Trinity Wall Street Celebrates Holiday Season with Historically Informed, Period-Instrument Performances of Messiah at Lincoln Center (Dec 17) and Trinity Church (Dec 16 & 26)
It was after a performance by Trinity Wall Street that the New York Times counseled: “To experience the full, formidable range of Messiah, from the furious flames of the ‘refiner’s fire’ to the delirious party of the finale, next year let Trinity be your guide.” New Yorkers can follow that advice this holiday season, when – almost 250 years after Trinity first helped bring Messiah to the New World – the Grammy-nominated Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and Director of Music and the Arts Julian Wachner keep the tradition alive with historically informed, period-instrument performances of Handel’s oratorio at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall (December 17) and Trinity Church (December 16 & 26).
Click here to see an excerpt of Wachner conducting The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and the Trinity Baroque Orchestra in “For unto us a child is born” from Handel’s Messiah.
As a beloved holiday favorite, Messiah owes much to Trinity Wall Street, which was instrumental in pioneering the oratorio in the New World. Trinity Church presented the second American performance in 1770 and also indirectly played a part in the American premiere eight months earlier, which took place just blocks away on Broadway at Burns’s Coffee House, where the concert served as a fundraiser for Trinity’s former organist. Click here to find out more about the history of Messiah at Trinity Wall Street.
Today, Wachner and The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Trinity Baroque Orchestra rank among the oratorio’s foremost exponents. Early music experts who play on period instruments and specialize in Baroque performance practice, they offer an authentic, historically informed approach. It was with Messiah that the ensembles made their Lincoln Center debut four years ago, launching a new seasonal tradition that has become one of their most significant events of the year.
Tickets for the upcoming Messiah concerts are available here, and more information about Trinity Wall Street’s extensive 2015-16 season is provided here.
Trinity Wall Street
One of the oldest, largest and most vibrant of all Episcopal parishes, Trinity Wall Street is located in the heart of Manhattan’s Financial District, where it has created a dynamic home for music; as the New York Times acknowledges, “Trinity’s music is indispensable and unmissable.” Serving as director of Trinity’s Music and the Arts Program – as well as principal conductor of The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, the period-instrument Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and contemporary-music ensemble-in-residence NOVUS NY – Julian Wachner also oversees all liturgical, professional and community music and arts programming at Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel. The New Yorker has described Trinity Wall Street as “a mini-Lincoln Center for downtown Manhattan.” The music at Trinity ranges from large-scale oratorios to chamber music, and from intimate a cappella singing to jazz improvisation. Many concerts at Trinity Wall Street are professionally filmed and webcast live at www.trinitywallstreet.org/videos.
To download high-resolution photos, click here.
www.trinitywallstreet.org/music
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Trinity Wall Street presents Handel’s Messiah
Dec 16 at 7:30pm
Dec 26 at 5:00pm
New York, NY
Trinity Church (Broadway at Wall Street)
Choir of Trinity Wall Street & Trinity Baroque Orchestra / Julian Wachner
Tickets: $45, $75, $95
Dec 17 at 7:30pm
New York, NY
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center
Choir of Trinity Wall Street & Trinity Baroque Orchestra / Julian Wachner
Tickets: $55, $75, $95
Tickets for all performances are available at www.trinitywallstreet.org/messiah
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© 21C Media Group, November 2015