Thomas Beveridge, Artistic Director 

   P.O. Box 6691, McLean, VA 22106-6691 

   president@newdominion.org

   www.newdominion.org, (202) 244-7191

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW DOMINION CHORALE TO PRESENT FREE CONCERT

New Dominion Chorale will begin its 35th season with a free performance of the acclaimed Yizkor Requiem: A Quest for Spiritual Roots, composed by the Chorale’s Artistic Director, Thomas Beveridge. The performance, which will also include Psalm settings by Felix Mendelssohn, will take place on Sunday, November 2, at 4:00 p.m. at the National Presbyterian Church, 4101 Nebraska Ave., NW, Washington, DC.

Featured artists will be the celebrated Cantor Benjamin Warschawski, tenor; Esther Heideman, soprano; and Linda Maguire, mezzo soprano.

Mr. Beveridge’s Yizkor Requiem is a unique work, which combines elements of the Jewish memorial service (Yizkor) with certain passages of the Christian burial service (Requiem). Written in memory of the composer’s parents, it received its premiere performance in 1993 by New Dominion Chorale and was hailed by Joseph McLellan in The Washington Post as “a major new American work…one of the most imaginative and musically effective new treatments of the ancient Requiem theme I have heard since Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem” debuted in 1962.” There have been numerous subsequent performances in major cities in the United States and Europe and two recordings, both on the Naxos label, by the Choral Arts Society of Washington and members of the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the late Norman Scribner, and by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, conducted by the late Sir Neville Marriner, who characterized the work as ”…a masterpiece – a unique blend of East and West – there is nothing comparable.” The American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, who revolutionized Broadway musicals with his daring and innovative work, described the piece as “…moving and original…full of surprises.”

New Dominion Chorale has distinguished itself amid the crowded choral music scene in the Washington area. It operates as a “singers’ cooperative” without paid management, with the work of the chorus performed by its members. There are no auditions to join the Chorale, and it has been praised in The Washington Post as “opulent, precise and powerful.” New Dominion Chorale has performed much of the standard repertoire for chorus and orchestra and has also ventured into lesser-known repertoire by Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann and Thomas Beveridge, including his massive Symphony of Peace.

There is no admission charge for this concert, and no tickets are required.  There is free parking at this event. For more information, please go to www.newdominion.org, or email president@newdominion.org, or call 202-244-7191.

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New Dominion Chorale is a 501(c)(3) organization supported in part by grants from ArtsFairfax, the Dallas Morse Coors Foundation for the Performing Arts, the William & Karen Tell Foundation, and McLean Community Foundation.