​KHORIKOS presents
CIVITAS
a two-concert event
Saturday, November 11th at 7:30 PM
Sunday, November 12th at 2:00 PM
The Shrine Church of St. Anthony of Padua, SOHO, NYC
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Tickets to both concerts here
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On Saturday, November 11th at 7:30pm, and Sunday, November 12th at 2pm, KHORIKOS is performing our first-ever two-concert program: CIVITAS, a reconstruction of the Lamentations of Jeremiah. Across the two concerts, we’ll sing renaissance-era settings of the biblical texts alongside stunning contemporary pieces and four brand-new world premieres. We couldn’t contain all this incredible music in just one evening, so we’d love to invite you to spend your weekend with us, immersed in this musical and emotional arc, for both concerts at our home space, the magnificent Shrine Church of St. Anthony of Padua in NYC’s SOHO.
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The Lamentations are a chronicle of loss. These sacred poems bemoan a fallen city and a broken society. But from all this grief, a rich musical tradition emerged, and has transcended centuries. The texts are traditionally framed as “Lessons”, for which composers wrote elaborate initials (letters of the Hebrew alphabet set to music) as introductions to each line. Our program takes up this framework, but replaces much of the biblical material with contemporary poetry and music, carefully curated to question the fatalism of the Lamentations.
In her SIX VARIATIONS, poet Denise Levertov writes:
Through the hollow globe, a ring
of frayed rusty scrapiron,
is it the sea that shines?
Is it a road at the world’s edge?
We’ll sing early music from Tallis, Lobo, di Lasso, and many others, music from monumental 20th century composers including Britten, Rachmaninoff, and Tavener, contemporary pieces by Cecilia McDowall, Roderick Williams, Tigran Hamasyan, Thomas Adès, and more. This is also the largest commissioning project in KHORIKOS history — we’ll showcase world premieres by our composer-collaborators Evelin Seppar, Andrew Smith, Ben Zucker, and Alec Galambos.
Join us all weekend for this powerful journey through collapse, recovery, reflection, and return.
CIVITAS: LESSON ONE
Saturday, November 11th at 7:30pm
The Shrine Church of St Anthony of Padua
A world premiere from Andrew Smith, and works by Thomas Adès, Thomas Tallis, Roderick Williams, and many more
Featuring Charlotte Greve, alto saxophone
CIVITAS: LESSON TWO
Sunday, November 12th, at 2:00pm
The Shrine Church of St Anthony of Padua
World premieres by Alec Galambos, Ben Zucker, and Evelin Seppar, and works by Alonso Lobo, Tigran Hamasyan, Cecilia McDowall, and many more
Featuring Charlotte Greve, alto saxophone
Purchase tickets for both events at once at a discount here.
(You can also purchase tickets for one concert at a time, but you won’t receive the discount, and you won’t get to enjoy all of this music!)
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Please also consider supporting us as a member of our new Patreon, where we share detailed, personal updates on our progress and process throughout the year, among other exclusive perks.
We look forward to sharing this music with you in November!
KHORIKOS
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