Westover Choral Groups Performing at New York Church

Westover choral groups will perform at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City on Sunday, January 25, following a 4 pm Choral Evensong Service sung by the renowned Cathedral Choir. The Cathedral is located at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue at 112th Street in Manhattan.

The public concert will mark the fourth time in recent years that music groups from Westover will have performed in the historic Cathedral, which is renowned for its Gothic and Romanesque architecture, stained glass windows, and excellent acoustics.

Westover’s Glee Club and Chamber Choir, both under the direction of long-time Director Robert Havery, and Westover’s Gospel Choir, under the direction of Michael Brown, will perform, beginning at approximately 5 pm.

The Glee Club will perform Ave Verum by W.A. Mozart, Dixit Dominus by Baldassare Galuppi, and This Little Babe, from Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols. The beloved hymn Jerusalem will also be performed, along with Famine Song, a piece arranged by Matthew Culloton, which was inspired by the work of the women of Sudan during a 1980s famine. That work will include a solo by senior Hannah Olshansky of Bridgewater, Connecticut, and a duet by freshman Cassandra Lechner of Middlebury, Connecticut, and sophomore Mia McClain of Andover, New Jersey.

The Glee Club will be joined by the School’s Chamber Choir, an ensemble of Glee Club members and faculty and staff, in a performance of John Harper’s Psalm 150. The Chamber Choir also will perform a 16th century piece, Richard Farrell’s Lord, For Thy Tender Mercy’s Sake; Henry Purcell’s Sound the Trumpet; and two contemporary works, B’Sefer Chayim, arranged by Elliot Z. Levine, and Karl Jenkins’ Ave Maria.

The Westover Gospel Choir will perform James Brunson’s I Am Free and Kirk Franklin’s Sanctuary.

The three choral groups perform regularly at Westover. In addition to their recent concerts in the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, the Glee Club also has performed at a cathedral in Washington, DC, and on recent tours of Europe has performed in Canterbury Cathedral, Ely Cathedral, and Westminster Abbey in England, the Salzburger Dom in Austria, Rheims Cathedral in France, San Maria Maggiore and the Milano Dom in Italy, as well as in several smaller churches and European schools. Havery is a graduate of The Juilliard School and is a member of the Yale Camerata.

The above information was provided by Westover School.