Announcing "The Light After"

Fine fellow citizens of our ever-expanding underground empire,

It is with great gratitude and profound pride that I announce The Light After, our brand-spanking-new series taking place in the Crypt under the magnificent Cathedral of St. John the Divine, October 11, 12 and 16.

‍Tickets will go VERY quickly, so get them before they’re gone HERE.

‍A partnership between DoC and our dear friends at St. John the Divine and Trinity Church, The Light After will offer three evenings of soul-shattering music in this super-cool, totally unfinished Crypt, performed by mixed chamber groups from Trinity’s insanely talented new music ensemble NOVUS. The programs offer three different interpretations of the past, present, and possible future - one that is personal, one that is political, and one that is universal.

Cellist and composer Andrew Yee (who also performs in the great Attacca Quartet, and has performed no fewer than FIVE times with DoC!) leads the opening titular program The Light After, October 11, with a selection of music by living composers centering on themes of light, life, death and darkness. Featuring a string quartet plus flute from NOVUS, works include Caroline Shaw’s in manus tuas, Juhi Bansal’s Cathedral of Light (here in a quartet setting), the world premiere of Yee’s meditation, David Lang’s after joy, Yee’s The Light After, and Osvaldo Golijov’s Tenebrae. Tickets HERE.

The next program, American, explores the story of our country past and present, featuring Antonín Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 12 “American” interspersed with three works by contemporary American composers: Michi Wiancko’s Lullaby for the Transient, Carlos Simon’s An Elegy: A Cry from the Grave, and Jessie Montgomery’s Source Code. The juxtaposition offers a more nuanced, contemporary portrait of our nation in the midst of a pivotal election year. Tickets HERE. The final program, Vis Aeternitatis (“The Power of Eternity”), showcases string quartet, lute, flute, and vocals, in a program that wonders at the timelessness of the world beyond with works ranging from the 11th Century to the current day – from Hildegard Von Bingen’s O Vis Aeternitatis to Heinrich Biber’s Passacaglia to Henry Purcell’s When I Am Laid In Earth, Barbara Strozzi’s Che si puo fare, all the way through to Caroline Shaw’s Cant voi l’aube and music by Gelsey Bell (who’s extraordinary opera mɔɹnɪŋ [morning//mourning] closes our Catacombs season this September!). Tickets HERE.

This is gonna be a special one my friends, don’t delay and we’ll see you in our NEW CRYPT in October!!