June 4-25: OSL Bach Festival in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall with Hadelich, Bezuidenhout & more

Left to right: (top) Miloš (photo: Christoph Köstlin); Kristian Bezuidenhout (photo: Marco Borggreve); Xian Zhang (photo: B
Ealovega); Joélle Harvey (photo: Arielle Doneson); (bottom) Thomas Wilkins (photo: Courtesy of the Omaha Symphony); Erin Morley
(photo: Chris Gonz); Augustin Hadelich (photo: Suxiao Yang); Jeremy Denk (photo: Josh Goleman); Bernard Labadie (photo: Dario
Acosta)

(May 2024) — Orchestra of St. Luke’s (OSL) – celebrated for its “exceptionally fine and
committed music-making” (New York Times) – is in the midst of a landmark season that includes
a record six mainstage performances in Carnegie Hall, many of which have sold out. Upcoming
this spring are three performances in the annual OSL Bach Festival in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall: a
program of cantatas led by Jeannette Sorrell, making her OSL debut, with soprano Joélle
Harvey (June 4); violinist Augustin Hadelich playing Bach transcriptions along with works by
Charles Avison, Francesco Geminiani, and Johann Pachelbel led by Principal Conductor Bernard
Labadie (June 18); and “Bach and Sons,” a program featuring the OSL debut of Kristian
Bezuidenhout conducting from the fortepiano (June 25). The orchestra gives one more Carnegie
Hall mainstage performance this spring, presenting Brahms’s A German Requiem led by New
Jersey Symphony Music Director Xian Zhang – a longtime friend of the orchestra who appears
courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera, where she is currently conducting Madama Butterfly – with
soloists Erin Morley and Andrè Schuen, La Chapelle de Québec, and Ensemble Altera (May 9).
A video of Morley discussing the work is available here. Finally, the orchestra looks forward to its
annual performances at Caramoor, this season featuring Montenegrin guitarist Miloš in a
performance again led by Xian Zhang (July 14); and pianist Jeremy Denk playing Beethoven’s
Fourth Piano Concerto under the baton of Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Principal Conductor
Thomas Wilkins (Aug 4).

OSL Bach Festival in association with Carnegie Hall (June 4–25)

In June 2024, OSL returns to Carnegie’s Zankel Hall to celebrate J. S. Bach’s musical legacy with its
annual OSL Bach Festival. Conductor and Baroque music specialist Jeannette Sorrell makes her
OSL debut in the first program, joined by soprano Joélle Harvey, recently lauded by The Observer
as a “bright, vivacious star.” Repertoire includes some of Bach’s most well-known cantatas,
concertos and more, including Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, two arias from the St. John Passion,
and Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 3 and 4 (June 4).

OSL Principal Conductor Bernard Labadie, renowned worldwide for his interpretations of
18th-century repertoire and now in his penultimate season as Principal Conductor, leads the
second of the festival’s three programs. His leadership of the St. Matthew Passion in 2022 was met
with unanimous acclaim: the New York Times declared that under his baton “the music was
unwaveringly measured but balanced; its flashes of grandeur didn’t need to be overstated
to land powerfully.” He leads guest soloist Augustin Hadelich in a program that centers on
Bach’s transcriptions of his own works for other instruments. Featured is the Violin Concerto in
D minor, most familiar in a transcription for harpsichord but generally considered to have been
transcribed from a violin original. Also on the program is the Violin Concerto in G minor,
transcribed from the Harpsichord Concerto in F minor; Labadie’s arrangements of Bach’s
Fantasia in G and Pachelbel’s Chaconne in E minor; and concerti grossi by Charles Avison and
Francesco Geminiani (June 18). A video of Labadie discussing the reconstruction of Bach scores
is available here.

The festival concludes with a program titled “Bach and Sons,” in which the music of J. S. Bach is
juxtaposed with that of his sons Johann Christian and Carl Philipp Emanuel, outlining the
metamorphosis of musical styles from the late Baroque to the Classical era. Kristian
Bezuidenhout, whom The Guardian declares “above all … knows how to make a fortepiano sing,”
makes his OSL debut as both conductor and soloist in the program, which concludes with an early
masterpiece by the Bach family’s spiritual descendant, Mozart (June 25).

Brahms’s A German Requiem

OSL’s final performance of the season on Carnegie Hall’s mainstage will be conducted by Xian
Zhang, Music Director of the New Jersey Symphony and Principal Guest Conductor of the
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, stepping in after Labadie was forced to withdraw due to a
recent illness. James Roe, OSL’s President and Executive Director, comments:

“Xian’s appearance with Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall is a heartfelt homecoming over
two decades in the making. On the same stage in September 2002, Xian was one of two top prize
winners at the international Maazel-Vilar Conductor’s Competition. I will never forget her
electrifying winning performance because I was playing in the orchestra! Xian subsequently
performed with St. Luke’s multiple times, and whenever she is on the podium, our musicians are
inspired by her passion, commitment, and musical integrity. And there is the special musical bond
from being part of the launch of her pioneering career.”

The all-Brahms program centers on A German Requiem, featuring soprano Erin Morley;
baritone Andrè Schuen making his OSL and Carnegie Hall debuts; the La Chapelle de Québec
chorus, founded by Labadie in 1985 and directed by him ever since; and the chamber choir
Ensemble Altera. Also on the program is Brahms’s Begräbnisgesang (“Interment Song”) for
SATB choir, twelve wind instruments and timpani. Composed a decade before A German Requiem,
and originally incorporating strings along with the winds and percussion, Begräbnisgesang marks
one of Brahms’s first forays into the combination of voices with orchestra (May 9).

OSL at Caramoor

OSL performs two programs at Caramoor this summer, featuring Montenegrin guitarist Miloš and
pianist Jeremy Denk respectively. Miloš, who BBC Music Magazine numbered among “Six of the
Best Classical Guitarists of the past century,” performs the Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquin
Rodrigo. Once again led by conductor Xian Zhang, the orchestra also performs Primal Message
by American composer Nokuthula Ngwenyama, and the program concludes with Mozart’s
Symphony No. 39, written in the final years of the composer’s life. There will be a pre-concert
conversation with Miloš at 3 pm before the 4 pm performance (July 14).

Returning for a second program in August, OSL welcomes Jeremy Denk – “an artist you want to
hear no matter what he performs” (New York Times) – for a performance of Beethoven’s Fourth
Piano Concerto, along with Dvořak’s Eighth Symphony and Ballade by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
Thomas Wilkins, Principal Conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and Music Director
Laureate of the Omaha Symphony, makes his Caramoor debut leading the program. A
pre-concert conversation with Thomas Wilkins begins at 3 pm (Aug 4).

About Orchestra of St. Luke’s

Orchestra of St. Luke’s (OSL), which celebrates its 50th season in 2024–25, performs and
produces in a variety of formats throughout New York City, including orchestra and chamber
music series on each of Carnegie Hall’s iconic stages, programs focused on contemporary
composers presented throughout the five boroughs, collaborations with Paul Taylor Dance
Company at Lincoln Center, a composition institute, education and community engagement
programs, and much more. Founded in 1974 when a group of virtuoso chamber musicians began
performing together in Greenwich Village at The Church of St. Luke in the Fields, the ensemble
expanded into an orchestra in 1979 and is today “a mainstay of New York’s classical scene” (New
Yorker) under the baton of Principal Conductor Bernard Labadie, a celebrated specialist in
18th-century music, along with special guests. OSL has participated in 120 recordings, four of
which have won Grammy Awards, has commissioned more than 70 new works, and has given
more than 200 world, U.S., and New York City premieres. OSL champions the work of historically
underrepresented composers, including Florence Price, Julius Eastman, Joseph Bologne and
others, along with living composers such as Valerie Coleman, Eleanor Alberga, Anna Clyne, Joan
Tower and Wynton Marsalis. OSL’s Education & Community Engagement programs have been a
staple of its work since it first produced a staged opera for New York City public school children in
1976. Today, OSL continues to offer accessible, interactive concerts for students, in addition to the
100-member Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s (YOSL) program, now in its 10th season and the only
youth orchestra under the umbrella of a professional group in New York City; concert tours that
introduce classical music to new audiences; a mentorship program for pre-professional
musicians; and the DeGaetano Composition Institute, which supports the development of
emerging composers and commissions new works for OSL each season. OSL built and operates
The DiMenna Center in midtown Manhattan – located in the nexus of Manhattan’s burgeoning
Hudson Yards neighborhood and the theater district near Times Square – the city’s only rehearsal,
recording, and performance space built specially for classical music. Thousands of local and
international musicians create work at The DiMenna Center where they not only stage
performances, but also rehearse, record and broadcast music enjoyed throughout the city and the
world. To learn more, visit OSLmusic.org or follow @OSLmusic on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, or
Facebook.

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Orchestra of St. Luke’s: spring/summer 2024

May 9
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage)
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
“Brahms’s German Requiem”
Xian Zhang, conductor
Erin Morley, soprano
Andrè Schuen, baritone
La Chapelle de Québec
Ensemble Altera
BRAHMS: Begräbnisgesang
BRAHMS: A German Requiem

June 4
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall)
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Bach Festival: “Concertos and Cantatas”
Jeannette Sorrell, conductor
Joélle Harvey, soprano
BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G, BWV 1048
BACH: Sinfonia from Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12
BACH: Jauchzet Gott In allen Landen, BWV 51
BACH: “Ich folge dir” from St. John Passion
BACH: “Zerfliesse” from St. John Passion
BACH: Sinfonia from Himmelskönig, sei willkommen, BWV
BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G, BWV 1049

June 18
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall)
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Bach Festival: “Concertos with Hadelich”
Bernard Labadie, Principal Conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin
AVISON: Concerto grosso No. 5 in D minor (after Scarlatti)
GEMINIANI: Concerto grosso Op. 5, No. 12, “La Follia” (after Corelli)
BACH: Fantasia in G, BWV 572 (arr. Labadie)
BACH: Concerto for violin in G minor, BWV 1056R
PACHELBEL: Chaconne in E minor (arr. Labadie)
GEMINIANI: Concerto grosso in F, Op. 5, No. 10 (after Corelli)
BACH: Concerto for violin in D minor, BWV 1052R

June 25
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall)
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Bach Festival: “Bach and Sons”
Kristian Bezuidenhout, conductor and fortepiano
J. C. BACH: Symphony in G minor
J. S. BACH: Contrapunctus XIV from The Art of the Fugue (version for strings)
C. P. E. BACH: Piano Concerto in D minor
C. P. E. BACH: Symphony for Strings in C
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat “Jenamy”

July 14
Katonah, NY
Caramoor Venetian Theater
Orchestra of St. Luke’s & Miloš, guitar
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Xian Zhang, conductor
Miloš, guitar
Nokuthula NGWENYAMA: Primal Message
MOZART: Symphony No. 39 in E-flat, K. 543
RODRIGO: Concierto de Aranjuez
Pre-concert conversation with Miloš

Aug 4
Katonah, NY
Caramoor Venetian Theater
Orchestra of St. Luke’s & Jeremy Denk, piano
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Thomas Wilkins, conductor
Jeremy Denk, piano
COLERIDGE-TAYLOR: Ballade, Op. 33
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G, Op. 58
DVOŘÁK: Symphony No. 8
Pre-concert conversation with Thomas Wilkins

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© 21C Media Group, May 2024