The New York Virtuoso Singers

We Are The Music Makers

1) Oct. 22, Sunday, 3 PM: All Ned Rorem - 100th Birthday Tribute
Christ and St. Stephen's Church, 120 W. 69th Street

Ned Miller Rorem (October 23, 1923 – November 18, 2022) was both a composer and a writer. Best known for his art songs which number over 500, Rorem was the leading American of his time writing in the genre. Frequently described as a neoromantic composer, he showed limited interest in the emerging modernist aesthetic of his lifetime. As a writer, he kept—and later published—numerous diaries in which he spoke candidly of his exchanges and relationships with many cultural figures of America and France. I had the distinct pleasure of planning and conducting both his 70th and 75th birthday concerts with The New York Virtuoso Singers. I met with him in his apartment, where he looked through his file cabinets, handing me multiple choral works he wished me to conduct. Little did I know then that these two concerts would present only a fraction of his total choral output. Recently I pored through ALL of them, choosing my favorites to present here for his 100th birthday tribute. I only wish he were able to enjoy this concert, as he did the two others.

We are the Music-Makers.

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Tickets at the door: General: $25; Students 25 years and younger: $10

2) March 3, Sunday, 3 PM: Composers Without Borders - music by American, Iranian, Ukrainian, Russian and Chinese composers. Society for Ethical Culture, 2 W. 64th Street

Composers Without Borders – The Ties that Bind Us

The constitution’s preamble begins with the words “We the people,” a term which over the centuries has taken on a life of its own. In the context of our concert, entitled Composers Without Borders – The Ties That Bind Us, we focus on the unity of humankind, not individual governments, whether open and honest or repressive and evil. There are countless common threads present in people from all over the globe. The desire and ability to express oneself through music is one which cannot be suppressed by leaders of countries. Music unifies and uplifts all people. Our concert highlights the unending compositional creativity of mankind despite the complicated interrelationships of the countries represented.

From Iryna Aleksiychuk, composer of Gloria Patri: Music is a language that is understood by all people of the world. It does not require translation. Music just touches your heart - and you rejoice, cry, laugh or feel sad with it. It is wonderful that in our time, when there is so much grief and violence in the World of People, we can find refuge, joy, and peace in the World of Music. The task of the composer is to bring this light and peace to people, so that they become better and kinder towards each other. And let the music speak, but not the guns! -

Tickets at the door: General: $25; Students 25 years and younger: $10

3) May 19, Sunday, 3 PM: Ten world premieres by BMI Young Composer Award recipients.
Christ and St. Stephen's Church, 129 W. 69th Street

Many, if not most of, today’s leading classical composers have won this and other major awards in their youth. Hear great music by 10 rising stars.

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Tickets at the door: General: $25; Students 25 years and younger: $10