The Dessoff Choirs to Present Annual Holiday Concerts: WELCOME YULE & MESSIAH SING

The Dessoff Choirs - led by Music Director Malcolm J. Merriweather - will present its annual holiday concerts: Welcome Yule on Saturday, December 6, 2025 at 4:00 p.m. at St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, celebrating the 500th anniversary of Palestrina's birth, followed by Messiah Sing, which provides audience members the opportunity to join the choir for Handel's vibrant choruses, with Dessoff members performing the arias on Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Founded in 1924 by Margarete Dessoff, The Dessoff Choirs has been a fixture in the New York classical music scene for the past 100 years. Known for introducing unknown, long-forgotten, or newly composed works to American audiences, Dessoff's nine music directors have expanded upon 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 continues to pay tribute to the past with works performed under Margarete Dessoff's baton.

Program Information

Welcome Yule: Celebrating Palestrina
Saturday, December 6, 2025 at 4:00 p.m.
St. Philip's Episcopal Church | 334 MacDonough St | Brooklyn, NY 11233
Link: https://www.dessoff.org/events/welcome-yule-2025

Program:
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina - Surge, illuminate, Jerusalem
Fritz Kreisler - Praeludium e Allegro in the style of Pugnani
John Francis Wade - Carol: O come all ye faithful (arr. David Willcocks)
Carl Orff - O Fortuna from Carmina Burana
Herbert Howells - Magnificat from St. Paul's Service
Anton Bruckner - Christus factus est
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina - Missa Brevis & Agnus Dei
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina - Ave Maria
Felix Mendelssohn - Carol: Hark the herald angels sing (arr. Daniel Fortune)
Ernesto DeCurtis - Non ti scordar di mi (feat. Jennifer Dapice, soprano)
Franz Lehár - Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß from Giuditta (feat. Nadine Lee, soprano)
Giuseppe Verdi - Di quella pira from Il Trovatore
Giuseppe Verdi - Brindisi from La Traviata
Giacomo Puccini - Nessun Dorma from Turandot
Traditional - Carol: While shepherds watched their flocks
Traditional - Carol of the Bells (arr. Chris R. Hansen)
John Montez - Good King Wenceslas
Margaret Bonds - Sing Aho
Franz Xaver Gruber - Carol: Silent night
George Friderick Handel - Hallelujah from Messiah

Artists:
The Dessoff Choirs
Ryan Cheung, assistant conductor
Steven Ryan, pianist
Malcolm J. Merriweather, conductor
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Messiah Sing
Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.
The Church of the Blessed Sacrament | 152 West 71st Street | New York, NY, 10023
Link: https://www.dessoff.org/events/messiah-sing-2025

Program:
George Friderick Handel - Messiah