Carnegie Hall

Orchestra of St. Luke’s (OSL) performs and produces in a variety of formats throughout New York City, including orchestra and chamber music series on each of Carnegie Hall’s iconic stages, programs focused on contemporary composers presented throughout the five boroughs, collaborations with Paul Taylor Dance Company at Lincoln Center, a composition institute, education and community engagement programs, and much more. Founded in 1974 when a group of virtuoso chamber musicians began performing together in Greenwich Village at The Church of St. Luke in the Fields, the ensemble expanded into an orchestra in 1979 and is today “a mainstay of New York’s classical scene” (The New Yorker) under the baton of Principal Conductor Bernard Labadie, a celebrated specialist in 18th-century music, and special guests. OSL has participated in 120 recordings, four of which have won Grammy Awards; has commissioned more than 70 new works; and has given more than 200 world, US, and New York City premieres. OSL champions the work of historically underrepresented composers, who in recent seasons have included Florence Price, Julius Eastman, Joseph Bologne, and others along with living composers who have recently included Valerie Coleman, Eleanor Alberga, Anna Clyne, and Joan Tower, among others. OSL’s Education and Community Engagement programs include accessible, interactive concerts for New York City public school students in addition to the 100-member Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s (YOSL), now in its 10th season and the only youth orchestra under the umbrella of a professional group in the city; concert tours that introduce classical music to new audiences; a mentorship program for pre-professional musicians; and the DeGaetano Composition Institute, which mentors developing composers and commissions new work each season. OSL built and operates The DiMenna Center for Classical Music in Midtown Manhattan, the city’s only rehearsal, recording, and performance space built specially for classical music. Thousands of local and international musicians create work at The DiMenna Center, where they not only stage performances, but also rehearse, record, and broadcast music heard throughout the city and around the world. To learn more, visit OSLmusic.org or follow @OSLmusic on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, or Facebook.

The 2023–2024 season marks Xian Zhang’s eighth as music director of the New Jersey Symphony, which celebrated its centennial last season. She also serves as principal guest conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and conductor emeritus of Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, having previously held the position of music director between 2009 and 2016.

Ms. Zhang juggles an exceptionally busy schedule of guest engagements alongside her titled commitments, including conducting Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera. Anthony Minghella’s acclaimed production features a starry cast with Aleksandra Kurzak, Eleonora Buratto, and Asmik Grigorian sharing the role of Cio-Cio-San, and Matthew Polenzani as Pinkerton.

Following a busy summer 2023 season that saw her conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, Ms. Zhang’s upcoming symphonic highlights include returns to The Philadelphia Orchestra, Seattle and Houston symphonies, São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St Luke’s, and National Symphony Orchestra. Other guest-conducting engagements include performances with the London, Detroit, Baltimore, and Toronto symphony orchestras; Los Angeles Philharmonic; San Francisco Symphony; Orchestre symphonique de Montréal; NAC Orchestra (Ottawa); Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse; Belgian National Orchestra; and The Norwegian Opera & Ballet, where she returned last season for Puccini’s Tosca.

Letters for the Future, Ms. Zhang’s recording for Deutsche Grammophon with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Time for Three, was released in 2022 and won Grammy Awards in both the Best Contemporary Classical Composition (for Kevin Puts’s Contact) and Best Classical Instrumental Solo categories. Ms. Zhang previously served as principal guest conductor of the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales, and is the first woman conductor to hold a titled role with a BBC orchestra. In 2002, she won first prize in the Maazel-Vilar Conductor’s Competition. She was appointed assistant conductor at the New York Philharmonic in 2002, subsequently becoming associate conductor and the first holder of the Arturo Toscanini Chair.

One of today’s most sought-after lyric coloratura sopranos, Erin Morley has garnered critical acclaim worldwide and regularly appears on opera stages that include the Vienna and Bavarian state operas, Opéra national de Paris, Glyndebourne Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and Metropolitan Opera. In the 2023–2024 season, she makes her debut at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, as Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto and returns to the Bavarian State Opera as the Chief of Police and Venus in Ligeti’s Le grand macabre. In concert, Ms. Morley performs Morgana in Handel’s Alcina with Les Musiciens du Louvre and Marc Minkowski at Teatro alla Scala; Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Orchestre de Paris under the baton of Andrés Orozco-Estrada; a gala performance with Washington Concert Opera; and recitals in Berkeley and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

Last season’s highlights included appearances at the Metropolitan Opera as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier and Pamina in a new production of The Magic Flute, Gilda at the Vienna State Opera, Morgana in a tour of Alcina with Les Musiciens du Louvre, Poulenc’s Gloria with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lorenzo Viotti, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Riccardo Muti, and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor at the Mostly Mozart Festival with Louis Langrée. A dedicated recitalist, Ms. Morley has performed with pianist Vlad Iftinca at Salt Lake City’s Virtuoso Series, Weill Recital Hall, and Festival du Lied in Fribourg, Switzerland; and with Ken Noda at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Brigham Young University, and Alice Tully Hall’s Vocal Arts Honors Recital.

Ms. Morley spent her early years studying violin and piano, and received her undergraduate degree from the Eastman School of Music and Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School. In 2007, she received an artist diploma from the Juilliard Opera Center, where she won the Florence and Paul DeRosa Prize. Other awards include first prize in the Jessie Kneisel Lieder Competition (2002), first place in the Licia Albanese–Puccini Foundation Competition (2006), and third place in London’s Wigmore Hall / Bollinger International Song Competition (2009). In 2013, she received the Richard Tucker Career Grant.

Born in La Val in South Tyrol, Italy, baritone Andrè Schuen boasts a remarkable multilingual background, having grown up speaking Ladin, Italian, and German. Initially trained as a cellist, he later pursued singing at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, where his instructors included Romanian soprano Horiana Brănișteanu and fellow baritone Wolfgang Holzmair. From 2010 to 2014, he was an ensemble member at the Graz Opera.

In summer 2021, Mr. Schuen performed the title role in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così fan tutte at the Salzburg Festival. During the 2021–2022 season, he appeared at the Vienna State Opera in such roles as Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, and Olivier in R. Strauss’s Capriccio. In 2022, he sang the role of Orpheus in the world premiere of Manfred Trojahn’s opera Eurydice—Die Liebenden, blind, directed by Pierre Audi.

In concert, Mr. Schuen has performed the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elias with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Andris Nelsons, and has appeared with such orchestras and conductors as the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne and Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding.

A devoted singer of lieder, Mr. Schuen often performs with pianist Daniel Heide, and they are regular fixtures at the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg and Hohenems, Austria, and in other song centers worldwide. Their collaboration with pianist Andreas Haefliger marked Mr. Schuen’s US debut in 2017 at the Tanglewood Festival and Aspen Music Festival and School. Mr. Schuen’s and Mr. Heide’s recordings have garnered international acclaim, particularly their interpretations of Schubert’s song cycles Die schöne Müllerin (2021) and Schwanengesang (2022) for Deutsche Grammophon.

Created in 1985 by Founding Conductor and Music Director Bernard Labadie, La Chapelle de Québec is one of North America’s premier voice ensembles. The group is made up exclusively of professional singers who are handpicked from all over Canada. This unique chamber choir specializes in the choral-orchestral repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries. The choir performs regularly with its other half, the chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy, and as a guest choir with some of the finest orchestras in North America. Its interpretations of the oratorios, requiems, masses, and cantatas of J. S. Bach, Handel, Mozart, and Haydn, as well as Fauré and Duruflé, are frequently hailed in the Canadian and international press.

La Chapelle de Québec is heard regularly at Palais Montcalm in Québec City and Maison symphonique in Montreal, as well as at Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, at Carnegie Hall with Les Violons du Roy and Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and in Ottawa with the National Arts Centre Orchestra. The choir’s concerts are often broadcast by the CBC and Radio-Canada in Canada and by National Public Radio in the United States. La Chapelle de Québec is also known for its role in Chemin de Noël, an annual event that brings together music lovers from throughout the Québec City region every December. The recording The Chemin de Noël was released by ATMA in November 2021.

Ensemble Altera was founded to be the beating heart of professional choral music in the United States. Led by internationally celebrated countertenor Christopher Lowrey, the group has quickly become known for thoughtful programming, passionate performances, and tireless advocacy for the importance of ensemble singing in the broader music culture.

So far in 2024, the ensemble has undertaken its first tour, to Dallas, and released its debut commercial album, The Lamb’s Journey, on Alpha Classics. Recent programs include A Christmas Present, a collection of seasonal music written in the new millennium; Dazzling Light, an exploration of illumination in the physical and metaphysical worlds; Sure on This Shining Night, featuring American choral music of the last century; and a boldly reimagined chamber version of Handel’s Messiah, co-presented with Newport Classical.

Throughout its short history, Altera has received critical acclaim, creating “some of the best choral singing by an American choir” (Joanna Marsh). Upcoming projects include A New Song: Psalms for the Soul, a survey of the Psalms of David, and Feminine Voices, which features works by seven female composers for treble voices and includes a commission by Kerensa Briggs, arrayed around Britten’s Ceremony of Carols.

Deeply committed to championing new works and lifting up new voices through its annual competition and commissions, over the past few seasons Ensemble Altera has premiered works by Motshwane Pege, Toby Young, Joanna Marsh, Daniel Gledhill, Zuzanna Koziej, and Michael Garrepy. In addition to performing, the ensemble undertakes an extensive education and outreach program that includes activities such as clinics and interactive presentations with school students in a variety of settings, with a particular focus on opening musical horizons to those from underserved backgrounds. Additionally, Altera has a profound faith in the healing power of music both in and out of the concert hall, and is proud to offer its complete recorded music library free of charge in collaboration with selected partners in music therapy.