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Melodia Women’s Choir performs gorgeous music for fall and winter and releases its first commercial recording


New York, NY – WEBWIRE

"Surely a choir of angels would not sound as beautiful."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
10/20/2014
Media Contact: Jenny Clarke | 212-757-2945 | womenschoir@mindspring.com
 
 
Melodia Womens Choir of NYC to Present
Windsong
November 22 and 23, 2014
 
 
New York CityMelodia Womens Choir of NYC (Cynthia Powell, Artistic Director and Conductor; Jenny Clarke, Founder and Executive Director) will perform Windsong, a delightful program of music evocative of the fall and winter seasons.
 
Artistic Director Cynthia Powell will lead Melodia’s 25 singers through Franz Biebl’s popular Ave Maria, in the version he composed for sopranos and altos, as well as works celebrating autumn by Gwyneth Walker and Gordon Jacobs; three pieces dedicated to snow, by Reginald Unterseher, Edward Elgar, and Alan Bullard; and seasonally apt works by Ola Gjeilo, Richard Donovan, Harri Wessman, and C. Armstrong Gibbs. Award-winning pianist Taisiya Puskhar, will complete the program, performing two works for piano.
 
The two limited engagement performances will be held on Saturday, November 22 at 7:30 pm at Holy Apostles Church (296 Ninth Avenue, at 28th Street; Subwy: 1 to 28th Street or C/E to 23rd Street) and on Sunday, November 23rd at 3:00 pm at West End Collegiate Church (245 West 77th Street at West End Avenue; Subway: 1 to 79th Street).  Tickets are $20 ($15 seniors and students) and may be purchased in advance at www.brownpapertickets.com or by calling 800-838-3006.
 
On the weekend of the concerts, Melodia is celebrating the release of its first commercial recording project, a collection of gorgeous lullabies. Over the past 11 years, Melodia has performed many beautiful pieces of music that are perfect for lullabies—dream-weaving pieces for women’s voices by the likes of Franz Schubert, Gustav Holst, Sally Lamb McCune (commissioned work), Ned Rorem, Eric Whitacre, Charles Villiers Sanford, Veljo Tormis, and Paul Csonka. We decided it’s time to collect all of these into one CD, titled Lullaby, to be enjoyed by all. The CD will initially be available at www.melodiawomenschoir.org, starting November 22. Listen to sample tracks: http: https://soundcloud.com/jen-melodia/nigra-sum-by-pablo-casals and https://soundcloud.com/jen-melodia/1-lullaby-by-peter-warlock.
 
Following the Concert on Sunday November 23 at West End Collegiate Church, West 77th Street, Melodia will hold the Second Annual Holiday Gift Bazaar, featuring original art, jewelry, wool-crafts, Kenyan textiles, cards, and more, by women artists. The Bazaar will be held in the Chapel at West End Collegiate Church, 245 West 77th Street @ West End Avenue from 4:30 – 6PM. Admission to the Bazaar is free.
 
Founded in 2003 by Jenny Clarke, Executive Director, Melodia Women’s Choir is a fresh voice on the New York choral scene. An ensemble of 32 singers, Melodia explores and performs rarely heard music for women’s voices in many different styles, and nurtures emerging women composers through commissions, residencies and performances. Under the direction of Cynthia Powell, founding conductor and Artistic Director, Melodia has performed at Symphony Space, DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Merkin Concert Hall, Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola in collaboration with Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, and the Surrogate’s Courthouse as guest artists at Women History Month Celebrations for the NYC Comptroller. Melodia has been heard on WQXR - The Choral Mix with Kent Tritle on WNYC, and WQXR/Q2 “Her Music” emerging women composers marathon, and seen on NBC TV.  For more information, visit website: http://www.melodiawomenschoir.org.

Watch video introduction to Melodia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbrwc_86gAY

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BIOGRAPHIES
 
Cynthia Powell, Melodia’s Artistic Director and Conductor since the group’s inception, is a graduate of Westminster Choir College. She has worked with numerous musical groups in the NY metropolitan area and has conducted many major works for chorus and orchestra. She is also the Artistic Director of the Stonewall Chorale, and currently serves as Director of Music and Organist at West End Collegiate Church in NYC, and Organist/Choirmaster of Temple Sinai in Tenafly, NJ. Her passion for music and commitment to the choral art is coupled with a desire to generate awareness and funds for timely causes, and she has produced recitals, oratorios and concerts to benefit Bailey House, a homeless residence for people with AIDS, Doctors Without Borders, and Water is Life, Kenya. Ms. Powell conducted The Stonewall Chorale and members of Melodia Women’s Choir in a gala benefit concert for the American Cancer Society at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Powell has performed at Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim, BAM, and the Whitney Museum with composer Meredith Monk, and has toured the U.S. and Europe in various works by Monk. annual Summer Sing series.
 
Pianist Taisiya Pushkar has performed extensively in Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, Israel, Canada and the United States as a recitalist and in collaboration with many leading singers and instrumentalists. Ms. Puskhar is in demand as a dynamic performer and a sensitive collaborator. Most notably, a long-time musical partnership with the cellist Amber Docters van Leeuwen has led to the recording of their debut CD, which has been released on the Brilliant Classics label. Together, the duo has made their debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
 
In New York, Ms. Puskhar is a teaching artist for the Distance Learning Center at the Manhattan School of Music, where she develops programs for students in a cutting-edge interactive videoconference setting, and has presented to schools in New York State, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Alaska, and even Norway. Ms. Puskhar is also on the piano faculty of the Lucy Moses School at Kaufman Center, of which she is an alumni. Ms. Pushkar holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Oberlin College, and a Master’s Degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where she recently completed her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree.
 
Jenny Clarke, Founder and Executive Director of Melodia, combined her lifelong love of choral music and her career as an arts administrator to form Melodia in 2003. She has a B.A. in music and English from Leeds University, England, and an M.A. in arts management from New York University. Ms. Clarke has worked extensively in arts administration in music, theater and dance in New York, including at Symphony Space, Chamber Music America, and Girls Write Now. Ms. Clarke is currently the Managing Director of the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable, a community of NYC-based arts organizations that provide arts education programs to NYC schools and beyond. Ms. Clarke also provides consulting services in organizational development and fundraising to arts organizations in NYC, which currently include Da Capo Chamber Players, and Houses on the Moon theatre company. She has also provided consulting services to the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs as a panelist consultant.  An Interview with Ms. Clarke about her love of choral music and the genesis for starting Melodia, can be heard at 51%: Conversations with Creative women.  http://the51percent.podbean.com/2014/03/10/jenny-clarke/


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