2024 Music Season

Death of Classical: The Light After

A magical night of music in the Crypt of Saint John the Divine

NOVUS collaborates with acclaimed underground concert producers Death of Classical and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine to present a series of thematic concerts in the crypt beneath the cathedral.  

The first night features a world premiere by cellist and composer Andrew Yee in addition to their work The Light After. These works complement a selection of music by living composers that centers on themes of light, life, death, and darkness: Caroline Shaw’s in manus tuas, Juhi Bansal’s Cathedral of Light, David Lang’s after joy, and Osvaldo Golijov’s Tenebrae for String Quartet.  

Andrew Yee, cello; Katie Hyun and Alex Fortes, violin; Mario Gotoh, viola 

Death of Classical: The Light After

A magical night of music in the Crypt of Saint John the Divine

NOVUS collaborates with acclaimed underground concert producers Death of Classical and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine to present a series of thematic concerts in the crypt beneath the cathedral.  

The first night features a world premiere by cellist and composer Andrew Yee in addition to their work The Light After. These works complement a selection of music by living composers that centers on themes of light, life, death, and darkness: Caroline Shaw’s in manus tuas, Juhi Bansal’s Cathedral of Light, David Lang’s after joy, and Osvaldo Golijov’s Tenebrae for String Quartet.  

Andrew Yee, cello; Katie Hyun and Alex Fortes, violin; Mario Gotoh, viola 

Death of Classical: American

A magical night of music in the Crypt of Saint John the Divine

NOVUS collaborates with acclaimed underground concert producers Death of Classical and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine to present a series of thematic concerts in the crypt beneath the cathedral.  

This second installment explores the story of our country — past and present, real and idealized — featuring Antonín Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 12, “American,” and works by contemporary composers, including Michi Wiancko’s Lullaby for the Transient, Carlos Simon’s A Cry from the Grave, and Jessie Montgomery’s Source Code.  

Katie Hyun and Alex Fortes, violin; Mario Gotoh, viola; Ari Evan, cello; Benjamin Fingland, clarinet

Death of Classical: American

A magical night of music in the Crypt of Saint John the Divine

NOVUS collaborates with acclaimed underground concert producers Death of Classical and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine to present a series of thematic concerts in the crypt beneath the cathedral.  

This second installment explores the story of our country — past and present, real and idealized — featuring Antonín Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 12, “American,” and works by contemporary composers, including Michi Wiancko’s Lullaby for the Transient, Carlos Simon’s A Cry from the Grave, and Jessie Montgomery’s Source Code.  

Katie Hyun and Alex Fortes, violin; Mario Gotoh, viola; Ari Evan, cello; Benjamin Fingland, clarinet 

Jazz Icons: Billy Childs Trio

The six-time Grammy award–winning artist kicks off the Jazz Icons series.

Award-winning pianist Billy Childs and his Billy Childs Trio open the Jazz Icons series. Widely recognized for his original compositions and arrangements, Childs garnered a 2013 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship (2009), 17 Grammy nominations, and six Grammy awards. As a pianist, he has performed with Freddie Hubbard, J.J. Johnson, Yo-Yo Ma, Sting, Renee Fleming, Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis, and many others. The Los Angeles Times praised Childs’s “improvisatory skills and powerful sense of swing.” 

Jazz at One: Helen Sung Quartet

Long Walk to Freedom

Hear a jazz quartet helmed by classically trained pianist and composer Helen Sung, a Guggenheim Fellow and winner of the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition. Sung graduated from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance and has worked with such luminaries as Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Wynton Marsalis, MacArthur Fellow Regina Carter, the late Clark Terry, and Grammy winners Terri Lyne Carrington and Cecile McLorin Salvant.   

This season’s Jazz at One, Long Walk to Freedom, is inspired by Nelson Mandela and the 30th anniversary of South African democracy. Presented in collaboration with JAZZ HOUSE KiDS. 

Pipes at One: Gail Archer

Gail Archer is a professor at Barnard College and Columbia University and founder of Musforum, an international network for women organists. Her repertoire spans the 16th to 20th centuries, and she is one of the first American women to play Olivier Messiaen’s complete works, earning praise from The New York Times for mixing a “compelling authority” and “bracing physicality” with “a sense of vulnerability and awe.”

Bach at One: Cantatas

Operatic excerpts from two cantatas

Bach never wrote an opera, but this concert features the closest approximation we have: the exquisite monologues and duets of his cantatas Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust and Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen. Cantata 32 uses the poetry of the Song of Songs to model a dialogue between Jesus, the expression of the divine, and Soul, embodying humanity.  

Elisse Albian, soprano; Elisa Sutherland, alto; Enrico Lagasca, bass; Trinity Baroque Orchestra; led by Avi Stein, organ 

Death of Classical: Vis Aeternitatis

A magical night of music in the Crypt of Saint John the Divine

NOVUS collaborates with acclaimed underground concert producers Death of Classical and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine to present a series of thematic concerts in the crypt beneath the cathedral.  

The third night of music presents works ranging from the 11th century to the current day, including pieces by Hildegard von Bingen, Barbara Strozzi, Heinrich Biber, Caroline Shaw, and Gelsey Bell. The transcendent title work, Vis Aeternitatis, or “Power of Eternity,” was composed by Saint Hildegard, a medieval abbess, mystic, and composer known for her eloquent writing about the eternal divine.  

Madeline Apple Healey, soprano; Katie Hyun, violin; Kyle Miller, viola; Coleman Itzkoff, cello; Adam Cockerham, lute; Melissa Baker, flute 

Death of Classical: Vis Aeternitatis

A magical night of music in the Crypt of Saint John the Divine

NOVUS collaborates with acclaimed underground concert producers Death of Classical and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine to present a series of thematic concerts in the crypt beneath the cathedral.  

The third night of music presents works ranging from the 11th century to the current day, including pieces by Hildegard von Bingen, Barbara Strozzi, Heinrich Biber, Caroline Shaw, and Gelsey Bell. The transcendent title work, Vis Aeternitatis, or “Power of Eternity,” was composed by Saint Hildegard, a medieval abbess, mystic, and composer known for her eloquent writing about the eternal divine.  

Madeline Apple Healey, soprano; Katie Hyun, violin; Kyle Miller, viola; Coleman Itzkoff, cello; Adam Cockerham, lute; Melissa Baker, flute