Rarely Heard French and American Choral Classics for Women’s Voices, Strings & Winds

MELODIA WOMEN’S CHOIR OF NYC Presents
Après un Rêve (After a Dream)
Featuring French and American choral classics for women’s voices
With all-female chamber orchestra
 
SAT, MAY 2 @ 7:30 PM
Holy Apostles Church
296 Ninth Avenue 245 West 77th Street
Chelsea, NYC UWS, NYC
 
Sunday, May 3 @ 3 pm
West End Collegiate College
West 77th Street @ West End Avenue, Upper West Side
 
Melodia Women’s Choir led by artistic director Cynthia Powell welcomes the awakening of spring with Après un Rêve (After a Dream), a spectrum of musical styles, featuring a rare performance of American composer Randall Thompson’s Place of the Blest, with orchestra, and a special celebration of French choral classics by Lili Boulanger, Gabriel Fauré, Francis Poulenc, and others.
 
An instrumental interlude will feature a performance of Albéric Magnard’s (1865-1914) Quintet in D Minor for Piano & Winds, performed by Taisiya Pushkar, piano, Moran Katz, clarinet; Roni Gal-Ed, oboe; Nathalie Joachim, flute; and Nanci Belmont, bassoon.
 
ABOUT MELODIA
Melodia Women’s Choir has established a reputation as the premier women’s choir of NYC through more than a decade of adventurous, fresh, and wide-ranging repertoire that explores rarely heard, stylistically diverse, and newly commissioned works. Called “riveting” by the New York Times and hailed by composers such as Meredith Monk, Melodia is committed to nurturing emerging women composers through commissions and performances. Founded by Executive Director Jenny Clarke in 2003, Melodia collaborates with and supports women composers, musicians, and performers across a wide musical spectrum. melodiawomenschoir.org
 
ABOUT CYNTHIA POWELL
Cynthia Powell, founding conductor and Artistic Director, celebrates her twelfth season with Melodia Women’s Choir. In addition to her positions as Director of Music and Organist at West End Collegiate Church in NYC, and organist/Choirmaster of Temple Sinai in Tenafl y, New Jersey, she serves as the Artistic Director of the Stonewall
Chorale, the nation’s fi rst LGBT chorus. Powell has performed at Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim, and the Whitney Museum with composer Meredith Monk, and has toured the U.S. and Europe. She has conducted many major works for chorus and orchestra.
 
ABOUT TAISIYA PUSHKAR & THE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
For this concert, Melodia is joined by a stellar ensemble of women instrumentalists on strings and winds. Players are: Moran Katz, clarinet, soloist for Israel Philharmonic, China Philharmonic, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and many others. http://www.katzmoran.com ; Roni Gal-Ed, oboe, performance credits include Munich Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble and American Ballet Theatre Orchestra. ronigaled.com ; Nathalie Joachim, Juilliard graduate and flute faculty member, and founder of urban art duo Flutronix. nathaliejoachim.com ; Nanci Belmont, bassoon, performance credits include Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orlando Philharmonic, Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. www.nancibelmont .com . Pauline Kim, violin, Grammy-nominated, described as a “sorceress” of the violin; Lynn Bechtold, violin. violynn.net/bio.htm ; Jessica Meyer, viola, Juilliard trained composer and violist, hailed for her “polish, focus, and excitement (The New York Times), co-founder of award-winning contemporary music ensemble counter)induction. jessicameyermusic.com ; Christine Kim, cello, Grammy-nominated, Juilliard-trained. christinekimcello.com .

Taisiya Pushkar (piano) has performed extensively in Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Israel, Canada, and the United States with many leading singers and instrumentalists. She is fellow of the Sorel Organization, and a longtime musical partner of cellist Amber Docters van Leeuwen. Their debut CD Flavours is released on the Brilliant Classics label. www.taisiyapushkar.com

TICKETS $20 advance/ $25 door ($15 adv. students and seniors)
Available through Brown Paper Tickets at www.melodiawomenschoir.org or at (800) 838-3006.
 

Contact Information

Jennifer Clarke

Executive Director

Melodia Women’s Choir of NYC

womenschoir@mindspring.com