MELODIA WOMEN’S CHOIR OF NYC ANNOUNCES 2008-9 SEASON, CONDUCTED BY CYNTHIA POWELL
 
“WRAPPED IN SONG,” HOLIDAY CONCERT ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY NOVEMBER 15/16
 
SATURDAY MAY 16:  PERFORMANCE OF MESSIAEN’S TROIS PETITES LITURGIES DE LA PRESENCE DIVINE, WITH FRANÇOISE MURAIL ON ONDES MARTENOT, AND ALL-WOMEN ORCHESTRA,
AND U.S. PREMIERE OF MESSIAEN’S FETE DES BELLES EAUX,
ADAPTED FOR ONDES MARTENOT, STRINGS, PIANO AND FLUTE,
 Melodia Women’s Choir, conducted by Cynthia Powell, praised by WNYC for their “elegance and ringing tones,” announces their 2008-09 season of concerts and premieres.
 
The fall performances by the 28-member choir of singers will be titled Wrapped In Song, a holiday concert featuring women’s voices and harp with harpist Elaine Christy, on Saturday November 15 at 8 PM and Sunday November 16 at 4 PM at St. Peter’s Church, Chelsea, 346 West 20th Street, New York City, NY.    The program will include Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, Randall Thompson’s Alleluia, Veljo Tormis’ Selections from Autumn Landscapes and Winter Patterns, Gustav Holst’s Two Eastern Pictures, and Zoltan Kodaly’s Wainamoinen Makes Music. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.  Call (212) 252-4134, or visit www.melodiawomenschoir.org.
 
 Melodia  presents its spring concert on Saturday May 16 at 8 PM at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola. The program will include a performance of Olivier Messiaen's Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine, for women's choir, ondes Martenot, and orchestra, featuring as guest artist Françoise Murail on ondes Martenot and all-women orchestra.  Murail, a leading keyboard and ondes Martenot player from France, has appeared with major orchestras and chamber ensembles in Europe and North America. The ondes Martenot is an early electronic musical instrument, invented in 1928 by Maurice Martenot. Olivier Messiaen first used it in the Fête des belles eaux for six ondes, written for the 1937 International World's Fair in Paris and then used it in several of his works, including the Turangalîla Symphony and his opera, Saint-François d’Assise.  Another highlight on May 16 will be a new adaptation of Messiaen’s Fête des belles eaux: originally scored  for six ondes Martenot, Melodia will perform the U.S. premiere of an arrangement for ondes Martenot, strings, piano, and flute, by Claude S. Levine. The balance of the program will be Messe a trois voix, by André Caplet; and In Memoriam Olivier Messiaen, by Reza Vali (Naila Aziz, soprano). The pianist for the concert will be Kyung-A Yoo. The performance will be at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, 980 Park Avenue at 84th Street, New York, NY and is presented in collaboration with the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space series. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.  Call (212) 252-4134, or visit www.melodiawomenschoir.org.  This concert is made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by funds from the Florence Gould Foundation
 
 
Melodia Women’s Choir, now entering its sixth season, creates, discovers and performs works for women’s voices, and the repertory of the ensemble includes an eclectic mix of rarely performed classical and contemporary works. Last season’s Sweet Interlude presented the World Premiere of Becca Schack’s In My End Is My Beginning, and Vivaldi’s Gloria in D in the all-women setting for which it was probably intended. Previous concerts have celebrated female composers and ensembles from 12th to 21st centuries, and premiered Allison Sniffin’s Hear Me With Your Eyes, based on love poems of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Melodia has appeared twice in the Symphony Space Wall to Wall marathons, has performed at Merkin Concert Hall and at the Surrogate’s Courthouse, Manhattan, as guest artists at the NYC Comptroller’s celebration of Women’s History Month. The group was founded in 2003 by Jennifer Clarke, is an arts consultant who has worked with London’s Royal Festival Hall, Royal Court Theatre, and companies in New York including the American Music Center, Symphony Space, and Dancing in the Streets.
 
Cynthia Powell, Melodia’s Artistic Director and conductor since its inception, also serves as Artistic Director of Stonewall Chorale, has directed the choral program of Sarah Lawrence College and was a guest conductor at the Festival Internacional de Coros in Havana, Cuba.  Equally at home as a pianist and organist, she has toured with Meredith Monk's opera, Atlas and Celebration Service in Europe, at the Spoleto USA Festival, the Walker Arts Center and Lincoln Center 2000 Festival.