THE SORROW AND THE BEAUTY
Pärt, Lang, Burhans, Shaw and Whitacre
Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 5pm
All Souls Church
1157 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10075
MESSAGE FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Welcome to the third concert of our 2022-2023 season!
We are delighted, this evening, to be presenting a program of contemporary music written by five exceptional living composers, all American except for Arvo Pärt, who is Estonian.
The central piece of this concert is David Lang’s The Little Match Girl Passion. It is at once profoundly tragic but also transformational. The other pieces on the program too present opportunities to experience the complex contrast of solace and redemption through a modern lens of new music.
This is an exciting time for us as we approach the tenth anniversary of Alejandro’s service as Artistic Director of Musica Viva NY. To kick off the celebrations we are planning to make a recording of two pieces commissioned and premiered by Musica Viva NY: Joseph Turrin’s cantata And Crimson Roses Once Again Be Fair and Gilda Lyon’s Momotombo. You will find more information about the project, and how you can get involved, towards the end of this program.
We are also proud to announce that we have received significant grant money to expand our Community Engagement programs. Our talented teaching artists, members of Musica Viva NY, lead several weeks’ long residences in schools in the Bronx, Harlem and Queens to teach elementary school students how to compose, sing and conduct. We also partner with the New York Public Library to create family friendly programs that will spark an interest in music from the earliest ages. Finally, we collaborate with All Souls to provide live music performances for the guests of their Monday Night Hospitality free meals’ program. Our final concert of this 2022-23 season will take place on Sunday May 21, and we hope you’ll save the date.
As always, thank you for coming, and thank you for supporting Musica Viva NY!
—Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, Artistic Director
—Jasna Vasić, Executive Director
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Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 5 pm
All Souls Church
THE SORROW AND THE BEAUTY Pärt, Lang, Burhans, Shaw and Whitacre
Musica Viva NY choir
Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, conductor
Trent Johnson, organ, piano, celesta
Márta Lambert, viola
Clara Abel, cello
Kathryn Fortunato, percussion
Tasha Becker, percussion
PROGRAM
Arvo Pärt (1935-) ........................................ The Beatitudes
For choir and organ
David Lang (1957-) The Little Match Girl Passion
For choir and percussion
Erinn Sensenig, soprano
Madalyn Luna, mezzo soprano
Nathan Siler, tenor
Intermission
Arvo Pärt ............................................. Spiegel im Spiegel
For viola and piano
Caleb Burhans (1980-) ........................ Super Flumina Babylonis
For choir, viola, cello, celesta and percussion
Erinn Sensenig, soprano
Caroline Shaw (1982-) Limestone and Felt
For viola and cello
Eric Whitacre (1970-) ........................................ Cloudburst
For choir, piano, and percussion
Erinn Sensenig, soprano
Paul Whelan, bass
Laura Villanueva, narrator
We hope you will join us for a reception after the concert.
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ABOUT THE PROGRAM
THE SORROW AND THE BEAUTY
Sorrow and beauty: titans of the emotional and the aesthetic. Our program featuring living composers explores these two concepts and their manifestations across the spectra of the sacred and secular, solo and ensemble, and vocal and instrumental.
One of the most performed composers ever, Estonian-born Arvo Pärt (b.1935) has been perfecting a simplistic, compositional technique since the 1970s. Pärt has commented on the simplicity of his style, saying, “I could compare my music to white light which contains all colors. Only a prism can divide the colors and make them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener.”
Pärt’s The Beatitudes (1990) are based on texts from the Book of Matthew in which Jesus gives out many blessings to his followers. The text is set homophonically and syllabically, replicating a sung liturgical practice. Once the voices sing the final blessing, the organ takes over in a breathless cadenza that abruptly ascends from the biblical scene. Written in 1978, Spiegel im Spiegel (“Mirror in the mirror”) is one of Pärt’s most performed pieces and, although originally written for violin and piano, has been altered for over a dozen instruments, including the viola. This meditative piece features a technique the composer himself invented called “Tintinnabuli.” Inspired by his deeply held religious beliefs and his related connection with chant music, Pärt’s tintinnabular music features two distinct yet simultaneous voices—one melodic and one triadic.
The Little Match Girl Passion (2007) was composed by David Lang (b. 1957) and co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall Corporation and the Perth Theater and Concert Hall for Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices. Lang received the Pulitzer Prize for his work the following year. Originally written for four solo voices, Lang’s Passion is at once minimalistic and intricate, demanding an impressive level of focus from both performers and audience members.
A brief summary of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of “The Little Match Girl” follows: On New Year’s Eve, when there is a bustle in the streets and everyone is on their way to celebrate with family and friends, a little girl is outside in the cold trying unsuccessfully to sell matchsticks. Ignored by those around her and scared to go home to her abusive father, the girl begins to light matches that each give her enough heat to briefly fall asleep and dream of comforting things. In the morning, the girl is found frozen to death still holding her matchsticks.
Lang has explained his interest in the classic story at the heart of his Passion: “What drew me to The Little Match Girl is that the strength of the story lies not in its plot but in the fact that all its parts—the horror and the beauty—are constantly suffused with their opposites.” The
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ABOUT THE PROGRAM
THE SORROW AND THE BEAUTY
composer was inspired to write a “passion” by how Andersen treats the figure of the Little Match Girl as a pseudo-Christ, taking on extreme suffering: hence “Passion.” Lang also appreciated that Bach’s “Passion format—the telling of a story while simultaneously commenting upon it—has the effect of placing us in the middle of the action, and it gives the narrative a powerful inevitability.”
The Passion’s recitative-like movements begin with no. 2, “It was Terribly Cold.” A recitative traditionally functions as the continuation of a story, in contrast to the more reflective moments (arias, duets, choruses, etc.) that pause on a singular emotion or reaction. In this case, “It was Terribly Cold” pushes the little girl out into the cold wearing her mother’s slippers, but only briefly before the first is quickly lost and the other shortly thereafter stolen. These recitative-like movements (nos. 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14) continue in alternation with Lang’s reflective, emotional interjections from unnamed onlookers.
Lang himself has claimed that “there is no Bach in [his] piece.” However, no. 9, “Have mercy, my God,” resounds as a twenty-first century reincarnation of the Baroque master’s Erbarme dich, mein gott, uncoincidentally from the St. Matthew Passion. Not only do the two pieces begin on an identical interval sequence (4th leap, whole step, half step), but they also share the same text (translated in the Lang). Additionally, Lang evokes Bach’s aria with his familiar emotive dissonances that carry a sense of pleading and genuine penitence through each arduous phrase.
Caleb Burhans (b. 1980) has pointedly avoided labels when referring to his own style. A founding member of the genre-defying ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, and currently one half of the instrumental duo itsnotyouitsme, Burhans often brings together his love of classical, rock, and pop in his music. Super flumina Babylonis (2013) was originally featured on the hit album, Evensong, and exemplifies the composer’s self-described “emo-classical” style, inspired by a combination of both sacred and secular styles.
The Latin text is taken from the first four verses of Psalm 137, a lament that is told from the first person perspective of the captured Israelites who are pressed by their captors to sing their native songs. The piece opens with pensive strings and interjections of the mystical celesta, eventually making way for the viola’s lilting motif which carries the upper voices as they enter gradually over “the rivers of Babylon.” The texture created by the rocking strings and flowing, stepwise vocal gestures sustains a mesmerizing grief that passes from voice to voice. After stripping the texture back down to the lone viola, Burhans has the voices reiterate the opening lament in a congregational homophony.
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ABOUT THE PROGRAM
THE SORROW AND THE BEAUTY
The suspended vocal lines, persistent instrumental accompaniment, and featured celesta recalls poignant moments from Duruflé’s Requiem (e.g. Introit and Agnus Dei).
In the decade since becoming the youngest winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music (2013), Caroline Shaw (b. 1982) has written over 100 works, including those for Anne Sofie von Otter, Davóne Tines, Yo Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, and Dawn Upshaw. As a collaborator and close contemporary of Burhans, Shaw similarly draws inspiration from her background as a string player and vocalist. She is well-known for her innovative and eclectic use of varying techniques within a single piece.
Limestone & Felt (2012) demonstrates the versatility of both the viola and cello, which seem to converse bilingually as they move between a hard and soft musical language. In the spirit of this program’s theme, Shaw’s piece presents two general techniques of engaging with these traditional instruments that can create starkly opposed sounds: from a spectrum of pizzicato—including a few sharp slaps to the cello’s top—to some lush and vibrant harmonies flowing from the arco, or bowing of the strings. The two contrasting soundscapes are repeatedly lost and found between the instruments, with each rediscovery showcasing a more nuanced understanding of the title’s tactile subjects.
Eric Whitacre’s (b. 1970) choral music embraces colorful dissonances and vivid text settings and has been a staple among all levels of choirs for over two decades. Originally written as a commission from a high school choir, Cloudburst (1995) is one of the composer’s earliest successes and features the text of the poem “El cántaro roto” (“The Broken Water Jug”) by Octavio Paz (1914–1948). The piece is a fitting finale for our program as Whitacre’s lush choral and orchestral soundscape transports us to the juxtaposition of sorrow and beauty at the brink of a desert cloudburst.
Whitacre’s setting is multifaceted with a cappella passages, spoken text, and a prominent orchestral presence in the latter half that features a “thunder sheet ” made of a large, thin sheet of metal. The piece begins with the choir’s parched calls for la lluvia (“the rain”) that slowly build to a powerful storm, awakening both the restless human spirit and the quenched natural world. Aleatoric music—music left to chance during performance—is one of Whitacre’s compositional signatures and one he showcases prominently here: first through individually chosen entrances of sung and whispered words (“Ojos de aqua de sombra,” etc.), and eventually with snapping fingers and clapping hands cascading together in the climax of this sensory feast.
—Evangeline Athanasiou
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MEET THE ARTISTS
Founded in 1977, Musica Viva NY is a chamber choir of thirty professionals and highly skilled volunteers, based in Manhattan’s historic All Souls Church. Its mission is to bring world-class music to a widening community through its annual concert series, community engagement programs, and an ambitious artistic vision. Under the baton of Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez since 2015, Musica Viva NY has been praised by The New York Times as an “excellent chorus.” Musica Viva NY has toured in France (2004), Germany (2006) and Italy (2012).
Esteemed conductor and pianist Dr. Alejandro HernandezValdez is Artistic Director of Musica Viva NY and Director of Music at the historic Unitarian Church of All Souls in Manhattan. He is also Artistic Director and co-founder of the New Orchestra of Washington, and Artistic Director of the Victoria Bach Festival. He has earned accolades from The Washington Post as a conductor “with the incisive clarity of someone born to the idiom,” as well as praise from The New York Times for leading “a stirring performance” of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem
At a concert commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the WWI Armistice (featuring the world premiere of Joseph Turrin’s cantata, And Crimson Roses Once Again Be Fair) Oberon’s Grove wrote: “Maestro Alejandro HernandezValdez drew rich, warm sounds from the musicians” in “a beautiful and deeply moving program.” He is featured in El mundo en las manos/Creadores mexicanos en el extranjero (The World in Their Hands/Creative Mexicans Abroad), a book by the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs honoring Mexican nationals who are leading figures in diverse artistic fields. He is the recipient of a 2016 Shenandoah Conservatory Alumni of Excellence Award for his exemplary contribution to his profession, national level of prominence, and exceptional integrity.
A passionate advocate of new music, Hernandez-Valdez has commissioned and premiered works by Joan Tower, Arturo Márquez, Joseph Turrin, Gilda Lyons, Seymour Bernstein, Viet Cuong, Juan Pablo Contreras, Elena Ruehr, Ramzi Aburedwan, Jorge Vidales, Mokale Koapeng, Trent Johnson, Javier Farias, Andrés Levell, Zachary Wadsworth, Martin Spruijt, Joel Friedman, and other notable composers.
Hernandez-Valdez’s guest conducting engagements include appearances at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Lincoln Center in New York City, and the historic Degollado Theatre in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he has directed the Jalisco Philharmonic. He resides in New York City.
Trent Johnson is the Assistant Director of Music and Organist of the All Souls Unitarian Congregation in NYC and Music Director and Conductor of the Oratorio Singers of Westfield, New Jersey. He is also an organist at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, where he plays the “Mighty Wurlitzer” organ for the Christmas Spectacular Show. He is a graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins
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MEET THE ARTISTS
University and The Juilliard School. He has recorded the organ works of Pulitzer Prize winning composer George Walker for Albany Records, and is a frequent collaborator with brass instrumentalists. As a composer, he has written numerous works for chorus and orchestra, orchestral works, concertos, chamber music, song cycles, an opera, and works for organ and piano. Trent is the recipient of grants from Meet the Composer, funding from the NEA, and is the recipient of the Wladimir and Rhoda Lakond Award in composition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City.
Márta Hortobágyi Lambert was born in Greenville, North Carolina, and began her musical studies on piano and violin, later developing a love for viola. A passionate educator and advocate for the arts, Márta has held fellowship positions at The Juilliard School, and is currently on faculty at Queens Pre-College, Suzuki on the Island, and Kinhaven Music School.
Márta’s devotion to chamber music has created opportunities to perform with members of the Cleveland, Alban Berg, Brentano, and Cooperstown Quartets, including performances with Miriam Fried, Ida Kavafian, and Colin Carr. Márta has also performed at music festivals including Donaueschingen Musiktage with Talea Ensemble, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Prussia Cove, and Kneisel Hall, where she was a founding member of the prize-winning Blue Hill String Quartet.
Márta was recently awarded The Presser Foundation Graduate Music Award from The Juilliard School in March 2021, the Dean’s Prize at Yale University in May 2019, and is a current recipient of the C.V. Starr Fellowship for doctoral studies at The Juilliard School.
Cellist Clara Abel is a versatile artist who enjoys performing in a variety of traditional and non-traditional venues in order to share her belief that music is for everyone. Equally at home on modern and baroque instruments, Clara has completed three degree programs at Juilliard, where she avidly pursued chamber music and historical performance practice. As a student of Joel Krosnick she was awarded the prestigious Kovner Fellowship, and as a baroque cellist she was the winner of the school’s Historical Performance concerto competition. Recent highlights include performances with the Vera Quartet and Twelfth Night ensemble, concerto appearances with Juilliard415 at the Boston Early Music Festival and Alice Tully Hall, a solo collaboration with NYO-USA, and concert tours of Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, England, and California. She looks forward to the next adventure!
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MEET THE ARTISTS
Praised for her “passion in every note” and “rich dynamic expression” (Artburst Miami), Katherine Fortunato, a New York based percussionist, has devoted her life to music performance, arts administration, and education. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, National Sawdust, Schonbrunn Palace, the Musikverein, Wiener Konzerthaus, as well as other venues throughout Europe and North America. As an administrator, Katherine is an assistant to Sandbox Percussion, a GRAMMY® nominated Brooklyn-based quartet, and an assistant to Christopher Cerrone, a multi-GRAMMY® nominated composer. Katherine has coached youth symphony percussion sections, taught percussion at high schools, worked as a percussion technician for marching bands, and teaches privately. Katherine’s pedagogues include Svet Stoyanov, Ian Rosenbaum, Matthew Strauss, and Joe Petrasek. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Frost School of Music and is pursuing her Master of Music degree at the Mannes School of Music where she studies with Ian Rosenbaum.
Tasha Becker graduated from Iowa State University in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music. She is currently in her final semester of graduate studies at The New School where she is working toward her Master’s Degree in Percussion Performance under the instruction of Ian Rosenbaum, Joe Tompkins and James Baker.
Recently, Tasha performed with the Central Iowa Symphony and appeared in the Women’s Composer Festival. She attended the NYU Steinhardt Sandbox Percussion Seminar and the Leigh Howard Stevens Summer Seminar. Tasha was a finalist in the Charleston International Music Baroque Competition and the Kappa Kappa Psi National Solo Competition and competed twice as a quartet member in the PASIC Chamber Ensemble Competition, placing seventh and fourth. She was awarded second in the MostlyMarimba Duo Performance Contest and earned first place in the 2019 Iowa Day of Percussion Marimba Competition.
Save the date for the last concert of Musica Viva NY’s 2022-2023 season
Sunday, May 21, 2023 at 5pm at All Souls Church
LUX AETERNA: Schubert, Einhorn, Lauridsen and others
Jessie Montgomery, Starburst
Judith Bingham, The Darkness Is No Darkness
Franz Schubert, Mass No. 2 in G Major, D. 167
Richard Einhorn, commission by Musica Viva NY on the theme of “Light”
Morten Lauridsen, Lux Aeterna
You can find full details on our website at www.musicaviva.org
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ARVO PÄRT - THE BEATITUDES
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Amen.
Matthew 5, 3–12
THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL PASSION
words and music by David Lang
after H.C. Andersen, H.P. Paull, Picander and Saint Matthew
1. Come, daughter
Come, daughter
Help me, daughter Help me cry
Look, daughter
Where, daughter
What, daughter
Who, daughter
Why, daughter
Guiltless daughter
Patient daughter
Gone
2. It was terribly cold
It was terribly cold and nearly dark on the last evening of the old year, and the snow was falling fast. In the cold and the darkness, a poor little girl, with bare head and naked feet, roamed through the streets. It is true she had on a pair of slippers when she left home, but they were not of much use. They were very large, so large, indeed, that they had
belonged to her mother, and the poor little creature had lost them in running across the street to avoid two carriages that were rolling along at a terrible rate. One of the slippers she could not find, and a boy seized upon the other and ran away with it, saying that he could use it as a cradle, when he had children of his own. So the little girl went on with her little naked feet, which were quite red and blue with the cold.
So the little girl went on. So the little girl went on.
3. Dearest heart
Dearest heart
Dearest heart
What did you do that was so wrong?
What was so wrong?
Dearest heart
Dearest heart
Why is your sentence so hard?
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4. In an old apron
In an old apron she carried a number of matches, and had a bundle of them in her hands. No one had bought anything of her the whole day, nor had any one given her even a penny. Shivering with cold and hunger, she crept along; poor little child, she looked the picture of misery. The snowflakes fell on her long, fair hair, which hung in curls on her shoulders, but she regarded them not.
5. Penance and remorse
Penance and remorse
Tear my sinful heart in two
My teardrops
May they fall like rain down upon your poor face May they fall down like rain
My teardrops
Here, daughter, here I am I should be bound as you were bound
All that I deserve is
What you have endured
Penance and remorse.
Tear my sinful heart in two
My penance
My remorse
My penance
6. Lights were shining
Lights were shining from every window, and there was a savory smell of roast goose, for it was Newyear’s eve- yes, she remembered that. In a corner, between two houses, one of which projected beyond the other, she sank down and huddled herself together. She
had drawn her little feet under her, but she could not keep off the cold; and she dared not go home, for she had sold no matches, and could not take home even a penny of money. Her father would certainly beat her; besides, it was almost as cold at home as here, for they had only the roof to cover them, through which the wind howled, although the largest holes had been stopped up with straw and rags. Her little hands were almost frozen with the cold. Her little hands were almost frozen with the cold.
7. Patience, patience!
Patience. Patience!
8. Ah! perhaps
Ah! perhaps a burning match might be some good, if she could draw it from the bundle and strike it against the wall, just to warm her fingers. She drew one out-“scratch!” how it sputtered as it burnt! It gave a warm, bright light, like a little candle, as she held her hand over it. It was really a wonderful light. It seemed to the little girl that she was sitting by a large iron stove, with polished brass feet and a brass ornament. How the fire burned! and seemed so beautifully warm that the child stretched out her feet as if to warm them, when, lo! the flame of the match went out, the stove vanished, and she had only the remains of the half-burnt match in her hand.
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THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL PASSION
THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL PASSION
She rubbed another match on the wall. It burst into a flame, and where its light fell upon the wall it became as transparent as a veil, and she could see into the room. The table was covered with a snowy white table-cloth, on which stood a splendid dinner service, and a steaming roast goose, stuffed with apples and dried plums. And what was still more wonderful, the goose jumped down from the dish and waddled across the floor, with a knife and fork in its breast, to the little girl. Then the match went out, and there remained nothing but the thick, damp, cold wall before her.
9. Have mercy, my God
Have mercy, my God. Look here, my God. See my tears fall. See my tears fall. Have mercy, my God. Have mercy.
My eyes are crying. My heart is crying, my God. See my tears fall. See my tears fall, my God.
10. She lighted another match
She lighted another match, and then she found herself sitting under a beautiful Christmas-tree. It was larger and more beautifully decorated than the one which she had seen through the glass door at the rich merchant’s. Thousands of tapers were burning upon the green branches, and colored pictures, like those she had seen in the show-windows, looked down upon it all. The little one stretched out her hand towards them, and the match went out.
The Christmas lights rose higher and higher, till they looked to her like the stars in the sky. Then she saw a star fall, leaving behind it a bright streak of fire. “Some one is dying,” thought the little girl, for her old grandmother, the only one who had ever loved her, and who was now dead, had told her that when a star falls, a soul was going up to God.
11. From the sixth hour
From the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour she cried out:
Eli, Eli.
12. She again rubbed a match
She again rubbed a match on the wall, and the light shone round her; in the brightness stood her old grandmother, clear and shining, yet mild and loving in her appearance. “Grandmother,” cried the little one, “O take me with you; I know you will go away when the match burns out; you will vanish like the warm stove, the roast goose, and the large, glorious Christmas-tree.” And she made haste to light the whole bundle of matches, for she wished to keep her grandmother there. And the matches glowed with a light that was brighter than the noon-day, and her grandmother had never appeared so large or so beautiful. She took the little girl in her arms, and they both flew upwards in brightness and joy far above the earth, where there was neither cold nor hunger nor pain, for they were with God.
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THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL PASSION
13. When it is time for me to go
When it is time for me to go
Don’t go from me
When it is time for me to leave Don’t leave me
When it is time for me to die
Stay with me
When I am most scared
Stay with me
14. In the dawn of morning
In the dawn of morning there lay the poor little one, with pale cheeks and smiling mouth, leaning against the wall; she had been frozen to death on the last evening of the year; and the New-year’s sun rose and shone upon a little corpse! The child still sat, in the stiffness of death, holding the matches in her hand, one bundle of which was burnt. “She tried to warm herself,” said some. No one imagined what beautiful things she had seen, nor into what glory she had entered with her grandmother, on New-year’s day.
15. We sit and cry
We sit and cry
And call to you
Rest soft, daughter, rest soft
Where is your grave, daughter?
Where is your tomb?
Where is your resting place?
Rest soft, daughter, rest soft
Rest soft
Rest soft
Rest soft
Rest soft
You closed your eyes. I closed my eyes.
Rest soft
CALEB BURHANS - SUPER FLUMINA BABYLONIS
Super flumina Babylonis
illic sedimus et flevimus
cum recordaremur Sion.
In salicibus in medio ejus suspendimus organa nostra.
Quia illic rogaverunt nos, qui captivos duxerunt nos, verba cantionum
et qui affligebant nos, laetitiam:
Cantate nobis de canticis Sion.
Quomodo cantabimus canticum
Domini
in terra aliena?
Psalm 137:1-4
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our harps. For there they required of us, who had carried us away captive, a song, and those who had afflicted us, mirth:
Sing to us from the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the songs of the Lord in a strange land?
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ERIC WHITACRE - CLOUDBURST
Text by Octavio Paz, 1914-1998
Adapted by Eric Whitacre, Translation by Lysander Kemp
El cántaro roto
La lluvia…
Ojos de agua de sombra, ojos de agua de pozo, ojos de agua de sueño.
Soles azules, verdes remolinos, picos de luz que abren astros como granadas.
Dime, tierra quemada, no hay agua?
hay sólo sangre, sólo hay polvo, sólo pisadas de pies desnudos sobre la espina?
La lluvia despierta…
Hay que dormir con los ojos abiertos, hay que soñar con las manos, soñemos sueños activos de río buscando su cauce, sueños de sol soñando sus mundos, hay que soñar en voz alta, hay que cantar hasta que el canto eche, raíces, tronco, ramas, pájaros, astros, hay que desenterrar la palabra perdida, recordar lo que dicen la sangre y la marea, la tierra y el cuerpo, volver al punto de partida…
The broken water-jar
The rain…
Eyes of shadow-water, eyes of well-water, eyes of dream-water. Blue suns, green whirlwinds, birdbeaks of light pecking open pomegranate stars. But tell me, burnt earth, is there no water?
Only blood, only dust, Only naked footsteps on the thorns?
The rain awakens…
We must sleep with open eyes, we must dream with our hands, we must dream the dreams of a river seeking its course, of the sun dreaming its worlds, we must dream aloud, we must sing till the song puts forth roots, trunk, branches, birds, stars, we must find the lost word, and remember what the blood, the tides, the earth, and the body say, and return to the point of departure…
To find out about ways to support Musica Viva NY through employer matching, volunteering, and monthly giving, please contact our Executive Director at jasna@musicaviva.org .
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Soprano
Beth Clancy
Emily Donato*
Mary Esbjornson
Britt Hewitt*
Katie McCreary*
Erinn Sensenig*
Laura Villanueva
Reldalee Wagner
Kate Wolfe
Sarah Worthington
Tenor
Shawn Bartels*
Paul D’Arcy*
Doug Purcell*
Erik Resurreccion
Nathan Siler*
MUSICA VIVA NY CHOIR
Alto
Michelle Demko
Holly Drew
Rodolfo Girón*
Helen Karloski*
Kate Katigbak
Madalyn Luna*
Dinah Nissen
Andrew Troup*
Bass
David Baldwin*
James Dargan*
Fred Diengott*
Matt Mueller*
Harold Norris
Paul Whelan*
Augustus Young
*Section leader
Announcing Musica Viva NY recording project and matching grant up to $20,000!
Please support our recording project.
As the tenth anniversary of Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez’ tenure as Artistic Director of Musica Viva NY approaches, we are excited to announce a plan to honor his accomplishments. This November, Musica Viva NY is going to make a recording featuring two pieces Alejandro has chosen that are close to his heart - both were commissioned and premiered by Musica Viva NY.
Joseph Turrin wrote his cantata And Crimson Roses Once Again Be Fair using texts by war poets, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One. Musica Viva NY performed it with orchestra on that anniversary.
Gilda Lyon’s piece Momotombo is scored for a cappella chorus, and Musica Viva NY gave its world premiere on March 27, 2022. The composer wrote the eponymous piece about a famous volcanic formation in Nicaragua. We plan to release the recording and CD in the spring of 2024, to coincide with the unveiling in Washington, DC of a World War I memorial whose central feature will be a sculpture titled “A Soldier’s Journey.”
This recording project has already been partially funded by the prestigious Alice M. Ditson Fund and the Musica Viva NY Board of Directors. We are now excited to announce a matching grant from a Musica Viva NY Board member. Every dollar you donate up to $20,000 until May 31, 2023 will be matched, for up to $40,000, to double your impact!
For more information about the project and how to support it visit our website at www.musicaviva.org.
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MUSICA VIVA NY
Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez
Conductor and Artistic Director
Trent Johnson
Assistant Director of Music
Jasna Vasić Executive Director
Erinn Sensenig Operations and Production Manager
Julie Brannan President
Winnie Olsen Secretary
Lisa O’Brien, Esq. Treasurer
Our Team
Dinah Nissen, Esq.
Marketing Director
Kate Phillips Director of Community Engagement
Barbara de Bellis Librarian
Nathan Siler Digital Marketing Consultant
Board of Directors
Constance Beavon
Shu-Wie Chen
Heidi DuBois
Melanie Niemiec
Dinah Nissen, Esq.
Harold Norris
Advisory Board
Kate Phillips
David Rockefeller, Jr.
Thomas Simpson
Seymour Bernstein
Laurel Blossom
Renée Fleming
Galen Guengerich
Susan Jolles
Walter Klauss
Artistic Director Emeritus
Jean-Louis Petit
Bruce Saylor
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube for photos, videos, and more
facebook.com/musicavivany @musicavivany youtube.com/musicavivany
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MUSICA VIVA NY PATRON SUPPORT LEVELS FOR OUR 2022-23 SEASON
Become a Patron of Musica Viva NY today! We need your generous contributions to support the outstanding concerts and outreach programming of the Musica Viva NY choir and instrumentalists. There is a level for every budget, and you will enjoy special benefits as a measure of our thanks. Your contribution can be made as a one-time gift, or on a recurring basis.
PATRON LEVELS
APPASSIONATO
$10,000 and above
• Up to four Musica Viva NY soloists will perform at your private event in the NYC area
• Invitation to a dinner featuring a special performance by the Artistic Director
• Invitation to special Patron reception
• Six complimentary season subscriptions
• Reserved seating
CON FUOCO
$5,000 to $9,999
• A Musica Viva NY soloist will perform at your private event in the NYC area
• Invitation to a dinner featuring a special performance by the Artistic Director
• Invitation to special Patron reception
• Five complimentary season subscriptions
• Reserved seating
CON BRIO
$3,000 to $4,999
• Invitation to a dinner featuring a special performance by the Artistic Director
• Invitation to special Patron reception
• Three complimentary season subscriptions
• Reserved seating
RISOLUTO
$1,000 to $2,999
• Invitation to special Patron reception
• Three complimentary season subscriptions
• Reserved seating
ESPRESSIVO
$500 to $999
• Invitation to special Patron reception
• Two complimentary season subscriptions
• Preferred seating
CANTABILE
$150 - $499
• Invitation to special Patron reception
• Preferred seating
DOLCE
$25-$149
• Acknowledgment in program at all levels
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MUSICA VIVA NY PATRONS 2022-23
We are deeply grateful to our Patrons listed below for their support of our 2022-2023 season. Thank you for joining us! Your support for our outstanding Musica Viva NY artists, our high-caliber, innovative choral and chamber music performances, and our community engagement is vital and essential.
Corporate and Foundation Support
The Heart & Soul Charitable Fund
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
The Rea Charitable Fund
The Blackbaud Giving Fund
The Womens’ Alliance
Appassionato $10,000 and above
Melanie & David Niemiec
Susan & David Rockefeller, Jr.
Con Fuoco $5,000 to $9,999
Don & Georgia Gogel
Jennifer Shotwell
Con Brio $3,000 to $4,999
Shu-Wie Chen
Heidi & Nicholas DuBois
Lois Gaeta, in Memory of David Remember Baker
Pamela Healey
Gunleif Jacobsen and Thomas
Simpson Charitable Fund
Dinah Nissen & Elizabeth Apelles
Fritz Reuter
Madonna K. Starr
Brenda Walker & Peter Swords
Susan Witter
Risoluto $1,000 - $2,999
Constance Beavon
Bill Bechman & Tom Garlock
Tom & Heli Blum
Julie Brannan
Lisa and Richard Cashin
Galen Guengerich & Holly Atkinson
Elizabeth Harvey
Cherie Henderson & David Poppe
Lena Kaplan
Carri Lyon
Margaret T. MacCary
Ricardo Mestres Jr. and & Patricia T. Hayot
Harold Norris & Kell Julliard
Winnie Olsen
William & Laura Pietersen
Lynne Randall & Tom Malone
One anonymous donor
Espressivo $500 - $999
Lynne and Richard Allen
Barbara de Bellis, in memory of Greta Minsky
Miles Chapin
Victor Fidel & Heather Floyd
Sandra Fisher
Dixie Goss and Dan Cryer
Mary Gundermann
Rose Marie Morse
Kate Phillips
Karen Steele
Deborah Taylor
Beverley Benz Treuille and Philippe Treuille
Ned Whitney & Martha Howell
Klaus and Aracy Winter
One anonymous donor
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MUSICA VIVA NY PATRONS 2022-23
Cantabile $150 - $499
Christina Bellamy
Heather Campbell
Marjory & Jeffrey Friedlander
Mary Geissman
Dana Ivey
Michele Jawin & Dr. Mark Kroll
Beryl Jones-Woodin
Steven Lane
Rev. Dick Leonard*
Millie & John Liebmann
Dede McMahon
Marilynn Scott Murphy
Partha Nandi
Eleonor Preiss
Marilyn Reagan
Katherine Redd
Claire Richard
Bradford & Gail Rodney
Judith Samuelson
Paula Stelzner
Alison Tung
Stacy Westreich
Four anonymous donors
Dolce $25 - $149
Anne Brewer
Danielle Buonaiuto
Michelle Demko
Millicent Essandoh-Bergwerk
Bonnie Hetzel
Nancy Jacobson
Elaine Jurumbo
Peggy Kampmeier & Ed Harsh
Carol Kirkman
Kimberley Kriger
Elizabeth Millard Whitman
Nathalie Moore
Rosanna Nissen
Mary Persic
Priscilla Pochna
Linda Rousseau
Arvind Seth
Ellen and John Shapiro
Sarah Woods
Brad Woolbright
Two anonymous donors
*deceased
This list reflects gifts received from June 1, 2022 to March 3, 2023.
SPONSOR MUSICA VIVA NY
There are many opportunities to play a role in bringing Musica Viva NY ’s season to life as a sponsor, including:
• Underwrite a concert
• Underwrite a recording
• Underwrite a tour
• Underwrite the appearance of a guest artist
Naming opportunities are available for sponsors. Contact Jasna Vasić, Executive Director at jasna@musicaviva.org .
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Musica Viva NY is extremely grateful for the following help with its 2022-23 season from:
All Souls NYC (www.AllSoulsNYC.org) for Musica Viva NY’s meeting, rehearsal, performance, and reception spaces as well as for the facilities and events staff who help make all productions run smoothly
Heart & Soul Fund, Inc. for its longtime support of our outreach programming
MVNY’s Community Engagement is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Musica Viva NY 1157 Lexington Avenue New York, NY 10075 212 794 3646
info@musicaviva.org
