Choral Grand Opening:
War & Requiem

Joseph Haydn - Missa in tempore belli (“Paukenmesse”)
Gabriel Fauré - Requiem in D Minor

Thursday, October 29, 2026 @ 7:30PM
Church of the Ascension
36 Fifth Avenue at 10th St.
New York, NY 10011

Soloists to be announced

Voices of Ascension opens its 2026–2027 season with a program that matches musical grandeur with profound humanistic depth. Composed amid the threat of Napoleon’s advancing armies, Mass in Time of War (Missa in tempore belli) by Joseph Haydn pulses with urgency. Its insistent timpani (also called the Paukenmesse, or “drums mass”) and bold choral writing transform the Mass into both a plea for mercy and a rallying cry for courage. Nearly a century later, Gabriel Fauré took a strikingly different path with his Requiem in D Minor. Where earlier Requiems summon fear of judgment, Fauré turns toward grace, tenderness and light.

Our 2025-26 Season

CANDLELIGHT CHRISTMAS

Wednesday, December 9, 2026 @ 7:30 pm
Thursday, December 10, 2026 @ 7:30 pm
Monday, December 14, 2026 @ 7:30 pm
Tuesday, December 15, 2026 @ 7:30 pm
Church of the Ascension

Approximate length: 95 minutes. No intermission.

Voices of Ascension Chorus
Dennis Keene, Artistic Director and Conductor
Soloists to be announced

Now in its 37th year, Voices of Ascension’s Candlelight Christmas Concerts continue a cherished New York holiday ritual. Beneath the warm shimmer of candlelight, this annual celebration gathers audiences for music that reflects winter, wonder, and shared tradition. Illuminated by scores of candelabras and nearly 600 candles, the church becomes a radiant setting for ancient carols, Christmas choral anthems, seasonal masterworks, and beloved family favorites.

These shows will sell out, get your tickets today!

Our 2025-26 Season

Sound Out of Silence

James McVinnie, organ
Voices of Ascension Chorus

Thursday, January 7, 2027 at 7:30PM
Church of the Ascension
36 Fifth Avenue at 10th St.
New York, NY 10011

Nico Muhly - Nativity Cycle (2027)
Tristan Perich - Infinity Gradient (2025)
Pérotin - Viderunt Omnes (c.1198)

One of the most sought-after organists in contemporary music, James McVinnie, joins Voices of Ascension for the world premiere of Nico Muhly’s Nativity Cycle. Conceived as a companion to his Seven O Antiphon Preludes, Muhly’s seven-part cycle -  written especially for Voices and McVinnie -  unfolds as a meditation on the texts and melodies of the Christmas liturgy, moving from anticipation toward arrival. The program opens with Pérotin’s Viderunt Omnes, one of the defining works of 12th-century organum, and culminates with Tristan Perich’s Infinity Gradient, in a concert that traces a line from the earliest flowering of Western polyphony to the outer edge of contemporary sound, exploring how music emerges from silence and takes shape in space. A sonically profound, immersive concert experience, it invites the listener to encounter sound not only as something heard, but as something physical, unfolding within and around the body.

Our 2025-26 Season

Requiem Aeternam: Kathy Romey

Howells, Distler, Brahms and Nystedt

Thursday, February 18, 2027 at 7:30 PM
Church of the Ascension
36 Fifth Avenue at 10th St.
New York, NY 10011

Kathy Saltzman Romey, Guest Conductor

As part of Voices of Ascension’s new Choral Visionaries Initiative, Voices welcomes long-time Director of Choral Activities at the University of Minnesota and Artistic Director of the Minnesota Chorale, Kathy Saltzman Romey, to lead Voices of Ascension. A frequent collaborator with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Oregon Bach Festival, and the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, and a long-time artistic partner of Helmuth Rilling, Romey brings international depth and authority to this searching meditation on mortality and transcendence, leading Hugo Distler’s Totentanz (“Dance of Death”), Herbert Howells’ luminous Requiem, Johannes Brahms’ Warum? (“Why?”), and Knut Nystedt’s Immortal Bach.

Noted for her “directorial command,” “technical expertise" and commitment to the contemporary vocal art, Beth Willer has led the GRAMMY-nominated Lorelei Ensemble since 2007 to become recognized as one of the country’s leading vocal ensembles. A champion of contemporary music, Willer has collaborated with composers from the U.S. and abroad, leading Lorelei and other ensembles in numerous world, U.S., and regional premieres, including works by Julia Wolfe, Kati Agócs, George Benjamin, Lisa Bielawa, Christopher Cerrone, Peter Gilbert, James Kallembach, David Lang, Jessica Meyer, Scott Ordway, John Supko, Kareem Roustom, and Reiko Yamada. As a recognized conductor of vocal ensembles and contemporary music, Willer has led performances featuring the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Roomful of Teeth, Voices of Ascension, Seraphic Fire, and New York Baroque Inc., and has frequently prepared ensembles for performances with the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Nashville Symphony, National Symphony and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Cantus, A Far Cry, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and Odyssey Opera, in collaboration with Marin Alsop, Thomas Adès, Andris Nelsons, and Giancarlo Guerrero.

Willer is Associate Professor and Director of Choral Studies at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, where she leads vocal ensembles and graduate program in choral conducting. A versatile and vibrant clinician, Willer also enjoys frequent work as a guest conductor of student, community, and professional ensembles across the country.

Our 2025-26 Season

Sing Joyfully!
Tallis, Byrd, and the English Renaissance

Thursday, March 11, 2027 at 7:30PM
Church of the Ascension
36 Fifth Avenue at 10th St.
New York, NY 10011

This program explores the luminous artistry of the English Renaissance, featuring masterworks by Thomas Tallis and William Byrd: two composers whose music shaped the sound of sacred choral tradition for generations. Voices of Ascension, under the direction of Dennis Keene, brings these timeless works to life with clarity, warmth, and expressive depth.

Explore our Renaissance YouTube Playlist

Our 2025-26 Season

BACH: Mass in B Minor

Thursday, April 15, 2027 @ 7:30PM
Church of the Ascension
36 Fifth Avenue at Tenth St
New York, NY 10011

Johann Sebastian Bach - Mass in B Minor, BWV 232

Voices of Ascension Chorus and Orchestra
Dennis Keene, Artistic Director and Conductor
Soloists to be announced

This pillar of choral literature is one of the greatest works ever written by one of Western music’s greatest composers. Johann Sebastian Bach’s monumental Mass in B Minor stands as the culmination of a lifetime devoted to sacred music, an extraordinary synthesis of devotion and compositional mastery.

Other Concerts in our 2024-25 Season