Trinity Church Wall Street Announces 2021-22 Season, with Tribute to Josquin, St. Matthew Passion, Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard, Britten’s War Requiem, and More

Photos courtesy of Trinity Church Wall Street

As music and art have continued to be a source of solace and light throughout this difficult time, Trinity Church Wall Street envisions 2021-22 as a pandemic transition concert season: a combination of live and virtual performance that maximizes the safety of all involved while carefully reinstituting—for limited in-person audiences—the live spiritual renewal, cultural enrichment and “indispensable and unmissable” music (New York Times) for which the institution is celebrated.

The season will be anchored by one major live concert event each month, many featuring The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, the ensemble that has kept Trinity’s music ministry thriving over the past year at services and online performances. Season highlights include a celebration of the 500th anniversary of the death of Josquin (Nov 14); five staged performances in St. Paul’s Chapel of Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard (Feb 24–March 1); collaborative performances with the Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys of Bach’s peerless St. Matthew Passion (March 29 & 31); and Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem as the season finale (June 12). In-person programs in the community will also resume this season, with a performance of Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning oratorio Anthracite Fields with The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Bang on a Can All-Stars in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall (May 19); and the world premiere performances of Emma O’Halloran’s Trade, co-commissioned by Trinity and Beth Morrison Projects and featuring Trinity’s in-house contemporary orchestra, NOVUS NY, led by Music Director Julian Wachner, in the Prototype Festival (Jan 9–17). Performances at Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel will be streamed live and available on demand.

Meanwhile, the online “Comfort at One” programs that have given a global reach to Trinity’s three-century role of bringing solace to New York’s downtown community continue on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The opening week of the season will feature movements from Seven Pillars by Andy Akiho (Sep 13–16), leading up to the following week’s world premiere virtual performance of “Pillar VII” (Sep 21). Also featured in Comfort at One, on the last Wednesday of each month, is a series of recordings made over the past season by The Choir of Trinity Wall Street in collaboration with Associate Organist Janet Yieh’s “Amplify Female Composers” project. With performances filmed in HD on 14 cameras by Trinity’s in-house professional audio/video engineering staff, the weekday Comfort at One concerts stream at 1pm on Facebook and Twitter, with full videos posted here.

Two cherished Trinity traditions—the December Messiah performances and the weekly Bach + One concerts in St. Paul’s Chapel—remain on pause this season as Trinity adjusts its schedule of performances to retain maximum flexibility as COVID-19 safety guidelines continue to fluctuate.

Large-Scale Monthly Performances
During the height of the pandemic, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street led music ministry six days a week for a year, performing distanced and masked in the streamed services to adhere to safety protocols. At the same time, the choir focused on growing as an ensemble, meeting regularly to rehearse and record choral meditations for the Comfort at One series. The choir participates in four live in-house concerts this season, beginning with a celebration of the music of Josquin to mark the 500th anniversary of his death.

In February, the choir and NOVUS NY, led by Wachner, present five staged performances in St. Paul’s Chapel of the “fusion oratorio” Considering Matthew Shepard, composed by the Grammy-winning founder and Artistic Director of Austin’s Conspirare, Craig Hella Johnson. Elliott Forrest and Rod Caspers are the stage directors for the production, which Johnson has said he created as “a space for reflection, consideration and unity around [Shepard’s] life and legacy.” In collaboration with Trinity’s Pride 365 program, which focuses on LGBTQ+ advocacy throughout the year, several LGBTQ+ community and educational events will be scheduled surrounding the performances.

In the spring, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Trinity Youth Chorus will collaborate under Wachner’s direction with the Choir of Men and Boys of Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and New York Baroque Incorporated for Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, one of the undisputed pinnacles of the Baroque sacred repertoire. Soloists include tenor Thomas Cooley and bass Jonathan Woody, and the work will be performed both at Trinity Church and Saint Thomas.

Other large-scale performances during the 2021-22 season include two more appearances by the Trinity Youth Chorus led by conductor Melissa Attebury: their beloved annual December presentation of Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, and their spring concert in May. April’s large-scale concert event features Downtown Voices, Trinity’s semi-professional choir led by conductor Stephen Sands, performing Zachary Wadsworth’s Spire and Shadow, commissioned by Trinity for the group in 2016 in honor of the 250th anniversary of St. Paul’s Chapel. This performance will include the world premiere of an additional movement composed as a reflection on the pandemic.

Trinity’s ensembles also participate in two productions outside the church this season. The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Wachner join Bang on a Can All-Stars in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall to reprise Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Anthracite Fields, an oratorio commemorating the history of coal mining in northeastern Pennsylvania around the turn of the 20th century. The same forces performed the piece in Zankel Hall in 2018, and collaborated on the 2015 recording on the Canteloupe Music label. And as part of its longstanding collaboration with Beth Morrison Project and HERE’s Prototype Festival, Wachner conducts NOVUS NY in the world premiere performances of Emma O’Halloran’s Trade, co-commissioned by Trinity, which will be presented at the festival in January.

To close out the season, most of Trinity’s ensembles—The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Downtown Voices, the Trinity Youth Chorus, and NOVUS NY, all led by Wachner—will join together for a performance in Trinity Church of Benjamin Britten’s monumental War Requiem, in which traditional Latin texts are interspersed with the World War I poems of English poet Wilfred Owen, killed in action one week before the signing of the Armistice.

Continued Comfort at One Programming
Trinity continues this season to take advantage of its extensive archives to maintain a virtual presence through the Comfort at One series, a key initiative that throughout the pandemic has helped lessen the sense of isolation felt by music lovers around the world cut off from in-person performances. Mondays will feature Trinity’s renowned Bach performances from its unparalleled library of HD video-recorded concerts, with The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Trinity Baroque Orchestra under Wachner’s leadership. Tuesdays will feature a mix of archived concerts and new virtual performances from the church’s extended artistic family, highlighting musicians from NOVUS NY, Trinity Baroque Orchestra and The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and curated offerings by Allison Loggins-Hull, Avi Stein, Ashley Jackson and more. Every Wednesday, the series will present newly recorded choral meditations featuring The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, with repertoire of all genres and periods, from Obrecht and William Byrd to Bobby McFerrin, Melanie DeMore, and Sarah MacDonald.

Opening the Comfort at One regular season are five virtual performances from Seven Pillars by Andy Akiho, including the world premiere virtual performance of “Pillar VII.” The performers, who also commissioned the work, are NOVUS NY principal percussionists Jonny Allen, Victor Caccese, Ian Rosenbaum and Terry Sweeney, collectively known as Brooklyn’s “virtuosic and utterly mesmerizing” (The Guardian) Sandbox Percussion. Developed through multiple extended residencies at Avaloch Farm Music Institute in New Hampshire, the piece consists of seven ensemble movements and one solo for each member of Sandbox, marking both their largest commission to date and Akiho’s largest-scale chamber music work. Director and filmmaker Michael McQuilken has created an original lighting scheme that is seamlessly integrated with the music, and he also designed the layout of the instruments on stage and the choreography of transitions between movements. A full recording of this adventurous, genre-defying work will be released on September 24 following the “Pillar VII” world premiere.

Also highlighting this season’s Comfort at One streams is a collaboration with “Amplify Female Composers,” a new platform created by Janet Yieh and fellow organist Carolyn Craig that seeks to encourage the performance of sacred music composed and arranged by women. Yieh and Craig, both graduates of Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music, have joined an international team of eight musicians in building a liturgical database called A Great Host of Composers that recommends female-composed choral and organ pieces based on the three-year Revised Common Lectionary. The Choir of Trinity Wall Street has recorded 15 choral anthems by women composers, curated to align with a segment of the lectionary, to highlight the Great Host of Composers database. These recordings will be presented on the last Wednesday of each month from September through December in Comfort at One.

9/11 Services
A weekend of services and music will be offered to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11. The event itself falls on a Saturday, and Trinity’s events begin Friday evening in Trinity Church with the candle-lit Vigil Psalms: A Service of Prayer, Readings & Music, with The Choir of Trinity Wall Street led by Wachner. Following the service, a procession will walk to St. Paul’s Chapel, where a 48-hour vigil will begin. On September 11, from 7am to 7pm, musicians will be performing on the hour at St. Paul’s in A Time and Space for Remembrance and Healing, including organists Julian Wachner, Janet Yieh, and Forrest Eimold; harpsichordist Avi Stein; pianist Farrah Dupoux; mezzo-soprano Melissa Attebury; flutist Melissa Baker; baritone Thomas McCargar; saxophonist Chris Hemingway; steel pan player Kendall K. Williams and singer-songwriter Najah Lewis. The principal Sunday liturgy of the Trinity parish will be celebrated in the rejuvenated nave of Trinity Church, with The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and NOVUS NY performing selections from the Fauré Requiem. Also set in the tranquility of Trinity Church, the reflective Sunday night service Compline by Candlelight: Anthems of Peace and Hope includes anthems and improvisations sung by The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and the Trinity Youth Chorus as the 48-hour vigil comes to a close. All events can be attended in-person and will be livestreamed, except for Compline by Candlelight, which will be recorded for podcast.

About Music at Trinity Church Wall Street

Trinity Church Wall Street’s groundbreaking music program – “the top of musical life in New York” (New York Times) – has changed the landscape of performing arts in New York City, re-envisioning the impact arts organizations can have, with its peerless ensembles, uniquely broad range of expertise from early to new music performance, long tradition of championing underrepresented composers, and extensive and growing discography. Conductor and composer Julian Wachner serves as the director of music at Trinity and as the principal conductor of The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, NOVUS NY and the Trinity Baroque Orchestra.

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Trinity Church Wall Street: Music Programming 2021-22
All events are free (limited capacity) and located at Trinity Church unless otherwise indicated.

Sep 10 at 8pm
Vigil Psalms: A Service of Prayer, Readings & Music
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; NOVUS NY; Julian Wachner, conductor
Procession to St. Paul’s Chapel for 48-hour vigil after service

Sep 11 7am-7pm
A Time and Space for Remembrance and Healing
Musicians on the hour in honor of 9/11 to include:
Janet Yieh and Forrest Eimold, organ
Avi Stein, harpsichord
Farrah Dupoux, piano
Melissa Attebury, mezzo-soprano
Melissa Baker, flute
Najah Lewis, singer-songwriter
Thomas McCargar, baritone
Chris Hemingway, saxophone
Kendall K. Williams, steel drums
Julian Wachner

Sep 12 at 11:15am
Holy Eucharist
Special 9/11 music: Fauré Requiem
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; NOVUS NY; Julian Wachner, conductor

Sep 12 at 8pm
Compline by Candlelight: Anthems for Peace and Hope
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Trinity Youth Chorus; Julian Wachner, conductor

Sep 13-16 at 1pm
Comfort at One
Andy Akiho: Seven Pillars
Virtual performances
Sandbox Percussion; Michael McQuilken, Artistic Director

Sundays starting Sep 19 at 8pm
Compline by Candlelight
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street

Sep 21 at 1pm
Comfort at One
Andy Akiho: Pillar VII from Seven Pillars
World Premiere Virtual performance
Sandbox Percussion; Michael McQuilken, Artistic Director

Sep 29 at 1pm
Comfort at One
Choral Meditation in partnership with Amplify Female Composers
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Julian Wachner and Janet Yieh, conductors

Oct 27 at 1pm
Comfort at One
Choral Meditation in partnership with Amplify Female Composers
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Julian Wachner and Janet Yieh, conductors

Nov 14 at 3pm
Josquin Concert
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Julian Wachner, conductor

Nov 24 at 1pm
Comfort at One
Choral Meditation in partnership with Amplify Female Composers
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Julian Wachner and Janet Yieh, conductors

Dec 19 at 8pm
Chorister Compline
Britten: Ceremony of Carols

Trinity Youth Chorus; Melissa Attebury, conductor

Dec 29 at 1pm
Comfort at One
Choral Meditation in partnership with Amplify Female Composers
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Julian Wachner and Janet Yieh, conductors

Jan 9-17 Prototype Festival
Emma O’Halloran: Trade
Co-commissioned by Trinity Church Wall Street and Beth Morrison Projects

Beth Morrison Projects; HERE; NOVUS NY; Julian Wachner, conductor

Jan 30 at 3pm
Downtown Voices Winter Concert
Downtown Voices; The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Stephen Sands, conductor

Feb 24, 25, 28, and March 1 at 7:30pm at St. Paul’s Chapel
Feb 26 at 7pm at St Paul’s Chapel
Craig Hella Johnson Considering Matthew Shepard
Staged production
Elliott Forrest and Rodney Caspers, stage directors
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; NOVUS NY; Julian Wachner, music director

March 13 at 3pm
Winter Trinity Youth Chorus Concert
Trinity Youth Chorus; Melissa Attebury, conductor

March 29 at 7:30pm at Saint Thomas Church
March 31 at 7:30pm at Trinity Church
Bach St. Matthew Passion
Ticketed
Thomas Cooley, tenor; Jonathan Woody, bass; The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Trinity Youth Chorus; The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys; Trinity Baroque Orchestra; New York Baroque Inc.; Julian Wachner, conductor
Ticket information will be up on Trinity’s website later this fall

April 24 at 3pm
Downtown Voices Spring Concert
Zachary Wadsworth Spire and Shadow
Downtown Voices; The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; NOVUS NY; Stephen Sands, conductor

May 19 at 7:30pm
Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall
Julia Wolfe Anthracite Fields
Ticketed
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Bang on a Can All-Stars; Julian Wachner, conductor
Tickets on sale 8/30

May 22 at 3pm
Spring Trinity Youth Chorus Concert
Trinity Youth Chorus and Outreach Choirs; Melissa Attebury, conductor

June 12 at 3pm
Britten War Requiem
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Downtown Voices; Trinity Youth Chorus; NOVUS NY; Julian Wachner, conductor

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© 21C Media Group, August 2021