Oratorio Society of New York Continues Annual Performance of Handel’s Messiah
Oratorio Society of New York. Photo credit: Claude Huter
The Oratorio Society of New York is one of New York’s First Music Organizations
On Thursday, December 19, 2019, the Oratorio Society of New York will take the stage at Carnegie Hall to perform its historic, annual interpretation of Handel’s Messiah. In its 146th year of this annual tradition, this organization is legendary for its choral performance, a Christmastime-ritual that has become standard for over a century.
When the tradition began in 1874, the one-year-old organization performed Handel’s Messiah on Christmas night at Steinway Hall (which, then, was on 14th Street). Ever since, the Oratorio Society has taken the stage to play a pivotal role in one of the long-standing Christmas traditions in New York music organization history.
This year, the 200-voice chorus—which is one of New York’s first organizations, younger than even the New York Philharmonic (est. 1842) and the Metropolitan Opera (est. 1883)—will be led by OSNY Music Director Kent Tritle and will feature soloists Leslie Fagan (soprano), Heather Petrie (contralto), Brian Giebler (tenor), and Adam Lau (bass).
Further, the Oratorio Society’s Carnegie Hall Season will continue with a new critical edition of a masterpiece as well as the world premiere of an OSNY commission. The new, critical U.S. premiere of Brahms’ A German Requiem will be performed by the society on Monday, March 2, 2020, at Carnegie Hall. The OSNY commission, entitled A Nation of Others by Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell, will be performed on May 6, 2020, at Carnegie Hall.