Kent Tritle's Spring 2020 Includes Bach and Brahms Masterworks and a World Premiere

Kent Tritle begins the new decade with his first organ recital at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in two years, Bach's St. John Passion with the Cathedral Choir, and both a new edition of Brahms's A German Requiem and the world premiere of A Nation of Others, an oratorio about Ellis Island with music by Paul Moravec and libretto by Mark Campbell, with the Oratorio Society of New York.

A new critical edition of one of the masterpieces of choral music, Brahms's A German Requiem, will have its U.S. premiere at Carnegie Hall with Kent leading the Oratorio Society of New York, the same organization that performed the U.S. premiere of the work in 1877 (March 2, 2020). The concert's soloists are Susanna Phillips and Takaoki Onishi. The edition is by an international team of scholars led by Michael Musgrave and Michael Struck, and is being published by G. Henle Verlag in collaboration with Breitkopf & Härtel.

Kent also leads the world premiere of A Nation of Others, an oratorio by composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell that captures the experience of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island on one day in 1921 (an Oratorio Society of New York commission), on a program with Robert Paterson's Whitman's America (2016), both with the OSNY (May 6, 2020). The program's soloists are Jennifer Zetlan, Maeve Hogland, Raehann Bryce-Davis, Isaiah Bell, Steven Eddy, and Joseph Beutel.

Naxos Records just released a recording of the 2018 world premiere performance of the Moravec/Campbell oratorio about the Underground Railroad, Sanctuary Road, about which NPR Music observed, "Kent Tritle deftly leads the Oratorio Society of New York Orchestra, Chorus and a dynamic cast of African American soloists," namely Laquita Mitchell, Raehann Bryce-Davis, Joshua Blue, Malcolm J. Merriweather, and Dashon Burton.

Kent's mastery of the breadth of the choral repertoire is evinced throughout the season with performances of music of Bach, Brahms, Bruckner, and Rheinberger with Musica Sacra (March 18, 2020), and Bach's St. John Passion with the Cathedral Choir of St. John the Divine (March 31, 2020) with soloists Andrew Fuchs as the Evangelist, Joseph Beutel as Jesus, and Amy Justman, Kirsten Sollek, Lawrence Jones, and Peter Stewart. Also, the Cathedral Choir of St. John the Divine and world music ensemble Rose of the Compass continue their collaboration with This Fragile Earth - A Celebration of Flora and Fauna, a musical celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day with repertoire ranging from Renaissance selections to traditional Chinese and Armenian songs (February 10, 2020).

The Great Organ of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine is still being repaired, but the season of recitals continues using a digitally sampled Aeolian-Skinner instrument, and Kent will perform his first organ recital on the series in two years, a program of Bach, Bruhns, and Franck (January 28, 2020).

Kent leads his students in the Manhattan School of Music Symphonic Chorus & Chamber Choir in a program of Schubert's Mass in E-flat Major and Bach's Magnificat. (February 25, 2020).

A full schedule of the season's events with program details follows below.

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, he is Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City; Music Director of the Oratorio Society of New York, the acclaimed 200-voice avocational chorus; and Music Director of Musica Sacra, the longest continuously performing professional chorus in New York City. In addition, Kent is Director of Choral Activities and a member of the organ faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and is a member of the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School, serving its Vocal Arts Department. An acclaimed organ virtuoso, he is also the organist of the New York Philharmonic and the American Symphony Orchestra.

Kent Tritle's discography features more than 20 recordings on the Telarc, AMDG, Epiphany, Gothic, VAI and MSR Classics labels. Recent releases include the 2016 performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 8, David Briggs's organ-choral version, and Eternal Reflections: Choral Music of Robert Paterson with Musica Sacra. Other releases include the 2013 recording of Juraj Filas' Requiem, Oratio Spei dedicated to the victims of 9/11, with the Prague Symphony Orchestra and the Kühn Choir; Messages to Myself, an acclaimed recording with Musica Sacra of five new works; and two releases with the Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola, Cool of the Day, an a cappella program of music ranging from Gregorian chant, Palestrina, and spirituals to Strauss's Deutsche Motette, and Ginastera's The Lamentations of Jeremiah with Schnittke's Concerto for Choir.

Kent Tritle founded the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space concert series at New York's Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, and led it to great acclaim from 1989 to 2011. From 1996 to 2004, he was Music Director of New York's The Dessoff Choirs. Kent hosted "The Choral Mix with Kent Tritle" on New York's WQXR, a weekly program devoted to the vibrant world of choral music, from 2010 to 2014. Among his recent honors are 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. He was recently featured in the first season of the WIRED video series "Masterminds," an installment titled, "What Conductors Are Really Doing."