Spring Benefit Party
Join Cantori for an evening of music and celebration at the Liederkranz Club of New York as we celebrate the friends and donors that make our mission possible. Featuring a robust buffet dinner, open bar, musical entertainment from a familiar face, and our ever-popular not-so-silent auction.
To attend, please click the button below to make a donation at one of the following levels:
Sponsor – $500 per person
Patron – $250 per person
Donor – $175 per person
Friend – $125 per person
All but $100 of each benefit ticket is tax-deductible.
Please include in your comments the number of attendees in your party.
Host Committee
Daniel Lowen
Fanette Pollack
Philip & Pamela Lasser
David Glaser & Debra Stone
David Usdan & Howard Brenner
Pamela Reich
Mark & Ann Stedman
Mark Shapiro & Rian Keating
Thomasin Bentley & Alex Rau
Richard Berg & Allison Bishop
Cantori Board of Directors
Hailstork at 85
Friday March 13, 2026 and Saturday March 14, 2026, both at 8 PM
Church of the Holy Trinity, 316 East 88th Street between 1st and 2nd avenues
Hailstork’s oratorio CRISPUS ATTUCKS in a new instrumental reduction by Brian Morales
Hailstork’s FOUR PSALMS (world premiere)
Hailstork’s FRIENDS ETERNAL
featuring Lucia Bradford, mezzo-soprano; Gabriel Hernandez, tenor; and Shavon Lloyd, bass
-
In March, we celebrate the 85th birthday of noted African-American composer Adolphus Hailstork, who has served on Cantori’s Advisory Board for 25 years. This all-Hailstork tribute concert will feature two world premieres: a new chamber orchestration of his signature oratorio CRISPUS ATTUCKS and the brand new FOUR PSALMS. Originally scored for full orchestra on a libretto by Herbert Martin, Crispus Attucks tells the story of the first American casualty of the American Revolution, and will feature soloists Lucia Bradford, Gabriel Hernandez, and Shavon Lloyd. Crispus Attucks, a man of African and Native heritage, was the first person killed in the Boston Massacre in 1770. Cantori member and composer Brian Morales has reorchestrated the expansive score for only eight instruments. Morales’ reorchestration of Vittorio Rieti’s The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne was premiered by Cantori in 2024. Rounding out the program is a tetralogy of four unpublished, never-performed Psalm settings – three a cappella, one with saxophone and marimba. Experienced as a cycle, Hailstork’s Four Psalms exemplify his unique style: spiritual, resilient, and full of life.
Stabat Mater
Friday May 15, 2026 and Saturday May 16, 2026, both at 8 PM
Church of St. Francis Xavier, 46 West 16th Street (east of 6th Avenue)
Margaret Bonds THE NIGHT SHALL BE FILLED WITH MUSIC (posthumous premiere)
Frank Ferko STABAT MATER
-
Our final concert of the season is the virtuosic hour-long a cappella STABAT MATER by American composer Frank Ferko, for chorus and soprano soloist. Ferko sets not only the traditional text describing Mary observing the crucifixion, but also modern accounts of mothers who have lost their children to war, crime, AIDS, and accident. Traversing a vast range of compositional influences from Palestrina to Messiaen, Ferko’s masterwork is both poignant and triumphant. Cantori presented the New York premiere of Ferko’s Stabat Mater in 2004. Also on the program is THE NIGHT SHALL BE FILLED WITH MUSIC, a rediscovered work by American composer Margaret Bonds, not heard since her death in 1972.
NEW ALBUM RELEASE: FOUND AGAIN (2025)
"Found Again" presents a poignant exploration of human connection, self-growth, and collective pursuit of a better world. At once forward-looking and deeply introspective, this collection features three works espousing the power of transformative renewal.
Each presents a revised version of an earlier work, offering an opportunity for rediscovery, recentering, and new understanding.
The New Amorous World, by Lembit Beecher, reflects on the limitations and possibilities of humankind in a spirited setting of texts by French utopian philosopher Charles Fourier.
Beauty by Beauty, by John Rommereim, contrasts with a gentle, inward-looking setting of texts by three-time U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo on themes of courage, spiritual transformation, and of human connection to the earth and to one another.
The title track – Found Again, by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate – presents a second setting of Joy Harjo poems exploring cultural connection, reconciliation, and renewal.
Available for purchase & streaming.
Cantori New York’s complete Discography found here.
Reflections
These concert dates have passed.
Friday November 7 and Saturday November 8, 2025, both at 8 PM
Church of the Holy Apostles, 296 9th Avenue at 28th Street
Juhi Bansal FOUR REFLECTIONS ON THE NIGHT (NY premiere)
Paul Stanhope REQUIEM (US premiere)
-
In November, Cantori performs the US premiere of Australian composer Paul Stanhope’s expansive REQUIEM and the New York City premiere of Juhi Bansal’s exquisite FOUR REFLECTIONS ON THE NIGHT. Stanhope’s Requiem, for chorus, soloists, and instruments, interweaves the traditional sacred Latin text with English-language reflections by female poets from around the world, including Neela Nath Das (India), Mary Elizabeth Frye (USA), Emily Dickinson (USA), and Australian Indigenous poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal. The work premiered in Stanhope’s native Sydney in 2021, in the midst of a global pandemic. Cantori is thrilled to present this powerful work that consoles, commemorates, and celebrates life. Juhi Bansal’s Four Reflections on the Night won second place in Cantori’s 2023 composition competition. Written for chorus with percussion and harp, it tells an ancient human story of gazing wonderingly at the night sky.
