Dear Kent,

Kent likes to say that when it comes time to open the score of Handel’s Messiah each season, it is a different piece from the one he conducted the year before – because of all that we have been through, and bring to it, in the time that has passed. Join Kent for his annual performances of this immortal work at Carnegie Hall – on December 18 with the grand, 200-voice Oratorio Society of New York and soloists Kathryn Lewek, Daniel Moody, Martin Bakari, and John Brancy; and on December 20 with the fleet, 30-member Musica Sacra Chorus and soloists Susanna Phillips, Clifton Massey, Steven Wilson, and Joseph Parrish.

This fall Kent has been busy in his role as organist of the New York Philharmonic, and he joins the orchestra, led by Fabio Biondi, for its annual performances of Messiah, December 12-16. The week prior, he is at the same organ console for a NYP program featuring Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin Suite, December 6-9.

The annual holiday events at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, “The Joy of Christmas: Peace on Earth” (December 9) and “New Year’s Eve Concert for Peace” (December 31), bring us together in one of New York’s most majestic spaces to celebrate holiday wonder. Join Kent for concerts of glorious music, to sing Christmas carols, and to light a candle to welcome the new year and the hope that it brings.

The Cathedral looks forward to welcoming the community to its Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services – all of which will also be livestreamed! Kent and his dream team at the Cathedral lead the Cathedral choirs: December 24 Christmas Eve Advent IV at 10:30 AM, Lessons and Carols at 4 PM, Prelude and Festal Eucharist at 10 PM, and December 25 Christmas Day Mass at 10:30 AM.

And please consider a year-end gift to Musica Sacra, the Cathedral’s Friends of Music, and the Oratorio Society of New York. Kent can only bridge the gap between performance expenses and ticket income with your support. Thank you for including Kent’s mission in your annual giving as we near the end of the calendar year!

Happy, healthy, and peaceful holidays to all!

Opening with Handel’s Concerto Grosso Op. 3, No. 3, this program includes Mozart’s Divertimento in D Major, K. 136; the world premiere of Stanley Grill’s “Voices of Afghanistan”; and “Shared Pathways: Exile, longing, joy and peace” – a montage of music from Jewish, Muslim, and Christian traditions centered on the shared longing for peace. Special guests Rose of the Compass join for this multi-faith musical focus on the eye of the storm: Israel and Gaza. Rose of the Compass is comprised of musicians from Israel, Palestine, Turkey, Armenia and the United States. The event concludes with J.S. Bach’s “Dona nobis pacem,” and “This little light of mine,” led by Jamet Pittman and sung by all.