Fauré Requiem
June 12 and 13, 2009
Fauré's masterpiece for choir and orchestra. Soloists for this performance were Kiera Duffy (soprano) and Douglas Millar (baritone).Also on the program was Four Partsongs (Gesänge) For Women's Chorus With Two Horns And Harp (Opus 17) by Johannes Brahms and the world premiere of a setting of Walt Whitman's One Hour to Madness and Joy for choir and strings, by the MCE's director, Thomas Cunningham.
Iberian Holiday: Christmas in Spain and Portugal
December 12 and 14, 2008
A Christmas celebration featuring familiar and unusual carols from Spain and Portugal, and Christmas music from Renaissance composers Guerrero, Morales, and Victoria.
All-Night Vigil & Lux Aeterna
June 6 & 7, 2008
Rachmaninoff's masterpiece is one of the crowning achievements in Russian sacred music. Also on this program was Lux Aeterna, a new work by Charles Griffin composed specifically for this concert to complement the All-Night Vigil.
New Music for New York & Five Flower Songs
March 8, 2008
Fourth installment of the MCE's New Music for New York project which premiered three new commissions: Kevin McCarter's As the Earth Brings Forth Her Bud, Andrew Megill's A Clear Midnight, and George Steel's Surge Propera. Also on the program were Benjamin Britten's Five Flower Songs.
Buon Natale! An Italian Christmas
December 8, 2007
The MCE's fifth annual December holiday concert celebrating the music of a culture important to the history of New York City, Buon Natale! An Italian Christmas featured works by Verdi, Palestrina, Perosi, and Marenzio.
The Murderer and the Modernist
March 10, 2007
Stravinsky's Mass is a startling exploration of an ancient text. To accompany this masterwork, the MCE and orchestra performed motets by the Renaissance contrapuntalist Gesualdo that Stravinsky completed when parts of these works were lost to history.
Weihnachten: A German Christmas
December 9, 2006
Music of Brahms, Mendelssohn, Distler, and Praetorius, and familiar Christmas carols of German and Austrian origin.
American Choral Masterworks
March 18, 2006
Aaron Copland
In the BeginningRandall Thompson
The Peaceable KingdomSamuel Barber
Reincarnations
Wassail! An English Christmas
December 9, 2005
English choral music for Christmas, featuring traditional English Christmas carols and works by Byrd, Tallis, and Warlock, as well as BrittenŐs Hymn to the Virgin.
Noel: Christmas in France
December 17, 2004
French choral music for Christmas, featuring traditional French Christmas carols and works by Poulenc, Charpentier, Costeley, Mouton, and Dufay.