St. Thomas Choir Presents ‘Seven Last Words from the Cross’

Friday, March 18, 2016 at 7:30 p.m., The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys presents the New York p premiere of Seven Last Words from the Cross by James MacMillan, along with The Last Discourse and Svyati by Sir John Tavener and Quemadmodum by John Taverner at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, One West 53rd Street. New York, NY. Orchestra of St. Luke's will be conducted by Guest Conductor David Hill. Soloists for this evening will be Sherezade Panthaki, soprano and Glenn Miller, bass.

The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys will present works that are modern and deeply ancient. John Tavener considers the Last Supper from an Orthodox perspective, and then James MacMillan proceeds to Golgotha with reference to the Roman Catholic liturgy. Performed together, though, these works may
easily seem not at all in conflict but rather to complement one another.

The Seven Last Words from the Cross by James MacMillan, was commissioned by BBC Television with traditional text based on a compilation from all four gospels to form a sequential presentation of the last seven sentences spoken by Christ.

The Last Discourse by Sir John Tavener, was conceived for a performance for the Byzantine Festival under the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. The 1998 premiere was conducted by the late John Scott.

Svyati by John Tavener, written in early 1995 with text of Church Slavonic, is used at almost every Russian Orthodox service. After the congregation has kissed the body at an Orthodox funeral,
the choir sings as the coffin is closed and taken out of the church, followed by mourners with lighted candles. The cello represents the Priest or Ikon of Christ.

Quemadmodum by John Taverner, has voices chime in one after another with the same melodic outline that happens at the beginning with a rising four-note scale, and again at the start of the second section with a scale in descent.

For ticket information regarding the March 18 performance of the Seven Last Words from the Cross or any of the St. Thomas Choir's other concerts be sure to head over to their official website.