40th Anniversary Season
May 10, 2025, 7:30pm (one night only!)
40th Anniversary Concert at Merkin Hall
Kaufman Music Center, 129 West 67th Street, New York, NY 10023
The 40th anniversary season finale of award-winning chamber chorus Cantori New York features origin stories and augurs of the future, in four works for chorus and string quartet.
Laura Schwendinger’s Silent Springs (Cantori New York commission; world premiere) sets a libretto by Ginger Strand that incorporates texts from Rachel Carson’s seminal 1962 warning and words of activist Greta Thunberg to explore humankind’s impact on the earth.
The Tower and the Garden, by Gregory Spears (co-commissioned for Cantori New York, The Crossing, and Volti) is a haunting neo-minimalist work on the theme of technological hubris, setting words by Thomas Merton, Denise Levertov, and Keith Garebian.
The Flaming Rock, by Elisenda Fábregas, sets Omaha Native American texts, in both English and Spanish, recounting a traditional origin story of earth's creation, the birth of humankind, and the inherent connection between humans and the natural world.
Aaron Copland’s In the Beginning, setting words from the Book of Genesis, rounds out the program with Mezzo Soprano, Gabrielle Barkidjija.
Joining Cantori New York will be the Bergamot Quartet, an ensemble that “radiates with an urgency to communicate something fascinating, and rare” (The Baltimore Sun).
NEW ALBUM RELEASE: FOUND AGAIN (2025)
"Found Again" presents a poignant exploration of human connection, self-growth, and collective pursuit of a better world. At once forward-looking and deeply introspective, this collection features three works espousing the power of transformative renewal.
Each presents a revised version of an earlier work, offering an opportunity for rediscovery, recentering, and new understanding.
The New Amorous World, by Lembit Beecher, reflects on the limitations and possibilities of humankind in a spirited setting of texts by French utopian philosopher Charles Fourier.
Beauty by Beauty, by John Rommereim, contrasts with a gentle, inward-looking setting of texts by three-time U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo on themes of courage, spiritual transformation, and of human connection to the earth and to one another.
The title track – Found Again, by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate – presents a second setting of Joy Harjo poems exploring cultural connection, reconciliation, and renewal.
Available for purchase & streaming.
Cantori New York’s complete Discography found here.
