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Voices of Ascension Gala

honoring
Anthony Roth Costanzo and Alexandra Munroe

Wednesday, November 19, 2025 @ 6:00 pm
Museum of the City of New York
1220 5th Ave
New York, NY 10029

Tickets start at $250 — click below for more information!

Join Voices of Ascension for an extraordinary evening as we honor two bold and visionary figures shaping the future of culture:

Anthony Roth Costanzo – renowned countertenor and trailblazing operatic force (Meteropolitan Opera, Opera Philadelphia, American Modern Opera Company), and

Alexandra Munroe – internationally acclaimed scholar and curator (Senior Curator at Large, Global Arts, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation; and Chair, Aspen Music Festival and School).

Step into timeless elegance for a gala filled with luminous music, inspired conversation, fine dining, and joyful celebration. Gather with fellow music lovers, artists, and friends to support one of New York City’s premier choral institutions.

This is our signature event of the season—and an evening you won’t want to miss.

 

Anothony Roth Costanzo

Musician. Teacher. Learner. Leader. Mother. Friend. Liz Norman has had the exceptional good fortune to live a life in which personal and professional values are aligned and fulfilled commitments have led to meaningful shared accomplishments.

Liz served as Executive Director for Voices of Ascension from 2009 to 2023. At Voices, with the help of countless staff members, Board members, funders,

Alexandra Munroe

Richard Gaddes was an English Arts Executive and a long-standing member of the board at Voices of Ascension. During his time here, Gaddes and Dennis Keene developed the young soloist program Voices of Promise, in addition to many other initiatives. He became founding General Director of the Opera Theater of Saint Louis in 1976, and under his stewardship it became the first American opera company to receive an invitation to the Edinburgh International Festival.

Gala Host Committee

Christine van Itallie — Chair
Jane Chesnutt — Co-Chair
Sarah Cogan and Doug Evans — Co-Chairs
Melissa Hoyt — Co-Chair
Phyllis Jo Kubey — Co-Chair
Reade Ryan — Co-Chair
The Secular Society — Co-Chair
Peter Clark
David Hart and Dale Daley
John Grimes
Glenn Kaplan & Evelyn Rodstein
Kathleen McCarragher
Missy McHugh
Alexandra Monroe
Valerie Paley
Wende Persons

Schedule of Events


6:30pm - Cocktails & Hors d’oeuvres Reception
7:30pm - Honoree Program
8:00pm - Musical Performance

MUSICAL PROGRAM curated by LIZ NORMAN:

Selections by Bach, Bizet, Gluck, Brahms, and Gershwin!

Featuring Lucia Bradford, Donna Breitzer, Liz Lang, and James Bassi (piano)

 

The BURDEN Mansion
7 East 91 St, New york

 

Choral Grand Opening:
Mozart & Bach

Thursday, October 23, 2025 @ 7:30PM
Church of the Ascension
36 Fifth Avenue at Tenth St
New York, NY 10011

 

Voices of Ascension opens its 36th season with a concert of soaring virtuosity and spiritual grandeur. Soprano Liv Redpath joins the Voices of Ascension Chorus and Orchestra under the direction of Artistic Director Dennis Keene for a transcendent pairing of choral masterworks: Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor and J. S. Bach’s Magnificat in D Major.

Filled with drama, beauty, and exquisite music, this concert launches the season with a powerful celebration of choral artistry, all within the luminous acoustic of the Church of the Ascension.

This performance is a gift from The Secular Society in memory of Liz Norman, who was Voices’ Executive Director for 14 years, and whose leadership helped shape the organization’s artistic legacy.

With support from

 
 

Our 2025-26 Season

CANDLELIGHT CHRISTMAS CONCERTS

Tuesday, December 16, 2025 @ 7:30 pm
Thursday, December 18, 2025 @ 7:30 pm
Sunday, December 20, 2025 @ 4:30 pm
Church of the Ascension
36 Fifth Avenue at Tenth St
New York, NY 10011

Third concert added!

Now in its 36th year, Voices of Ascension’s Candlelight Christmas Concerts remain a treasured holiday tradition for New York audiences. Set in the candlelit sanctuary of the Church of the Ascension, these concerts feature a vibrant mix of ancient carols, seasonal masterworks, and contemporary reflections on winter and light—offering warmth, beauty, and community at year’s end.

Tickets go on general sale September 8. If you’d like to get Christmas tickets before that, you can subscribe for our 6-Concert Package now, or sign up for our 3-Concert Flex Package in August.

These shows will sell out, get your tickets today!


 

Our 2025-26 Season

 

brahms, kodály, Duruflé

Thursday, February 5, 2025 @ 7:30PM
Church of the Ascension
36 Fifth Avenue at Tenth St
New York, NY 10011

Three master composers of the 19th and 20th century with three of their greatest works, each one hardly ever performed. Brahms’ Nänie is only 12 minutes long but contains some of the most beautiful music he ever composed.

Kodály considered his Psalmus Hungaricus his greatest composition. This extraordinary, passionate work gives voice to the suffering and perseverance of the Hungarian people in the years following World War I, and their longing for dignity and self-determination in the face of foreign rule. The Brahms and Kodály pieces will be heard in brand new transcriptions made for The Manton Memorial Organ by Dennis Keene.

Known for his Requiem, the Messe ‘cum jubilo’ is Maurice Duruflé’s other major choral work. Dedicated to his wife, it is filled with love and joy, and is scored for orchestra and a chorus of 30 baritones in unison! We believe this is only the third time this gorgeous piece has ever been performed in New York with orchestra.

 
 

Our 2025-26 Season

Monteverdi Vespers of 1610

Thursday, March 5, 2026 @ 7:30PM
Church of the Ascension
36 Fifth Avenue at Tenth St
New York, NY 10011

SOLOISTS TO BE ANNOUNCED

The towering masterpiece of the Early Baroque, with many soloists, double chorus, Early Music strings, recorders, cornetti, sackbuts, theorbos, harpsichord and organ. Truly one of the pillars of Western Music. We are privileged to collaborate with Dark Horse Consort for this memorable occasion – the finest interpreters of this repertoire to be found in the Western Hemisphere.

The early music ensemble Dark Horse Consort is dedicated to unearthing the majestic late renaissance and early baroque repertoire for brass instruments Inspired by the bronze horse statues in Venice’s famed St. Mark’s Basilica the ensemble attempts to recreate the glorious sounds of composers such a Giovanni Gabrieli, Claudio Monteverdi and Heinrich Schütz.

This is certain to be a memorable occasion!

 
 

Our 2025-26 Season

MASTERS OF THE RENAISSANCE: THE NETHERLANDS SCHOOL

Thursday, April 23, 2026 at 7:30PM


Church of the Ascension
36 Fifth Avenue at Tenth St
New York, NY 10011

Motets and Masses by Josquin des Prez, Jan P. Sweelinck, Orlande de Lassus, and more

Arguably the richest repertoire of a cappella choral music from the “Golden Age of Choral Music.” This program features one great work after another from more than two centuries of history, starting with the absolute summit of Early Renaissance masters, Josquin des Prez, and going all the way to the High Renaissance works of Orlande de Lassus. Also featured are seldom heard, but exceptionally poetic and colorful motets of Dutch composer, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck.

Our 2025-26 Season

Canticle of the Sun: BETH WILLER

Thursday, May 21, 2026 at 7:30 PM


Church of the Ascension
36 Fifth Avenue at Tenth St
New York, NY 10011

SOLOISTS TO BE ANNOUNCED

Voices of Ascension proudly welcomes Beth Willer as our Featured Guest Conductor for the season’s culminating performance. Founder and Artistic Director of the celebrated Boston-based Lorelei Ensemble and Director of Choral Activities at the Peabody Conservatory, Willer is a fearless champion of music that bridges tradition and innovation.

In this thrilling program of firsts, Voices presents the New York City premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Canticle of the Sun—a radiant work for chorus and solo cello originally composed for Mstislav Rostropovich, with text by St. Francis of Assisi—the East Coast premiere of Ellen Reid’s immersive work Oscillations: 100 Years and Forever, featuring newly reimagined NYC visuals, and a world premiere by New Zealand/New York composer Celeste Oram. Choral and organ works by Olivier Messiaen complete this visionary concert.



 

Our 2025-26 Season

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