninth Symphony for the reopening of David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center. With The Dessoff Choirs, he conducted Duruflé's Requiem, Bach's St. John Passion, and motets by Vicente Lusitano, the first Black-published composer. Last season included the long-awaited release of the premiere recording of Margaret Bonds's Credo and Simon Bore the Cross with the AVIE label. His solo baritone engagements included Messiah at Carnegie Hall, and Sanctuary Road with the Cincinnati May Festival and the Penn Square Music Festival.

Merriweather has been featured as a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Dessoff Choirs, the New York Choral Society, and Bach Vespers Choir and Orchestra at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in New York City. The baritone has premiered contemporary solo works by Eve Beglarian, John Liberatore, Ju Ri Seo, Douglas Fisk, and James Adler. He has been a fellowship recipient at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and at the Tanglewood Music Center.

Merriweather holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting from the studio of Kent Tritle at the Manhattan School of Music, where his doctoral dissertation “Now I Walk in Beauty, Gregg Smith: A Biography and Complete Works Catalog” constituted the first complete works list for the composer and conductor. He received Master of Music degrees in Choral Conducting studying with William Weinert and in Vocal Performance from the studio of Rita Shane at the Eastman School of Music. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Syracuse University, summa cum laude.

His professional affiliations include membership in Pi Kappa Lambda, the American Choral Directors Association, and Chorus America.

He was previously Music Director of the West Village Chorale, Organist and Choirmaster at the Church of St. Luke and St. Simon of Cyrene (Episcopal) in Rochester, NY, and, for five years, Associate Choirmaster at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City.