Trinity Wall Street Rings in Holidays with Messiah and Twelfth Night Festival
Once again, Trinity Wall Street’s musical offerings mark a high point of the New York holiday season. There is no more venerable New World tradition of Handel’s Messiah than that of the historic downtown institution, where performances date back to 1770, and have in more recent years proved “revelatory” (New York Times). This year, the Trinity Choir, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and music director Julian Wachner give their annual Messiah performances at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall (Dec 18) as well as at Trinity Church (Dec 17, 19, & 21). Handel’s music also serves as a centerpiece of Trinity’s celebrated Twelfth Night Festival (Dec 26–Jan 5); having scored a Grammy nomination for their recording of his Israel in Egypt, this season Wachner and the two Trinity ensembles undertake Saul, another of the Baroque master’s biblical oratorios (Jan 2 & 4). The early music festival also features guest artists including the Gotham Early Music Scene, back by popular demand to reprise the medieval Play of Daniel (Dec 27 & 28); the Clarion Music Society, returning after last season’s sold-out concerts to ring in the New Year with Rachmaninoff’s transcendent Vespers (Dec 31 & Jan 1); and Grammy Award-winning vocal octet Roomful of Teeth (Jan 5). As the New York Times observes, “If there is such a thing as a musical blessing, Trinity [Wall Street] conferred it on a neighborhood and a city still in need of one.”
Messiah at Lincoln Center and Trinity Church
Handel’s Messiah is a perennial holiday favorite that reliably draws sellout crowds. This 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, besides playing a part in the American premiere of Messiah just eight months earlier and only blocks away at Burns’s Coffee House on Broadway, where the concert served as a fundraiser for Trinity’s organist. Against this long and rich historical backdrop, it is fitting that it was with Messiah that Trinity Wall Street made its Lincoln Center debut three years ago, launching a new seasonal tradition that has been warmly welcomed by the press. Time Out New York recognized Trinity’s as “New York’s finest annual presentation of Handel’s Messiah”; the Wall Street Journal found that “the Trinity Messiah demonstrated why historically informed performance makes a difference”; and the New York Times noted that where others present Handel’s oratorio as “a comfortable holiday tradition, Trinity put on something closer to a sacred rite.” This season’s Messiah performances by the Trinity Baroque Orchestra and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street – with the vocal soloists drawn from the chorus – take place at Alice Tully Hall on December 18 and Trinity Church on December 17, 19, and 21, with Julian Wachner on the podium. Tickets are available at: trinitywallstreet.org/messiah.
Handel’s Saul, early music, and more at the Twelfth Night Festival
Boasting, as in previous years, an “engrossing” and “enviable variety of repertory” (New York Times), Trinity’s Twelfth Night Festival returns to celebrate the twelve days of the nativity with a full program of mostly free events from December 26 through January 5.
This year’s festival kicks off on December 26 at St. Paul’s Chapel with a traversal of Bach’s complete Orchestral Suites by the Trinity Baroque Orchestra, with the Trinity Scholars directed by Trinity’s Associate Organist and Chorus Master Avi Stein. Hailed at his Carnegie Hall debut as “a brilliant organ soloist” (New York Times), Stein also anchors a program of concertos for organ and strings at St Paul’s Chapel on December 29.
Julian Wachner leads the Choir of Trinity Wall Street and the Trinity Baroque Orchestra in two accounts of Handel’s Saul at St. Paul’s Chapel on January 2 and 4. Drawn from the First Book of Samuel, the dramatic oratorio depicts the first king of Israel’s conflicted relationship with his successor David, and includes the famous funeral music known as the “Dead March.” The New York Times has admired the “glorious, smoothly blended, beautifully textured sound” produced by the combined Trinity Choir and Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and earlier this year, after hearing the choir in another Handel oratorio at London’s Barbican Hall, The Times of London pronounced it “a choir from heaven.” Wachner also leads the choir in a program of Lessons and Carols at St. Paul’s Chapel on December 28.
Following its success in the past two Twelfth Night Festivals, the Gotham Early Music Scene (GEMS) brings back its hit staging of The Play of Daniel, a 12th-century liturgical music drama depicting the story of Daniel in the lions’ den, with two shows each day on December 27 and 28 in Trinity Church. Sung in Latin, GEMS’s fully-costumed production features dance and performances by many of New York’s finest period instrumentalists and singers, now with a new prologue in English to appeal to audiences of all ages. Lauding the production as “spine-tingling,” the New York Times called the medieval music “inexpressibly beautiful…in drama that may well transport you to another time.”
Rachmaninoff’s Vespers were a highlight of last year’s festival, when Steven Fox led the Clarion Music Society in “an inspired interpretation” (New York Times) of the composer’s setting of texts from the Russian Orthodox all-night vigil ceremony. This season, the same forces reprise the transcendent choral masterpiece on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day at Trinity Church, interspersing between the movements some of the ancient Byzantine and Kievan chants that inspired them.
A cornucopia of early music and more rounds out this year’s festival. The Bishop’s Band gives a concert dedicated to Martínez Compañón’s book of late 18th-century Peruvian music from the Codex Trujillo del Perú (Dec 29). Grand Harmonie presents “A Cosmopolitan New Year” celebration, of opera and orchestral favorites by Rossini, Mozart, and Haydn, in period arrangements for wind band (Dec 30). Conductorless period-instrument orchestra New York Baroque Inc. plays Baroque music by Telemann, Vivaldi, Corelli, and Torelli (Dec 30). Donald Meineke leads the choir and orchestra known as the Bach Vespers of Holy Trinity in Lutheran sacred music by Baroque masters Bach, Schütz, and Praetorius (Dec 31). The Ensemble Viscera performs 16th-century motets and villancicos by Des Prez, Sanz, Vásquez and others (Jan 2). Countertenor Ryland Angel juxtaposes new commissions with Renaissance works, all celebrating the many faces of the Virgin Mary (Jan 3). Cappella Romana sings Greek Orthodox chant and choral works for Christmas and Epiphany, including compositions by Frank Desby, Peter Michaelides, and Tikey Zes (Jan 3). Melissa Attebury conducts the Trinity Youth Chorus in Compline by Candlelight (Jan 4). And in O Rosa Bella, Kathryn Montoya, Priscilla Herreid, Grant Herreid, and Erik Schmalz play courtly and sacred music of the 15th to 17th centuries on shawms, sackbut, recorders, bagpipe, and lute (Jan 5).
Finally, the festival draws to a triumphant close on January 5 with a performance at Trinity Church by Roomful of Teeth, the trailblazing vocal group whose eight classically trained members have also mastered Tuvan and Inuit throat singing, yodeling, and pop techniques. Group member Caroline Shaw was awarded the 2013 Pulitzer Prize, and the ensemble’s self-titled debut album won the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. Tickets are available at: trinitywallstreet.org/twelfthnight.
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 York Times calls his leadership “inspiring,” while the New Yorker has describes 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.
Details of Trinity Wall Street’s musical offerings over the upcoming holiday season are provided below.
Trinity Wall Street: holiday season
Fri, Dec 5, 5pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Chorister Holiday Concert
Britten: Ceremony of Carols
Holiday Carol Sing
Trinity Youth Choir and Outreach Choirs; Trinity Youth Orchestra; Melissa Attebury, conductor
Sun, Dec 7, 8pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Compline by Candlelight featuring Byrd’s Cantiones Sacrae
Byrd: O quam gloriosum
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Julian Wachner, conductor
Wed, Dec 10, 1pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Bach at One
Bach: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645
Bach: Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, BWV 91
Bach: Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, BWV 100
Trinity Baroque Orchestra; The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Julian Wachner, conductor
Thurs, Dec 11, 1pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Concerts at One
Christmas Time is Here (selections by Bach and from their new holiday album)
The Canadian Brass
Sun, Dec 14, 8pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Compline by Candlelight featuring Byrd’s Cantiones Sacrae
Byrd: Defecit in dolore
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Julian Wachner, conductor
Wed, Dec 17, 7:30pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Handel: Messiah
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Trinity Baroque Orchestra; Julian Wachner, conductor
Thurs, Dec 18, 1pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Concerts at One: THIRD THURSDAYS
Holiday Concert
West Point Band
Thurs, Dec 18, 7:30pm (Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center)
Handel: Messiah
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Trinity Baroque Orchestra; Julian Wachner, conductor
Fri, Dec 19, 7:30pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Handel: Messiah
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Trinity Baroque Orchestra; Julian Wachner, conductor
Sun, Dec 21, 3pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Handel: Messiah
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Trinity Baroque Orchestra; Julian Wachner, conductor
Sun, Dec 21, 8pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Compline by Candlelight featuring Byrd’s Cantiones Sacrae
Byrd: Vigilate
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Julian Wachner, conductor
Fri, Dec 26, 6pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
12th Night Festival
Bach: The Complete Orchestral Suites
Trinity Baroque Orchestra featuring the Trinity Scholars; Avi Stein, director and harpsichord
Sat, Dec 27, 3pm & 6pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Sun, Dec 28, 3pm & 6pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
12th Night Festival
Gotham Early Music Scene – Play of Daniel
Sun, Dec 28, 8pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
12th Night Festival
Lessons and Carols
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; Julian Wachner, conductor
Mon, Dec 29, 1pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
12th Night Festival
Concertos for Organ and Strings
Avi Stein, organ
Mon, Dec 29, 6pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
12th Night Festival
Codex II – A concert dedicated to Martínez Compañón’s book, music of late 18th-century Peru from the Codex Trujillo del Perú
The Bishop’s Band
Tue, Dec 30, 1pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
12th Night Festival
“A Cosmopolitan New Year”
Period arrangements for wind band of opera and orchestral favorites by Rossini, Mozart and Haydn
Grand Harmonie
Tue, Dec 30, 6pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
12th Night Festival
“Il Grosso Pastorale”
Works by Telemann, Vivaldi, Corelli and Torelli
NY Baroque Inc.
Wed, Dec 31, 4pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
12th Night Festival
Holy Trinity Bach Vespers; Donald Meineke, conductor
Works by Bach, Schütz, Praetorius and others
Wed, Dec 31, 6pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
Thu, Jan 1, 6pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
12th Night Festival
Rachmaninoff: Vespers: All-Night Vigil
Clarion Music Society; Steven Fox, conductor
Fri, Jan 2, 1pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
12th Night Festival
Motets and Villancicos from the 16th Century
Including works by Des Prez, Sanz, Vásquez and others
Ensemble Viscera
Fri, Jan 2, 6pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
Sun, Jan. 4, 3pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
12th Night Festival
Handel: Saul
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Trinity Baroque Orchestra; Julian Wachner, conductor
Sat, Jan 3, 1pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
12th Night Festival
Our Lady III
Celebrating the many faces of the Virgin Mary through newly commissioned works paired with Renaissance works
Ryland Angel, countertenor
Sat, Jan 3, 6pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
12th Night Festival
Greek Orthodox Chant and choral works for Christmas and Epiphany including works by Frank Desby, Peter Michaelides, and Tikey Zes
Cappella Romana
Sun, Jan 4, 8pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
12th Night Festival
Compline by Candlelight featuring the Trinity Youth Chorus
Melissa Attebury, conductor
Mon, Jan 5, 1pm (St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway at Fulton)
12th Night Festival
O Rosa Bella: Courtly and Sacred Music of the 15th-17th Centuries
Kathryn Montoya, Priscilla Herreid, Grant Herreid, and Erik Schmalz performing on shawms, sackbut, recorders, bagpipe and lute
Mon, Jan 5, 6pm (Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall)
12th Night Festival
Performance of vocal music by Grammy Award-winning octet Roomful of Teeth
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© 21C Media Group, November 2014