NEW YORK (New Amsterdam Singers) - The New Amsterdam Singers, under the direction of
Clara Longstreth, will present Voices Alone: A Century of A Cappella Classics on Friday, December 9, 2005 at 8:00.p.m. and Sunday, December 11, 2005 at 4:00 p.m. The program will feature two beloved works of the 20th century, Vaughan Williams' Mass in G minor and Randall Thompson's The Peaceable Kingdom. The Mass in G minor features a double chorus and uses Vaughan Williams' trademark modal harmony.
Thompson was inspired by two very different sources for The Peaceable Kingdom. He had recently lived in Rome and studied the extended double chorus madrigal cycles of the Italian Renaissance. He had also seen a painting by Edward Hicks (1780-1849), the preaching Quaker of Pennsylvania, who illustrated a passage from Isaiah that included the lines 'the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid….' Hicks painted scenes he called 'The Peaceable Kingdom' over 60 times. When Randall Thompson composed his work in 1936, he chose Isaiah as his text source, but, curiously, not this passage. Rather he chose to depict the joys of the righteous and the woes of the wicked. The work thus contains long, colorful passages that are not unlike a Dies Irae in their prophesy of the dreaded 'day of the Lord.'
In addition to these major works, the program will include six miniatures of the late 20th century by the British composers Peter Ashton, Benjamin Britten, and Bob Chilcott; one by Danish composer Niels La Cour; and two by Hungarian György Orbán. These pieces use old texts including Gregorian chant and 12th century hymns, but the music is often very contemporary, with irregular meters and much use of syncopation.
A March 2004 issue of The New Yorker called Clara Longstreth 'one of the more imaginative choral programmers around' and the New Amsterdam Singers 'a superb amateur group.' The chorus has performed with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein; American Russian Youth Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and at Tanglewood's Ozawa Hall under Leon Botstein; Concordia Orchestra and Anonymous Four in Richard Einhorn's Voices of Light with Marin Alsop at Avery Fisher Hall; and with the Limón Dance Company in Kodály's Missa Brevis.
Tickets are $20, $15 for seniors and $10 for students, and may be purchased by calling New Amsterdam Singers at 212-842-1511, or online at www.NASingers.org.
New Amsterdam Singers
Voices Alone: A Century of A Cappella ClassicsI
Friday, December 9, 2005 at 8 PM & Sunday, December 11, 2005 at 4 PM
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Lexington Avenue at 88th Street
Mass in G minor Ralph Vaughan Williams
The Peaceable Kingdom Randall Thompson
Alleluya Psallat Peter Aston
Hodie Niels La Cour
Mundi renovatio György Orbán
Ave Regina György Orbán
Sweet Was the Song the Virgin Sang Benjamin Britten
Nova! Nova! Bob Chilcott
