Review: Ekmeles Performs David Lang's Haunting THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL PASSION at Church Of The Intercession

On Friday December 8th, Death of Classical began a limited three-night run of David Lang’s The Little Match Girl Passion. For a number of years, Death of Classical has been mounting wholly unique performances like this, pairing haunting music with creepy and intimate settings (in this case, the crypt below the Church of the Intercession in Washington Heights). The evening began with a warm and welcoming wine and cheese reception upstairs in the Church, with wine, beer, charcuterie and light refreshments. From there, the audience was invited to descend into the crypt in an intimate room seating only about 30. David Lang’s score, based on Hans Christian Anderson’s Little Match Girl, about a little girl who experiences the absolute worst of poverty and abuse but envisions a glorious paradise even as she lays dying, is perfect fodder for Death of Classical. Ekmeles’ wonderful singing brought the haunting lyrics and notes to life, heightened by the crypt setting.

The show was conducted by Jeffrey Gavett with vocals by Charlotte Mundy, Amber Evans, Tomas Cruz, and Steven Hrycelak. The show was mostly acapella except for some unusual instrumentals involving what seemed like many different types of bells, somehow evoking the joy Christmas (jingle bells) while still sounding creepy and mournful. Ekmeles’ rich vocals harmonized and blended beautifully, reverberating against the walls of the crypt. As I’ve noted before, the crypt setting (and the fact that DOC asks audience members to banish their phones to a Yonder bag for the duration of the show) gives the concert a sense of timeless wonder. We are here, now, listening to a modern classical take on a story first published in 1845, imagining a little girl freezing to death in the cold. The concert blends past with present, and Anderson’s little match girl is brought to life not as a relic of the past, but as a present figure we cannot ignore.

This run was the last Death of Classical run for this year, but they’ll be back with more shows at the Church of the Intercession, Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery and more locations to be announced in 2024. Join their mailing list at https://www.deathofclassical.com/ to be the first to find out when their next shows are – and hurry to get them, because they typically sell out quickly.

Follow Ekmeles on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ekmelesvocalensemble and learn more about them on their website at https://www.ekmeles.com/.

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