2024 Music Season

Pipes at One: Gail Archer

Gail Archer is a professor at Barnard College and Columbia University and founder of Musforum, an international network for women organists. Her repertoire spans the 16th to 20th centuries, and she is one of the first American women to play Olivier Messiaen’s complete works, earning praise from The New York Times for mixing a “compelling authority” and “bracing physicality” with “a sense of vulnerability and awe.”

Bach at One: Cantatas

Operatic excerpts from two cantatas

Bach never wrote an opera, but this concert features the closest approximation we have: the exquisite monologues and duets of his cantatas Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust and Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen. Cantata 32 uses the poetry of the Song of Songs to model a dialogue between Jesus, the expression of the divine, and Soul, embodying humanity.  

Elisse Albian, soprano; Elisa Sutherland, alto; Enrico Lagasca, bass; Trinity Baroque Orchestra; led by Avi Stein, organ 

Death of Classical: Vis Aeternitatis

A magical night of music in the Crypt of Saint John the Divine

NOVUS collaborates with acclaimed underground concert producers Death of Classical and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine to present a series of thematic concerts in the crypt beneath the cathedral.  

The third night of music presents works ranging from the 11th century to the current day, including pieces by Hildegard von Bingen, Barbara Strozzi, Heinrich Biber, Caroline Shaw, and Gelsey Bell. The transcendent title work, Vis Aeternitatis, or “Power of Eternity,” was composed by Saint Hildegard, a medieval abbess, mystic, and composer known for her eloquent writing about the eternal divine.  

Madeline Apple Healey, soprano; Katie Hyun, violin; Kyle Miller, viola; Coleman Itzkoff, cello; Adam Cockerham, lute; Melissa Baker, flute 

Death of Classical: Vis Aeternitatis

A magical night of music in the Crypt of Saint John the Divine

NOVUS collaborates with acclaimed underground concert producers Death of Classical and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine to present a series of thematic concerts in the crypt beneath the cathedral.  

The third night of music presents works ranging from the 11th century to the current day, including pieces by Hildegard von Bingen, Barbara Strozzi, Heinrich Biber, Caroline Shaw, and Gelsey Bell. The transcendent title work, Vis Aeternitatis, or “Power of Eternity,” was composed by Saint Hildegard, a medieval abbess, mystic, and composer known for her eloquent writing about the eternal divine.  

Madeline Apple Healey, soprano; Katie Hyun, violin; Kyle Miller, viola; Coleman Itzkoff, cello; Adam Cockerham, lute; Melissa Baker, flute 

Jazz at One: Dizzy Gillespie Afro-Latin Experience

Long Walk to Freedom

Join us to celebrate the birthday of late jazz master Dizzy Gillespie, featuring bassist and producer John Lee’s energetic ensemble. The concert promises to be a rousing tribute to one of jazz’s great ambassadors: trumpeter, composer, bandleader, and bebop king. 

This season’s Jazz at One, Long Walk to Freedom, is inspired by Nelson Mandela and the 30th anniversary of South African democracy. Presented in collaboration with JAZZ HOUSE KiDS. 

Pipes at One: Nicole Keller

Organist Nicole Keller has performed in venues around the globe, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Cathédrale Notre-Dame, and The Kazakh National University for the Arts. The assistant professor of music at the University of Michigan is also in demand as an instructor and guest lecturer, most recently at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and Yale University. She is known for bringing a freshness to pieces old and new, especially Bach and such 20th-century American composers as Florence Price and Calvin Hampton. 

Bach at One | Renewal: Shelter

Ancient and contemporary choral works that embrace hope

The Trinity Choir performs one of Bach’s most complex choral pieces, Jesu, meine Freude (“Jesus, my Joy”) as well as two modern Gabriel Kahane pieces of the same title: We are the Saints. The first Kahane work (a New York premiere) grapples with our relationship with nature. The second, a world premiere arrangement of the composer's popular song, weaves personal narratives and social commentary into a compelling reflection on homelessness. 

This special Bach at One is part of the 2024–25 NOVUS Renewal: Shelter series, which highlights the experience of the unhoused and the complex systemic failures that lead to homelessness. 

Trinity Choir; Gabriel Kahane, soloist and composer; Melissa Attebury, director 

NOVUS Renewal: emergency shelter intake form

A thought-provoking New York premiere by composer Gabriel Kahane

Trinity’s new-music orchestra, NOVUS, continues its series of works that grapple with vital social issues. This season’s NOVUS Renewal: Shelter concerts highlight the experiences of the unhoused and the complex systemic failures that lead to homelessness. 

Opening the series is the New York premiere of Gabriel Kahane’s oratorio, emergency shelter intake form. With a libretto based on the questionnaire given to those seeking a bed, the work is a searing portrait of the fear, humiliation, and profound challenges associated with being unhoused in America.  

NOVUS; Alicia Hall Moran, soprano; Gabriel Kahane, Holland Andrews, and Holcombe Waller (the chorus of inconvenient statistics); choirs from the Borough of Manhattan Community College; Daniela Candillari, conductor 

Jazz at One: Sounds of South Africa

Long Walk to Freedom

The not-to-be-missed Jazz at One finale features a vibrant blend of traditional African music, contemporary hits, infectious energy — and a very special surprise guest.  

This season’s Jazz at One, Long Walk to Freedom, is inspired by Nelson Mandela and the 30th anniversary of South African democracy. Presented in collaboration with JAZZ HOUSE KiDS. 

Pipes at One: Clara Gerdes Bartz

Young virtuoso Clara Gerdes Bartz grew up in North Carolina and recently graduated from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, where she studied with renowned professor Martin Jean. The organist has already established herself as a performer of prodigious technique and control. She received the Baker Prize in Organ Performance (2020) and the Julia Sherman Award for Excellence in Organ Playing (2021) and is an adjunct instructor of organ at Rider University’s Westminster Choir College.