Classical Music | Grammy-nominated choir and orchestra perform Bernstein and more

Grammy-nominated choir of Trinity Wall Street; NOVUS NY, orchestra; Julian Wachner, conductor; Ashley Bathgate, cello; Melissa Baker, flute; Katie Hyun, violin.

Program
Bernstein (1918-1990) Halil (1981)
Bernstein (1918-1990) Meditations from Mass (1971)
Bernstein (1918-1990) Serenade after Plato’s “Symposium” (1954)
Prestini (b. 1975) Imaginary World of Wild Order: A Mass (2017)

About the Performers
Grammy-nominated interpreters of both early and new music, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street has changed the realm of 21st-century vocal music, breaking new ground with an artistry described as “blazing with vigour…a choir from heaven” (The Times). The ensemle has been described as “thrilling” (New Yorker), “musically top-notch” (Wall Street Journal), and “simply superb” (New York Times).

NOVUS NY is Trinity Church Wall Street’s contemporary music orchestra, under the leadership of Trinity’s Director of Music, Julian Wachner. Hailed by the New Yorker as “expert and versatile musicians,” its members perform new music from all corners of the repertoire, meeting “every challenge with an impressive combination of discipline and imagination” (New York Classical Review).

Music director Julian Wachner has been variously described as “jazzy, energetic, and ingenious,” (Boston Globe), having “splendor, dignity, outstanding tone combinations, sophisticated chromatic exploration…a rich backdrop, wavering between a glimmer and a tingle...,” (La Scena Musicale) being “a compendium of surprises,” (Washington Post) and as “bold and atmospheric,” while having “an imaginative flair for allusive text setting,” and noted for “the silken complexities of his harmonies” (New York Times). He has made guest appearances with such major organizations as the San Francisco, New York City, and Glimmerglass Opera, the New York and Hong Kong Philharmonic and many more.

Cellist Ashley Bathgate has been described as an “eloquent new music interpreter” (New York Times) and “a glorious cellist” (The Washington Post) who combines “bittersweet lyricism along with ferocious chops” (New York Magazine).

Katie Hyun has performed as soloist with the Houston Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Columbia Festival Orchestra, as well as the Busan Sinfonietta and Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra in South Korea.

About the Program
Ḥalil is a work for flute and chamber orchestra composed by Bernstein in honor of a young Israeli flutist Yadin Tanenbaum who was killed at the Suez Canal during the 1973 Yom Kippur war. The work was premiered at the Sultan’s Pool in Jerusalem on May 27, 1981 with Jean-Pierre Rampal as the soloist and Bernstein conducting the Israel Philharmonic.

Bernstein's Mass was composed at the request of President Kennedy's widow for the inauguration of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. on September 8, 1971. The first Two Meditations were later arranged by the composer for cello and piano, and they have been widely performed by Mstislav Rostropovich.

The Serenade, after Plato's Symposium, for solo violin, strings and percussion is a five-movement concerto by Bernstein. For the Serenade the composer draws inspiration from Plato's Symposium, a dialogue of related statements in praise of love, each statement made by a distinguished speaker.

The New York Times referred to composer Paola Prestini as "the enterprising composer and impresario" and a "human resources alchemist". In 2011, she was named one of the Top 100 Composers in the World under 40 by National Public Radio.