New York Choral Society Performs at 2012 Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala Tonight, 11/11

Tonight, November 11th at 6:30 pm, the New York Choral Society (NYCS), returns for its nineteenth year as guest artist at the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala in Avery Fisher Hall. In an evening led by Maestro Patrick Summers, the Gala concert will feature Ailyn Pérez, soprano, winner of the prestigious Richard Tucker Award, which is conferred annually upon a single artist who is on the threshold of a major international career.

The gala will also feature opera world luminaries such as Ildar Abdrazakov, Jamie Barton, Stephen Costello, Olga Borodina, Tara Erraught, Giuseppe Filianoti, Gerald Finley, Marcello Giordani, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Quinn Kelsey, Liudmyla Monastyrska, Erwin Schrott and members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, with more special guests and program to be announced.

Performance to be televised nationally on Thursday, December 13, as part of PBS’s “Live from Lincoln Center” Series.

The New York Choral Society (NYCS), now under the artistic leadership of David Hayes, its new Music Director, has become known by audiences and critics for the quality of its performances and the diversity of its repertoire, which encompasses well-known choral masterworks as well as many compositions rarely heard in concert halls. Founded in 1958, the 180-voice symphonic chorus has been widely recognized for its outstanding performances at prestigious music venues around the world.

For more than half a century NYCS has enriched the cultural life of the New York community by performing a rich variety of choral music from classic to contemporary pieces, including newly commissioned works, to some 10,000 people per year; and by fostering interest and participation in choral music through education and community outreach, especially to children. Since 1984 the singers of NYCS have also served as “ambassadors of music” abroad, with many concert tours to Italy, Austria, China, France, Israel, Mexico, Croatia, Greece and the Czech Republic. In June and July of this year NYCS gave three concerts in Sicily, performing to enthusiastic audiences at the Piazza del Duomo in Cefalù; the Basilica in Montalbano; and the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania.

The NYCS is the parent organization of the New York Choral Society Chamber Singers which is composed of NYCS members.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation, founded in 1975, is a non-profit cultural organization dedicated to perpetuating the artistic legacy of the great American tenor through the support and advancement of the careers of talented American opera singers by bringing opera into the community. The Foundation seeks to heighten appreciation for opera by offering free performances in the New York Metropolitan area and by supporting music education enrichment programs.

For tickets, call The Richard Tucker Foundation at 212-757-2218.