A HOLIDAY CELEBRATION With special guests Peter Yarrow & Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul & Mary Featuring the works of Peter, Paul & Mary
Who: New York Choral Society | Robert De Cormier, Music Director Emeritus | Peter Yarrow & Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul & Mary
When: Tuesday, December 7, 2010 | 8:00 pm
Where: Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall | 881 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY
Tickets: $40-150 Tickets may be purchased online at: www.nychoral.org or
www.carnegiehall.org , and at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 212-247-7800, 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, 11am- 6pm
www.carnegiehall.org , and at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 212-247-7800, 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, 11am- 6pm
New York, NY - On Tuesday, December 7th at 8:00pm, New York Choral Society (NYCS) will officially begin its 52nd season with a holiday celebration at Carnegie Hall featuring Grammy Award winners Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul & Mary. Led by Music Director Emeritus, Robert De Cormier, the iconic singers will join the Choral Society in a performance of traditional holiday carols as well as their newly recorded version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. The legendary duo will also perform a collection of their time-honored classics including This Land is Your Land, Weave Me The Sunshine and the Peter, Paul & Mary standard Puff, The Magic Dragon. The festive evening will close with a new arrangement of Auld Lang Syne written by Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey, in tribute of the late Mary Travers.
Peter Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers spent their years together communicating personal, political and social imperatives. The conviction that each individual can make a difference energized Peter, Paul and Mary's political and social activism through the years. Having witnessed the enormous changes wrought by the early advocacies of which they were a part, Peter and Noel remain optimistic as society confronts the challenges and pervasive cynicism of our times. The legacy the trio inherited as well as the legacy they leave will continue to inspire, because theirs is a music and message of activism and hope.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary, are iconic folk singers whose music has become deeply embedded in American culture as a call to freedom, justice, and humanity. Released in 1962, their debut album, simply titled Peter, Paul and Mary, remained in the Top 10 for ten months and in the Top 20 for two years. Their first hit single, "Lemon Tree," was swiftly followed by "If I Had a Hammer," which became an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement, sung by the trio at the 1963 March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his legendary "I Have a Dream" speech. Their classic song "Puff, The Magic Dragon" has endured as a family favorite for nearly 50 years, and the book rendition was the number one children's bestseller in Publisher's Weekly for sixteen consecutive weeks. No American folk group has lasted longer or amassed a more loyal following than Peter, Paul and Mary; indeed, few groups of any genre logged more years (49) or miles (countless) in direct, yearly touring; spreading the message and engaging the next generations. During its legendary career, the trio won five Grammy's, produced 13 Top 40 hits, of which 6 ascended into the Top 10 - as well as eight gold and five platinum albums. In 2006, Peter, Paul and Mary were honored with The Songwriters Hall Of Fame's Lifetime Achievement Award (also known as the Sammy Cahn Award).
2007 saw another honor bestowed on the trio as they received the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Distinguished Peace Leadership Award for their courageous leadership in the cause for world peace. Previous recipients of this prestigious honor include The Dali Lama, Walter Cronkite and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. That Peter, Paul & Mary achieved such a rarefied level of commercial success without compromise, while continuing a centuries-old tradition of people raising their voices in song for the sake of freedom, is simply further evidence of their extraordinarily successful career--as much a mission accomplished as a musical career. In the wake of Mary Travers' passing in September 2009, the trio's legacy of hope and activism lives on through the musical performances and passionate advocacies of Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey. In addition to touring and singing together, Peter and Noel Paul are both actively involved in the work of Operation Respect (OR), a globally recognized non-profit organization founded by Yarrow, which provides free classroom-based programs to help teachers overcome the toxic culture of bullying. ABOUT NEW YORK CHORAL SOCIETY The New York Choral Society (NYCS), founded in 1958, has become known by audiences and critics for the quality of its performances and the diversity of its repertoire, which encompasses well-known choral masterworks as well as many compositions rarely heard in concert halls. The NYCS has presented eleven world premieres and has commissioned works by Paul Alan Levi, Morton Gould, Stephen Paulus, and Robert De Cormier. Robert De Cormier, was the acclaimed music director of the New York Choral Society for 17 years. Under his leadership the group became renowned for its high standard of excellence in choral singing and unique variety of programming. As Music Director Emeritus, he guest conducted a performance of the Verdi Requiem in 1990, the Berlioz Requiem at St. Paul's Cathedral, New York City in 1992 and the premiere of a commissioned work, the Missa Iona in 1993 at St. Bartholomew's in New York City. During the 1995-96 season he conducted the operas, Brundibar and The Emperor of Atlantis in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and at Merkin Concert Hall in New York. A graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, Mr. De Cormier's conducting engagements have taken him from Broadway and opera to the Berkshire Choral Institute, the Zimriya World Assembly of Choirs in Israel and numerous concert tours nationally and internationally with his own professional group, the Robert De Cormier Singers. He spent several years as conductor and arranger for Harry Belafonte and was music director for the popular folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary for 27 years. Since the sad loss of Mary Travers in 2009, De Cormier has continued working with both Peter and Noel (Paul). For Thames TV, he conducted Christmastide with Jessye Norman and for PBS, with Peter, Paul and Mary -- A Holiday Concert, Peter, Paul and Mommy Too, and Lifelines. Mr. De Cormier was the choral director for a combined concert, PBS television special and recording starring Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle, conducted by James Levine. He is also credited as choral director for the PBS Special, Christmas at Carnegie with Kathleen Battle and Frederica Von Stade, conducted by Andre Previn. Mr. De Cormier has served on the New York State Council for the Arts, been a member of the Choral Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts His awards include the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, Lifetime Achievement Awards from Choral Arts New England and the New York Choral Society, and in 2007 an Honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Middlebury College. TICKET INFORMATION:
For ticket information, call (212) 247-3878 or visit www.nychoral.org
2007 saw another honor bestowed on the trio as they received the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Distinguished Peace Leadership Award for their courageous leadership in the cause for world peace. Previous recipients of this prestigious honor include The Dali Lama, Walter Cronkite and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. That Peter, Paul & Mary achieved such a rarefied level of commercial success without compromise, while continuing a centuries-old tradition of people raising their voices in song for the sake of freedom, is simply further evidence of their extraordinarily successful career--as much a mission accomplished as a musical career. In the wake of Mary Travers' passing in September 2009, the trio's legacy of hope and activism lives on through the musical performances and passionate advocacies of Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey. In addition to touring and singing together, Peter and Noel Paul are both actively involved in the work of Operation Respect (OR), a globally recognized non-profit organization founded by Yarrow, which provides free classroom-based programs to help teachers overcome the toxic culture of bullying. ABOUT NEW YORK CHORAL SOCIETY The New York Choral Society (NYCS), founded in 1958, has become known by audiences and critics for the quality of its performances and the diversity of its repertoire, which encompasses well-known choral masterworks as well as many compositions rarely heard in concert halls. The NYCS has presented eleven world premieres and has commissioned works by Paul Alan Levi, Morton Gould, Stephen Paulus, and Robert De Cormier. Robert De Cormier, was the acclaimed music director of the New York Choral Society for 17 years. Under his leadership the group became renowned for its high standard of excellence in choral singing and unique variety of programming. As Music Director Emeritus, he guest conducted a performance of the Verdi Requiem in 1990, the Berlioz Requiem at St. Paul's Cathedral, New York City in 1992 and the premiere of a commissioned work, the Missa Iona in 1993 at St. Bartholomew's in New York City. During the 1995-96 season he conducted the operas, Brundibar and The Emperor of Atlantis in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and at Merkin Concert Hall in New York. A graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, Mr. De Cormier's conducting engagements have taken him from Broadway and opera to the Berkshire Choral Institute, the Zimriya World Assembly of Choirs in Israel and numerous concert tours nationally and internationally with his own professional group, the Robert De Cormier Singers. He spent several years as conductor and arranger for Harry Belafonte and was music director for the popular folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary for 27 years. Since the sad loss of Mary Travers in 2009, De Cormier has continued working with both Peter and Noel (Paul). For Thames TV, he conducted Christmastide with Jessye Norman and for PBS, with Peter, Paul and Mary -- A Holiday Concert, Peter, Paul and Mommy Too, and Lifelines. Mr. De Cormier was the choral director for a combined concert, PBS television special and recording starring Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle, conducted by James Levine. He is also credited as choral director for the PBS Special, Christmas at Carnegie with Kathleen Battle and Frederica Von Stade, conducted by Andre Previn. Mr. De Cormier has served on the New York State Council for the Arts, been a member of the Choral Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts His awards include the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, Lifetime Achievement Awards from Choral Arts New England and the New York Choral Society, and in 2007 an Honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Middlebury College. TICKET INFORMATION:
For ticket information, call (212) 247-3878 or visit www.nychoral.org