Newswise — The Cathedral of St. John the Divine closes out the year with celebration and song online with the annual New Year’s Eve Concert for Peace, part of the 2021-2022 season of Great Music in a Great Space, on Friday, December 31 at 7 pm at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue (at 112th Street) and streaming live at stjohndivine.org.
The New Years Eve Concert for Peace, a NYC tradition founded at the Cathedral by Leonard Bernstein in 1984, is a joyous tradition with music of inspiration and social conscience. The 2020 in-person concert was postponed due to the pandemic. For 2021, the emerging Omicron variant has prompted the Cathedral to transform the performance into a free online offering for all to safely enjoy from home.
The 2021 livestreamed performance is sponsored by the Mount Sinai Health System, with special thanks to Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West. “The Mount Sinai Health System is proud to support the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine and sponsor this special concert to bring peace, joy, and good health to our community this holiday season,” said Arthur Gianelli, Chief Transformation Officer, Mount Sinai Health System and President, Mount Sinai Morningside. “We have faced great challenges this year but every day we witness the power of our community, the resilience of individuals and the caring around us. From our hospital community to every individual and family we serve, we wish you continued health and peace.”
This year’s concert will be hosted by renowned journalist and Cathedral friend, Harry Smith and features the Cathedral Choir and Orchestra with vocal soloist Jamet Pittman. The program opens with Charpentier’s Te Deum, and includes Joel Thompson’s Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, the Oscar Award-winning song “Glory” by American rapper Common and singer John Legend featured in the motion picture Selma, David Hurd’s When Night Fell, and works from Asian composers including Chen Yi.
The 2021 New Year’s Eve Concert for Peace will be livestreamed on the Cathedral’s website, Facebook page, and YouTube channel. No tickets or advance reservations are needed to watch the livestream. For more details and information on all the Cathedral’s programs and services, visit stjohndivine.org.
PROGRAM
Conductors
Kent Tritle
Bryan Zaros
Jie Yi
Harry Smith, host
Jamet Pittman, soprano
MARC-ANTOINE CHARPENTIER Te Deum (excerpts)
JOEL THOMPSON Seven Last Words of the Unarmed
COMMON and JOHN LEGEND “Glory”
DAVID HURD When Night Fell
J. S. BACH Dona Nobis Pacem from Mass in B Minor
About Kent Tritle
Kent Tritle is one of America’s leading choral conductors. Called “the brightest star in New York’s choral music world” by The New York Times, Kent is Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City and Music Director of the Oratorio Society of New York. In addition, he is marking his 15th season as Musica Sacra Music Director and is Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music. An acclaimed organ virtuoso, Kent Tritle is the organist of the New York Philharmonic, a member of the organ faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, and a member of the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School.
Kent Tritle founded theSacred Music in a Sacred Spaceseries at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, leading its choir and orchestra in 150 concerts from 1989 to 2011. From 1996 to 2004, Tritle was Music Director of the Emmy-nominated Dessoff Choirs. Kent hosted “The Choral Mix with Kent Tritle,” a weekly program devoted to the vibrant world of choral music, on New York’s WQXR from 2010 to 2014.
As an organ recitalist, Kent Tritle performs regularly in Europe and across the United States; recital venues have included the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Zurich Tonhalle, the Church of St. Sulpice in Paris, Dresden’s Hofkirche, King’s College at Cambridge, Westminster Abbey, and St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.
Kent Tritle’s discography features more than 20 recordings on the Telarc, Naxos, AMDG, Epiphany, Gothic, VAI and MSR Classics labels. Recent releases, including the Grammy-nominated 2018 world premiere performance of the Paul Moravec/ Mark Campbell oratorioSanctuary Roadwith the Oratorio Society of New York; the 2016 performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, David Briggs’s organ-choral version; andEternal Reflections: Choral Music of Robert Patersonwith Musica Sacra, have been praised by NPR Music, Gramophone, and The American Organist.
Kent is the 2020 recipient of Chorus America’s Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art. Other recent honors include the 2017 Distinguished Achievement Award from Career Bridges and the 2016 President’s Medal for Distinguished Service from the Manhattan School of Music. Kent is on the advisory boards of the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective (C4) and the Clarion Music Society, and was the 2016 honoree at Clarion’s annual gala.
Kent Tritle holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from The Juilliard School in organ performance and choral conducting. He has been featured on ABC World News Tonight, National Public Radio, and Minnesota Public Radio, as well as in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He was featured in Episode 6 of the first season of the WIRED video series “Masterminds,” an installment titled, “What Conductors Are Really Doing.”
About Bryan Zaros
Bryan Zaros is a young American conductor recognized for his “strong musical imagination” and “deep sense of musicality and communication.” He is the Associate Choirmaster at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine and made his conducting debut with the Cathedral Choirs at Westminster Abbey, London. A native New Yorker, Zaros began his professional musical training as a member of the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus and as a boy chorister at The Church of the Transfiguration, NYC. He is the Music Director of the Pro Arte Chorale, an ensemble with a 55-year legacy specializing in the performance of choral/orchestral masterworks and is a frequent guest lecturer at the Manhattan School of Music and at music conferences throughout the USA. He received a Bachelor of Music in Sacred Music from Westminster Choir College and a Master of Music in Conducting from the University of Michigan. He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting at the Manhattan School of Music. Recent conducting engagements have included invitations with choirs and orchestras in England, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Sweden, Argentina, Greece, Slovenia, Ireland and Romania. Most notably he has conducted ensembles at Alice Tully Hall-Lincoln Center, the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., at American Choral Director’s Association Conferences and various cathedrals in England including St. Paul’s Cathedral-London, Canterbury Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral. He is a recipient of several conducting awards including an American Prize award in Conducting. For more information about Bryan, visit www.bryanzaros.com.
About Jie Yi
Jie Yi, a member of the Music Department at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and the Music Director at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Huntington, holds a Doctor of Music Arts degree in conducting from Manhattan School of Music, mentored by Kent Tritle. He is the author of Chinese for Singers, the first comprehensive guide for Western singers to use in singing Chinese texts. In China, he was Chorus Master and Assistant Conductor at the Shanghai Opera, and a teacher at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
In 2006, he was selected by the Internship and Overseas Fellowship for Young Conductors to study with Maestro John Nelson in Paris, sponsored by the U.S. China Cultural Institute. In 2010, he received the Huang He Fellowship sponsored by Asian Culture Council to study at the Metropolitan Opera under Chorus Master Donald Palumbo.
In 2015, he made his debut at Carnegie Hall, directing Xian Xinghai's Yellow River Cantata with a chorus of 200 voices. Dr. Yi has conducted performances of Carmina Burana, Musikalische Exequien, Messe de Minuit, Mozart’s and Verdi's Requiems, and selections of Chinese choral works. A selection of his operatic conducting experience includes Die Zauberflöte, Le Nozze di Figaro, La Traviata, L'elisir d'amore, La Boheme, Il Trittico, The Merry Widow, Carmen, and I Capuleti e i Montecchi. He has conducted the Ensemble Orchestra de Paris, Orchestra de Besancon, Estonian National Youth Orchestra, Parnu City Orchestra, Distinguished Concerts Orchestra of New York, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Opera House Orchestra & Chorus, and Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has also given an organ recital at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
About Jamet Pittman
Jamet Pittman, soprano, earned both B.M and M.M. degrees in Voice from The Catholic University of America. While there, she competed in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and one of the judges took note and invited her to study in New York at the Manhattan School of Music, where she was a Paul Robeson Scholarship recipient. Since then, Ms. Pittman has performed as a classical soloist and also in professional choral groups, such as Musica Sacra, NY Choral Artists, and the esteemed Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola. She has also performed on Broadway (Baz Luhrmann’s “La Boheme”), and in non-classical genres with the group “Just Friends” (specializing in music from the African-American experience). More recently, Jamet was part of “3 Mo’ Divas,” which was showcased in a PBS special, and showed her ability to sing several styles, including opera, musical theater, spirituals and R&B. In 2019, she performed as part of Jason and Alicia Hall Moran’s “Work Songs” exhibit at the Biennale Art Festival in Venice, Italy. Jamet is honored to be a member of the professional Choir of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
About the Mount Sinai Health System
The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest academic medical system, encompassing eight hospitals, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai advances medicine and health through unrivaled education and translational research and discovery to deliver care that is the safest, highest-quality, most accessible and equitable, and the best value of any health system in the nation. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 415 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked on U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of the top 20 U.S. hospitals and is top in the nation by specialty: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital is ranked in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” among the country’s best in four out of 10 pediatric specialties. The Icahn School of Medicine is one of three medical schools that have earned distinction by multiple indicators: ranked in the top 20 by U.S. News & World Report's "Best Medical Schools," aligned with a U.S. News & World Report "Honor Roll" Hospital, and No. 14 in the nation for National Institutes of Health funding. Newsweek’s “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals” ranks The Mount Sinai Hospital as No. 1 in New York and in the top five globally, and Mount Sinai Morningside in the top 20 globally.
For more information, visit mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
About Great Music in a Great Space
Revived in 2011, Great Music in a Great Space reprises the legendary concert series first held at the Cathedral in the 1980s. Great Music in a Great Space presents choral, orchestral, and instrumental music, in the magnificent, deeply spiritual setting of the world’s largest Gothic cathedral. Concerts take place in many locations: the vast space of the Crossing, the more intimate setting of the Great Choir, and the exquisite Chapels of the Tongues. The beloved holiday traditions of the Christmas Concert and New Year’s Eve Concert for Peace are an integral part of our concert series.
About The Cathedral
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is the Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. It is chartered as a house of prayer for all people and a unifying center of intellectual light and leadership. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cathedral has responded to changing needs in the local community and across the city and state. People from many faiths and communities worship together in daily services held online and in person; the soup kitchen serves roughly 50,000 meals annually; social service outreach has an increasingly varied roster of programs to safely provide resources and aid to the hardest-hit New Yorkers; the distinguished Cathedral School prepares young students to be future leaders; Advancing the Community of Tomorrow, the renowned preschool, afterschool and summer program, offers diverse educational and nurturing experiences; the outstanding Textile Conservation Lab preserves world treasures; concerts, exhibitions, performances and civic gatherings allow conversation, celebration, reflection and remembrance—such is the joyfully busy life of this beloved and venerated Cathedral.
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