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 Choral Visionaries series, we welcome guest conductor Kathy Saltzman Romey, Artistic Director of the Minnesota Chorale and long-time Director of Choral Activities at the University of Minnesota. 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.
At the heart of this program stands Hugo Distler’s rarely-heard Dance of Death (Totentanz), presented in a semi-theatrical staging with NAME as narrator. In this stark and expressionistic work, Death summons figures from every walk of life to account for themselves, confronting each with the limits of power, status, and certainty. Composed in 1934 and later censored under the Nazi regime, Dance of Death is seldom performed today, yet it remains a deeply respected work of singular dramatic force, a searing and uncompromising interrogation of what makes a life worth living.
Herbert Howells’s Requiem brings the evening to a radiant conclusion. Its long, arching lines and glowing harmonies create a world of inward movement and restrained intensity. Rather than dramatic lament, Howells offers music of profound consolation, serene yet deeply felt, carrying the listener toward quiet transcendence.
Johannes Brahms’ Warum? (“Why?”) frames the evening’s searching spirit, while Knut Nystedt’s luminous Immortal Bach offers a moment of suspended reflection, completing a journey from questioning to reckoning to repose.
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.
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