Trinity Wall Street’s holidays 2012: “Messiah” and Twelfth Night Festival

Music at Trinity Wall Street has become a holiday tradition in New York City as beloved as the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center – and far more historic. There is no more venerable tradition of Handel’s Messiah in the New World than that of Trinity Wall Street, with performances dating back to 1770. Next month, Trinity gives its annual presentation of Messiah, with performances at Trinity Church (Dec. 9) and Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall (Dec. 12) by the Trinity Choir and Trinity Baroque Orchestra under music director Julian Wachner. This holiday season also features Trinity’s Twelfth Night Festival, from December 26 to January 6. The festival will include performances of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and complete Brandenburg Concertos, as well as such highlights as Monteverdi’s Vespers and acclaimed jazz pianist Dan Tepfer’s Goldberg Variations / Variations.
 
Messiah
 
The New York Times has given Trinity Wall Street’s performances of Messiah high praise. “Largely on the strength of its extraordinary choir,” Trinity’s account “pierced the heart,” said a recent review, which added that while other groups present Messiah as “a comfortable holiday tradition, Trinity put on something closer to a sacred rite.” When Messiah was first presented at Trinity Church in 1770, it was only the second performance of Handel’s work in the New World; Trinity was also involved in the American premiere of Messiah just eight months earlier and only blocks away at Burns Coffee House at 9 Broadway, where the concert served as a fundraiser for the organist of Trinity Church.
 
Twelfth Night Festival
 
The Twelfth Night Festival – New York’s Winter Early Music Festival, produced this season in collaboration with Gotham Early Music Society – runs from December 26 to January 6. The festival will present performances by the Trinity Choir and Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Ryland Angel, Parthenia, New York Sinfonia, Clarion, TENET, Green Mountain Project, Juilliard 415 and organist Renée Anne Louprette. Highlights include a Dec. 30 performance by the Clarion Music Society of Russian music for Christmas time, from Tchaikovsky to Arvo Pärt. On Jan. 5, jazz pianist Dan Tepfer will offer his Goldberg Variations / Variations, in which he plays not only Bach’s Goldberg Variations in full but also Tepfer’s own improvised variations on the composer’s variations. Of Tepfer’s creation, the Wall Street Journal has said: “He builds a bridge across centuries and sparks a dialogue with Johann Sebastian Bach.” Major choral repertoire in the festival includes Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Monteverdi’s Vespers, while the Trinity Baroque Orchestra and Julian Wachner will perform Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concertos (Dec. 27-28). The festival concludes with a One Parish service of Epiphany Lessons and Carols featuring the Trinity Choir and the choristers.
 
In the New Year, the Twelfth Night Festival welcomes back the Green Mountain Project, which will present Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 in its original form in two performances (Jan 2, 3) at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin (145 West 46th St.). When the Green Mountain Project made a triumphant entry onto the New York early-music scene in January 2010 with Monteverdi’s Vespers, the New York Times said: “Quite simply terrific… The main choristers all had soloist-quality voices and ample opportunities to display them in music that is devilishly demanding in its ornamental intricacy.” The concert was also named one of the top 10 classical music events of the year by New York magazine, and the program was repeated in January 2011. Co-directed by Scott Metcalfe and Jolle Greenleaf, the Green Mountain Project features an ensemble of nearly 30 musicians. For complete program information on Twelfth Night Festival performances at Trinity, see the schedule below. For further venue and ticket information, visit http://www.gemsny.org/trinitytwelfth2012.html.
 
 
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 great music. Serving as director of Trinity’s Music and the Arts Program – as well as principal conductor of the Trinity Choir, the period-instrument Trinity Baroque Orchestra and the 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 music at Trinity ranges from large-scale oratorios to chamber music, from intimate a cappella singing to jazz improvisation.
 
Trinity Wall Street: holiday performances
 
Venue addresses: Trinity Church, Wall St & Broadway, New York, NY
    St. Paul’s Chapel, Fulton & Broadway, New York, NY
    Church of St. Mary the Virgin, 145 West 46th St., New York, NY
 
December 9 at 3pm
Trinity Church
Handel: Messiah
Trinity Baroque Orchestra & Trinity Choir; Julian Wachner, conductor
 
December 10 at 1pm
St. Paul’s Chapel
Bach at One
Program: TBD
Renée Ann Louprette, organ
 
December 12 at 1pm
St. Paul’s Chapel
Pipes at One
Program: TBD
Avi Stein, organ
 
December 12 at 7:30pm
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center
Handel: Messiah
Trinity Baroque Orchestra & Trinity Choir; Julian Wachner, conductor
 
December 16, 2012 at 8pm
St. Paul’s Chapel
Compline by Candlelight
Improvised chant
Gabriel Jackson: Cecilia virgo
Trinity Choir; Julian Wachner, conductor
 
December 17 at 1pm
St. Paul’s Chapel
Bach at One
Bach: Cantata BWV 40 – Dazu ist erschiene der Sohn Gottes
Bach: BWV 233 – Lutheran Missa in F major
Trinity Baroque Orchestra & Trinity Choir; Julian Wachner, conductor
 
December 19, 2012 at 1pm
St. Paul’s Chapel
Pipes at One
Program: TBD
James Kennerley, solo organ
 
December 23, 2012 at 8pm
St. Paul’s Chapel
Compline by Candlelight
Improvised chant
Roderick Williams: O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel
Trinity Choir; Julian Wachner, conductor
 
December 24, 2012 at 9:30pm
Trinity Church
Christmas Eve Service
Bach: BWV 243 – Magnificat
Charpentier: Messe de Minuit
Howells: A spotless rose; Sing lullaby
Poulenc: O magnum mysterium
Trinity Baroque Orchestra & Trinity Choir; Julian Wachner, conductor
 
Twelfth Night Festival (December 26 – January 6):
 
December 26 at 1pm
St. Paul’s Chapel
Pipes at One
Bach: BWV 572 – Pièce d’Orgue
Bach: BWV 729 – In dulci jubilo
Bach: BWV723, 724 – Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ
Bach: BWV 662, 663, 664 – Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr’
Bach: BWV 590 – Pastorale in F major
Julian Wachner
 
December 26 at 7:30pm
St. Paul’s Chapel
Lecture by Julian Wachner
A discussion on the liturgical life of J.S. Bach
 
December 27 at 1pm
St. Paul’s Chapel
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1, 3, 5
Trinity Baroque Orchestra; Julian Wachner, conductor and harpsichord
 
December 27 at 7:30pm
Trinity Church
As it Fell on a Holie Eve
Works by Morley, Holborne, Ravenscroft, Bull, Hume, Byrd
Parthenia, with Julianne Baird
 
December 28 at 1pm
St. Paul’s Chapel
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 2, 4, 6
Trinity Baroque Orchestra; Julian Wachner, conductor and harpsichord
 
December 28 at 7:30pm
Trinity Church
Our Lady II
Works of Sances, Leopold I, O’Regan, Wachner
Ryland Angel, countertenor
 
December 29 at 3pm
Trinity Church
A Christmas Concert for all Ages
Festival selections for young audiences
The Sinfonia Players
 
December 29 at 7pm
Trinity Church
Madrigals of Love and War
Monteverdi: Madrigals Book VIII
TENET
 
December 30 at 4pm
Trinity Church
A Russian Christmas
Works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Arvo Pärt
Clarion Music Society; Stephen Fox, conductor
 
December 30 at 8pm
St. Paul’s Chapel
Compline by Candlelight
Improvised chant
Anthony Powers: O Magnum Mysterium
Trinity Choir; Julian Wachner, conductor
 
December 31 at 1pm
St. Paul’s Chapel
Pipes at One
Works by Clarke, Reading, Mouret, van Soldt, Corelli, Arauxo, Purcell, Biber, Merulo and Fantini
Renee Anne Louprette, organ; John Thiessen, trumpet
 
January 2, 2013 at 1pm (Cantatas Nos. 1 & 2)
January 3, 2013 at 1pm (Cantatas Nos. 3 & 4)
January 4, 2013 at 1pm (Cantatas Nos. 5 & 6)
St. Paul’s Chapel
Bach: Christmas Oratorio
Trinity Choir & Trinity Baroque Orchestra
 
January 2, 2013 at 7:30pm
Church of St. Mary the Virgin
Monteverdi: Vespers of 1610
Green Mountain Project
 
January 5, 2013 at 1pm
St. Paul’s Chapel
Tepfer: Goldberg Variations / Variations
Dan Tepfer
 
January 6, 2013 at 4pm
Trinity Church
Epiphany Lessons & Carols, followed by procession to St. Paul’s Church for reception
Works by Willcocks, Rutter, Howells, Tchaikovsky, Pott, Jackson
The Choirs of Trinity Wall Street, Trinity Youth Chorus; Julian Wachner, conductor
 
January 6, 2013 at 8pm
St. Paul’s Chapel
Compline by candlelight
Trinity Choir
 
 
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