Friends of the Erben Organ

Amor Artis - Reflection and Refuge
2018-03-18 16:00 (America/New_York) | Basilica of Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral, 261 Mott Street, New York, NY, 10012, United States
Reflection and Refuge
Amor Artis presents Dietrich Buxtehude’s 17th-century masterpiece, Membra Jesu Nostri, with 21st-century responses, including To the Hands by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Caroline Shaw; a work by Gregory Spears, whose work has been called “astonishingly beautiful” (New York Times); and a world premiere of a commission by Zachary Wadsworth. Reception will follow the concert.

The Dessoff Choirs - Bach, Bernstein, Lang
2018-03-11 16:00
Bach, Bernstein, Lang
The Dessoff Choirs presents David Lang’s the little match girl passion, a work that evokes passion through stasis, repetition, and the unexpected combination of percussion instruments with voices. The composer describes his inspiration for setting the text:
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 the horror and the beauty are constantly suffused with their opposites. Andersen tells this story as a kind of parable, drawing a religious and moral equivalency between the suffering of the poor girl and the suffering of Jesus.
In addition, Dessoff performs J.S. Bach’s Komm Jesu, komm, the fourth installment (over three seasons) of Bach’s six motets and as part of our Bernstein tribute, “II. Adonai, roi, lo ehsar” from Chichester Psalms.

Artek - Rosenmüller Christmas Vespers
2017-12-29 20:00
Rosenmüller Christmas Vespers
ARTEK has been performing the music of 17th-century German composer Johann Rosenmueller since 2011, when the ensemble’s brilliant recording of his cantatas was released. ARTEK performed his Vespers for the first time in 2012 to enormous acclaim. Rosenmueller’s music combines the grand Venetian style of Monteverdi’s Vespers with the monumental German style of sacred music leading up to Bach’s B-minor Mass. 8 outstanding singers will be joined by ARTEK’s string ensemble led by violinist Cynthia Freivogel, international wind players from Les Sacqueboutiers de Toulouse and American wind specialists, and ARTEK’s renowned continuo team.

Concert of Carols and Christmas Eve Midnight Mass
2017-12-24 22:00
10:15 PM Concert; 11:00 PM Christmas Eve Mass (ends at midnight)

Concert of Lessons & Carols
2017-12-10 17:30
The Basilica’s annual choral gathering brings together the Basilica Schola, Basilica Voices (our children’s choir), and the handbell choir of St. Joseph’s in the Village, as we prepare for Christmas. The music features selections from Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Magnificat, as well as settings of Advent carols. A free-will donation will be collected.

Highbridge Voices Winter Concert
2017-12-07 19:00

An Amor Artis Holiday
2017-12-03 16:00
Filling all corners of the exquisite space of St. Patrick’s, this beautiful, immersive concert experience combines the pristine sound of Amor Artis with sparkling brilliance of trumpets, the warm glow of harp and English horn, and the one-of-a-kind sound of special guest Eddie Barbash on alto saxophone. The program combines works from the Middle Ages and Renaissance with contemporary choral gems and lush arrangements of holiday favorites.
http://www.amorartis.org/concerts/

Young New Yorkers' Chorus
2017-12-02 20:00
http://ynyc.org/

December 2017 Concert Recap
2017-12-02 08:00 - 2017-12-29 17:00
For FREO, 2017 was an exciting and transformative year. We capped it off in December with special concerts and events that highlighted the Erben organ and the Basilica’s fine acoustics. Here are some of the spectacular concerts from December, which brought thousands of people to hear some splendid performances.
On Saturday, December 2, 2017, at 8 PM, the Young New Yorkers’ Chorus (YNYC) performed its Mixed Ensemble Christmas Concert at the Basilica. The YNYC brings together the finest choral musicians from the tens of thousands of young people who flock to the city for its excitement, art, and culture. Conducted by Michael Kerschner, the YNYC fosters the art of contemporary choral singing among young people. The Chorus performs works by classical composers as well as those of contemporary young composers, exposing listeners of all ages to the beauty and transcendent potential of the choral arts.
On Sunday December 3, at 4 PM, Amor Artis presented “An Amor Artis Holiday,” under the artistic direction of Ryan James Brandau. The choir, combined with trumpets, harp, English horn, alto saxophone, and the great Erben organ, performed works from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, as well as contemporary choral gems and lush original arrangements of holiday favorites like O Holy Night and Auld Lang Syne.
On Thursday, December 7, 2017, at 7 PM, Highbridge Voices, a children’s choral program co-founded by Basilica Pastor Msgr. Donald Sakano 25 years ago, performed a Winter Concert, a medley of music culled from the Advent tradition. Highbridge Voices is an afterschool program designed to inspire academic and musical excellence in the lives of children. The organization serves the Highbridge neighborhood in the South Bronx, a community just north of Yankee Stadium, historically one of the most impoverished Congressional Districts in the United States. The performers consisted of the Highbridge Voices Concert Choir, 70 children ages 9-12; Highbridge Voices Chamber Choir, 50 children ages 12-18; and Highbridge Singers. Music of the season was performed in Latin, German, Sanskrit, Latvian and English. After the performance there was a reception in the Youth Center for the children, their parents, teachers and guests.
On Saturday, December 9, 2017, at 11 AM, there was a Mass that capped off the Sisters of Charity 200th Anniversary Year, with Cardinal Dolan as celebrant and homilist. In the early 19th century, the very young congregation of the Sisters of Charity started their work in New York at the corner of Prince and Mott, caring for orphans, just steps from the Basilica. Their orphanage quickly filled with the impoverished orphans of immigrants and their work would expand to include education, health care and other ministries, with special devotion to the poor. On the snowy morning of December 9th, they returned to the neighborhood where their story started in 1817. The Mass was broadcast by live streaming to the residences of Sisters of Charity who were unable to attend.
On Sunday, December 10, 2017, at 5:30 PM, the Basilica Schola, Basilica Voices, and the Handbell Choir of the Academy of St. Joseph joined forces in a beautiful Concert of Lesson and Carols, a service of scripture and carols, announcing the coming of Christmas. In the service we listened to excerpts from Handel’s “Messiah” and other choral masterpieces. The Schola is the Basilica adult choir, which provides a forum for parishioners to give glory to God through music. Basilica Voices is the children’s choir, which meets as part of the Family Religious Education program on Sundays. Lessons and Carols was followed by Mass and a reception in the Parish House.
Basilica Voices and the Basilica Schola at Lessons and Carols
On Sunday, December 24, 2017 at 10:30 pm, the Basilica’s annual Concert of Carols (followed by midnight Mass at 11 PM), featured the Basilica Schola and members of the Basilica Chamber Orchestra. Musical Director and Organist Jared Lamenzo included music from the Jesuit Missions in the Americas (1609-1767) with a Mass by Domenico Zipoli, as well as selections from Handel’s Messiah, Gallus (Resonet et laudibus), Tu scendi dalle stelle, and more, accompanied by the 19th century sound of the monumental Henry Erben organ on the eve of its 150th anniversary. Upon hearing the Erben for the first time, Corey Kilgannon, writing for the New York Times said, “Something akin to an angel’s choir swirled out of the organ…”
Concert of Carols with instrumentalists and 1859 Hall & Labagh Chancel Organ
Christmas Eve Mass with the Erben organ, Basilica Schola, and instrumentalists
On Friday, December 29, 2017 at 8 PM, Artek performed a concert entitled Rosenmuller: Christmas Vespers. Johann Rosenmuller (1619—1684), was a successor of Monteverdi’s at St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, and a crucial force in the blending of Italian and German styles. Conducted by Gwendolyn Toth, the program included Vespers psalms, Dixit Dominus, Beatus Vir, Confitebor Tibi, and his Magnificat in C minor, as well as Christmas motets and instrumental music. The performance included 25 singers, strings, cornetti, sackbuts, and continuo, and special guest artists from Les Sacqueboutiers Ensemble de Cuivres Anciens de Toulouse. In its review of Artek, the New York Times noted the concert received “ovations from a sizable audience.”
Photos courtesy of the organizations listed. For more information:
Young New Yorkers’ Chorus
Amor Artis
Highbridge Voices
Sisters of Charity
Artek
Les Sacqueboutiers Ensemble de Cuivres Anciens de Toulouse

San Lorenzo Ruiz Choir of New York
2017-09-29 20:00
10th Anniversary Concert

Seán McCluskey Trio
2017-09-22 19:30
“[McCluskey’s] solos bubble with originality—but for all his inventiveness, his playing consistently reaffirms core jazz values like ear-catching technique and narrative propulsion” (Chicago Reader). With Tim Norton, bass, and Peter Kronreif, drums.
http://soundcloud.com/seanmccluskey

Monteverdi and More
2017-09-21 19:00
Internationally acclaimed countertenor Dan Bubeck and soprano Marcy Richardson, hailed by The New York Times for her “clear, pealing voice” (Scarlatti’s L’Arianna, Musica Nuova), with Jennifer Peterson on baroque keyboard, celebrate Monteverdi’s 450th anniversary with Italian baroque works through the time of Handel.

Viva Italia!
2017-09-16 19:00
Enjoy Italian opera favorites sung by tenor John Tiranno, whose voice has been called “ardent and mellifluous” by The New York Times; joined by Rod Gomez, baritone, and Marcy Richardson, soprano, and accompanied by Seth Weinstein.
http://www.johntiranno.com/

Jazz on the Steps with Randy Ingram
2017-09-15 20:00
Sunnyside recording artist Randy Ingram has been hailed as “gifted” (Jazz Times), “a formidable composer” (The San Francisco Chronicle), and “A young pianist drawn to contemporary harmony and a sleek rhythmic sensibility… Astute, self-possessed” (The New York Times).
http://randyingram.com/

San Gennaro Organ Recital with Kevin Birch Sponsored by the Friends of the Erben Organ
2017-09-15 19:00
Works of Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643), Georg Muffat (1653-1704), Gottlieb Muffat (1690-1770) performed on the 1859 Hall & Labagh Chancel Organ and Anonymous 18th Century works played on the 1868 Henry Erben Organ.
Since 1992 he has served as Director of Music at St. John’s Catholic Church in Bangor, Maine and as Executive Director of St. John’s Organ Society – an organization dedicated to the preservation and stewardship of E. & G. G. Hook’s Opus 288 built for St. John’s Catholic Church in 1860. He is a member of the music faculty at the University of Maine’s School of the Performing Arts in Orono and serves on the Liturgical Commission for the Diocese of Portland.
He has performed organ recitals in the United States, Canada, Europe, Scandinavia and South America and is especially devoted to the many fine historic organs in Maine. Recent highlights include recitals and lectures at organ festivals in Germany (Berlin and Potsdam) and programs for several national conventions of the Organ Historical Society.

Divaria Productions presents Italian Classics
2017-09-14 19:00
Praised for her range and mastery, Ashley Bell, soprano presents popular Italian opera and Neapolitan classics with Anna Tonna, mezzo-soprano (“knows how to sing Rossini”, Rossini Rossini Gessellschaft); Paolo Buffagni, tenor; and pianist Nicoló Sbuelz will present popular Italian opera and Neapolitan classics.
