Even we, in the fishbowl, looking out, can see that's remarkable.

We would enjoy lingering on that milestone. 

But we cannot. 

Because, this album deserves far greater attention than the (some may say) considerable accomplishment of Forty Albums Forming a Canon.

The album is Rigwreck. 

The composer is Gabriel Jackson. 

The relationship began with our inaugural concert, on which we sang his Prayer. And it has continued, uninterrupted, for 22 years, five commissions, many visits, many dreams, and many of those dreams realized. 

How fortunate we are to have these long relationships with composers who come to know us better and better, who listen to us and dig deep into the well of possibilities of what can happen when 24 singers with extraordinary focus get together to bring a new work to life. 

An early collaboration with Gabriel, ca. 2010!

Pictured left to right: Maren, Donald, Steven Hyder, Gabriel, Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Steve Bradshaw, and Chris Hodges.

Thank you, Gabriel, for exploring seemingly insurmountable challenges with us: how to make musical works about questions inherent to stoicism, about the disastrous consequences of preventable oil spills, about the prevalence of gun violence, about the mystery of death, and about navigating our own emotional survival. The result? These remarkable works: 

According to Seneca

Rigwreck

Self-Portrait in Charleston, Orlando

Darest thou now O soul?

Yes, I am Your Angel (a Jeff Quartet)

And in those, the words of Luxembourgish-American Pierre Joris, of Latvian Kārlis Vērdiņš (in a brillant translation of Ieva Lešinska), of expat American Gustav Sobin, of Americans Dean Rader and Walt Whitman. 

The album is anchored with the not-surprising alignment of Rita Quattrocchi's imagery in our second collaboration with this deeply thoughtful artist. 

Returning to our milestone, we are inexpressibly grateful to Carol Westfall for many years of generously supporting our recordings. Our attempt to make a record of the time with the composer in the room is a challenging and expensive goal. We are thankful for our many partners, like Carol, who agree that it is a worthy one. 

The Crossing recording Rigwreck, summer 2024. Photo by Charles Grove.

Rigwreck. Our 40th album.

Thanks.

Thank you, Pierre Joris, for this title.

Thank you, Gabriel, for your astonishing perspective, advancing our art.

Thank you to the many people and foundations that have supported our work with Gabriel: to the group from The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill supporting the commissioning of Self-Portrait in Charleston, Orlando; to The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage for supporting both Seneca Sounds and The Gulf (between you and me), for which According to Seneca and Rigwreck were composed; to the Anne Stookey Fund for New Music for support of Jeff Quartets which produced Yes, I am Your Angel; and to Donald's spouse Steven Hyder for commissioning Darest thou now O soul, 

Thank you to every person reading this for being there with us as we scratch, crawl, run, levitate, and soar toward 40, 41, 42...who knows?

Love, 

The Whole Recording Team at The Crossing

The Rigwreck recording team.

The Crossing

Dario Amador-Lage

Nathaniel Barnett

Jessica Beebe

Kelly Ann Bixby

Karen Blanchard

Maren Montalbano

Aryssa Burrs

Colin Dill

Micah Dingler

Ryan Fleming

Joanna Gates

Steven Hyder

Michael Jones

Lauren Kelly

Anika Kildegaard

Rebecca Myers

James Reese

Daniel Schwartz

Rebecca Siler

Tiana Sorenson

Daniel Spratlan

Elisa Sutherland

Daniel Taylor

Jackson Williams

Donald Nally, conductor

Kevin Vondrak, assistant conductor & artistic associate

John Grecia, project keyboards

Lee Hagon, guest keyboards

Jackson Pierzina, summer associate

Recording Producers: Paul Vazquez, Donald Nally & Kevin Vondrak

Recording Engineer: Paul Vazquez 

Assistant Recording Engineer: Codi Yhap

Editing, Mixing, and Mastering: Paul Vazquez

Album artwork by Rita Quattrocchi.  

This album was recorded June 23-26, 2024 at St. Peter’s Church in the Great Valley, Malvern, Pennsylvania.

This album was made possible through the generous support of Carol Westfall. 

For Navona Records: 

Executive Producer Bob Lord

VP of A&R Brandon MacNeil

VP of Production Jan Košulič

Audio Director Lucas Paquette

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell

Art Director Ryan Harrison

Publicity Chelsea Olaniran

Marketing Manager Brett Iannucci

Tickets On Sale Now

The Month of Moderns:
Building a Contemporary Canon

Presented as part of ArtPhilly's What Now: 2026

MoM 1: The Laws of Nature and of Nature's God: The People Address the Nation’s Issues (The Society, The Environment, The Displaced)

featuring a world premiere by Nicole Lizée

and works from our repertory of social justice commissions

Saturday, June 6 @ 4pm | Broad Street Love

Sunday, June 7 @ 4pm | The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill

MoM 2: Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness: The People Speak from the Birthplace of America (Philadelphia Composers Ask Questions) 

a world premiere by Haitian-American performer and composer Nathalie Joachim

w/ Thomas Mesa, cello

Saturday. June 27 @ 4pm | Broad Street Love

Sunday, June 28 @ 4pm | The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill

Come. Hear. Now.

Album artwork for Rigwreck is by Rita Quattrocchi.