In October, get a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of creative collaboration at Cantori's public workshop with composer Caroline Mallonee.  Her commission, supported by an award from the New York State Council for the Arts, will be premiered by Cantori in an upcoming season. The yet-unnamed piece will feature trumpet and percussion, and explore themes of identity and belonging.

In November, Cantori performs the US premiere of Australian composer Paul Stanhope’s expansive REQUIEM and the New York City premiere of Juhi Bansal’s exquisite FOUR REFLECTIONS ON THE NIGHT. Stanhope’s Requiem, for chorus, soloists, and instruments, interweaves the traditional sacred Latin text with English-language reflections by female poets from around the world, including Neela Nath Das (India), Mary Elizabeth Frye (USA), Emily Dickinson (USA), and Australian Indigenous poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal. The work premiered in Stanhope’s native Sydney in 2021, in the midst of a global pandemic. Cantori is thrilled to present this powerful work that consoles, commemorates, and celebrates life. Juhi Bansal’s Four Reflections on the Night won second place in Cantori’s 2023 composition competition. Written for chorus with percussion and harp, it tells an ancient human story of gazing wonderingly at the night sky.

This December, Cantori reprises our popular annual holiday program featuring beloved holiday classics alongside Cantori originals, including compositions by current and former members. Our longtime collaborators Every Voice Children’s Choir will join us for a holiday performance. In addition, we return to the annual tree lighting at Carl Schurz Park.

In March, we celebrate the 85th birthday of noted African-American composer Adolphus Hailstork, who has served on Cantori’s Advisory Board for 25 years. This all-Hailstork tribute concert will feature two world premieres: a new chamber orchestration of his signature oratorio CRISPUS ATTUCKS and the brand new FOUR PSALMS. Originally scored for full orchestra on a libretto by Herbert Martin, Crispus Attucks tells the story of the first American casualty of the American Revolution. Crispus Attucks, a man of African and Native heritage, was the first person killed in the Boston Massacre in 1770. Cantori member and composer Brian Morales will reorchestrate the expansive score for only eight instruments. Morales’ reorchestration of Vittorio Rieti’s The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne was premiered by Cantori in 2024.Rounding out the program is a tetralogy of four unpublished, never-performed Psalm settings – three a cappella, one with saxophone and marimba. Experienced as a cycle, Hailstork’s Four Psalms exemplify his unique style: spiritual, resilient, and full of life. 

Our final concert of the season is the virtuosic hour-long a cappella STABAT MATER by American composer Frank Ferko, for chorus and soprano soloist. Ferko sets not only the traditional text describing Mary observing the crucifixion, but also modern accounts of mothers who have lost their children to war, crime, AIDS, and accident. Traversing a vast range of compositional influences from Palestrina to Messiaen, Ferko’s masterwork is both poignant and triumphant. Cantori presented the New York premiere of Ferko’s Stabat Mater in 2004.  Also on the program is THE NIGHT SHALL BE FILLED WITH MUSIC, a rediscovered work by American composer Margaret Bonds, not heard since her death in 1972.