Choral Elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water

Victoria Drake, harp
Diane Lesser, oboe & English horn
The Bedford String Quartet
Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola
K. Scott Warren, conductor

The four elements—earth, air, fire and water—portrayed in lush pieces for choir, harp and string quartet by W.A. Mozart, Gustav Holst, Frank Ferko, Frank Ticheli, John Kennedy and others. Includes a New York premiere by composer Julia Adolphe and poet Nahal Navidar.

Complete concert repertoire below. 

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All performance dates, artists and programs subject to change. Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable.

COMPLETE PROGRAM

WATER
Gustav Holst        Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda    
VIII. Hymn to the Waters 

Michael McCarthy        Vidi aquam

G. P. da Palestrina      Sicut cervus

Julia Adolphe        Sea Dream Elegies  (NY Premiere)
III. For whom does your heart despair (Nahal Navidar)
IV. Dance of the Moon and Sea (Nahal Navidar)

Frank Ferko        The Seasons
I. Spring (Robert Frost)

AIR
Stephen Paulus        Songs from the Japanese
I. All Sky (Saigyo, 1118-1190)
II. Gentle Breezes (Otonomo no Yakamachi, 718-785)
III. An Ocean of Clouds (Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, 662-710)

Frank Ferko        The Seasons
III. Winter (William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII)

EARTH
Frank Ferko        The Seasons
II. Autumn (Robert Frost)

Frank Ticheli        Earth Song

Cibavit eos (Introit for the Feast of Corpus Christi)

Thomas Juneau        Ave verum corpus

W. A. Mozart        Ave verum corpus

FIRE
Frank Ferko        The Seasons
I. Summer (William Cullen Bryant)

Gustav Holst        Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda
VII. Hymn to the Dawn
XI. To Agni (God of Fire)

Veni Sancte Spiritus (Alleluia verse for Pentecost Sunday)

John Kennedy        Someday (Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin)

This program is approximately 90-minutes long with one 15-minute intermission.

ARTISTS

Victoria Drake, harpist, is a multi-faceted artist with a career that stretches the boundaries of music for the harp. She performs regularly with the American Symphony Orchestra, New York City Ballet, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Voices of Ascension, and the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra, and has worked with American Ballet Theatre, Musica Sacra, New York City Opera, New York Philharmonic, Oratorio Society of New York, and Orpheus. She has been performing as principal harpist with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota since 2008. She has appeared as concerto soloist with several notable orchestras in the New York area, including the American Classical Orchestra, Greenwich Symphony Orchestra, Concordia Orchestra, Philharmonia Virtuosi, Westfield Symphony, Connecticut Orchestra at Harkness, and at the Vermont Mozart Festival. She performs regularly at the Bard Music Festival and has played at the Aspen, Banff, Cabrillo, Cape May, Caramoor, Fontainebleau, and Vermont Mozart Festivals. She has received numerous awards, and achieved finalist status at the 10th International Harp Contest in Israel. As recital soloist and chamber musician, she has appeared in series across the country, as well as in Israel and France. She performed her one of her recently published transcriptions of the Six Cello Suites of J.S. Bach at the American Harp Society Conference in New York City and at the World Harp Congress in Sydney, Australia.

Diane Lesser is the principal oboist of the New York Pops, Amici New York, Greenwich Symphony, Long Island Philharmonic, Oratorio Society, Musica Sacra, Voices of Ascension, National Chorale and Foundation for Universal Sacred Music. Most recently, she performed in the Roundabout Theatre production of She Loves Me at Studio 54 and on the very first BroadwayHD live stream. Diane is proud to have played at Christmas Eve Mass services and Sacred Music in a Sacred Space performances at St. Ignatius Loyola Church every year since 1989. Active in the world of commercial music, oboist and English hornist Diane Lesser can be heard on recordings accompanying Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, Madonna, Amy Winehouse, Harry Connick, Jr., Clay Aiken, George Michael, Celine Dion, and Paul Simon. She has played on numerous film soundtracks including Maggie’s Plan, Fargo, The Untouchables, The Spanish Prisoner, You’ve Got Mail, Twilight, Sphere, The Stepford Wives and Dark Universe at the Hayden Planetarium. Ms. Lesser has been heard on TV’s Chris Matthews Show, Ugly Betty, Good Morning, America (accompanying Andrea Bocelli), and on hundreds of television and radio commercials such as Budweiser, Lucky Charms, Nasonex and Reynold’s Wrap. She has played in the orchestra for the Grammy Awards, with the Dance Theatre of Harlem on Sesame Street, the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, the White House for President Clinton, and at the Mass for Pope Francis at Madison Square Garden last September.

The Bedford String Quartet (Jorge Avila, violin; Susan Dominguez, violin; Orlando Wells, viola; Arthur Fiacco, cello), founded in 2012, is the only resident artist ensemble at the GE Global Management Development Institute in Crotonsville, NY. Now in their 3rd year of residency, the Bedford Quartet’s unique collaboration with Harvey Seifter, founder of The Art of Science Learning and his unique arts-based approaches to innovation, leadership development and teamwork program demonstrates highly skilled collaboration and decision making through observation of the quartet’s rehearsal process and performances. In addition to being residents of NYC, The Bedford Quartet members are highly, in-demand, freelance professionals and perform concerts both nationally and internationally as soloists and chamber musicians.

Hailed by the New York Times as “a finely polished, stylistically nimble ensemble,” the Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola is comprised of New York’s finest professional choral singers. The Choir’s “tremendous expressive and dynamic range” and “remarkable vocal discipline and finesse” (the New York Times) is featured in the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space concert series, now in its 27th season. Each member is a soloist in his or her own right in a variety of genres including early music, opera, oratorio and contemporary repertoire. The core group of 19 members sings a demanding schedule of weekly parish worship services in a wide range of repertoire, with particular emphasis on new works, the sacred Renaissance repertoire, and Gregorian chant. The Choir may be heard on recordings for the MSR Classics and AMDG labels. In March 2006, the Choir was invited as the headline chorus at the Southwestern American Choral Directors Association convention in St. Louis, Missourri. In April 2009, the Choir performed in the opening festival of radio station WNYC’s new Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, on a concert bill with René Pape, John Zorn, Ute Lemper, and Nico Muhly.

Since 2011, St. Ignatius Loyola Director of Music Ministries K. Scott Warren has led a dynamic music team consisting of over 150 individuals, professional and volunteer, in providing music at approximately 400 liturgies annually. He is the principal conductor of the 19-voice professional Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola, which sings a demanding schedule of services throughout the year, with repertoire spanning Gregorian chant to 21st-century masterpieces. The choir, along with the Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola, form the backbone of the parish’s critically acclaimed concert series, Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, whose recent performances have been lauded by the New York Times as “stirring...positively thrilling” and “broad, wide-ranging, and powerful.” In addition to the vast choral spectrum presented at St. Ignatius, Mr. Warren presides over the four manual, 91-rank N. P. Mander Organ, the largest mechanical action organ in the New York metro area, and an instrument of international stature.

GENERAL CONCERT AND TICKET INFORMATION

• DOORS OPEN at 6:15 PM for a 7 PM concert start time.


• LATE SEATING is at the discretion of the House Management. Latecomers may be asked to remain in the back of the church until there is a break in the program, so as not to disturb the performance or other audience members.


• WILL CALL is available when the doors open at 6:15 PM inside the main doors of the church.


• CHILDREN seated on an adult's lap do not need a ticket. Children seated in a chair or pew do need a ticket.


• We no longer offer tickets for sale or any ticket pickup at the Parish House Reception desk.


• Audio and/or video recording and flash photography are not permitted during performances.

ACCESSIBILITY

• The Church of St. Ignatius Loyola is wheelchair/walker accessible via the ramp entrance on 84th Street (between Park and Madison Avenues).


• The restrooms are NOT easily accessible by wheelchair. The most easily accessible restrooms are in the Parish House (980 Park Avenue). There are two steps down from the street level into the Parish House and there is a restroom on that ground floor.


• For reserved seating concerts, there is available seating for wheelchairs and companions. Please look for the Wheelchair and Wheelchair Companion tickets when purchasing. For general seating concerts, follow the directions of the ushers. Please call ahead (212-288-2520) to discuss any special seating requirements.

PARKING

• Street parking can be difficult to find, but there are a number of parking garages nearby. There are garages on 83rd Street (between Park and Lexington Avenues) and 84th Street (between Park and Lexington Avenues), as well as near the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

RESTAURANTS

• There are a number of fine and casual eating establishments located nearby on Madison Avenue (one block west of the church), Lexington Avenue (one block east of the church), Third Avenue (two blocks east of the church) and Second Avenue (three blocks east of the church).

DIRECTIONS

• The Church of St. Ignatius Loyola is easily reached via the 4, 5, and 6 subway lines (86th Street station), or buses on Madison, Lexington and Fifth Avenues, and on 86th Street.