Fables For Tomorrow

The 40th anniversary season finale of award-winning chamber chorus Cantori New York features four works for chorus and string quartet. 

Laura Schwendinger’s SILENT SPRINGS (world premiere) sets a libretto by Ginger Strand incorporating passages from Rachel Carson’s 1962 text and words of activist Greta Thunberg to sound an alarm about our impact on the earth. 

THE TOWER AND THE GARDEN, by Gregory Spears (co-commissioned for Cantori New York, The Crossing, and Volti) is a haunting neo-minimalist work on the theme of technological hubris, setting words by Thomas Merton and others.

THE FLAMING ROCK, by Elisenda Fábregas, sets Omaha Native American texts, in both English and Spanish, unfolding an origin story of earth's creation. Aaron Copland’s IN THE BEGINNING rounds out the program.

Joining Cantori New York will be the Bergamot Quartet, an ensemble that “radiates with an urgency to communicate something fascinating, and rare” (The Baltimore Sun).

Cantori New York
Mark Shapiro, Artistic Director

Guest Artists:
Gabrielle Barkidjija, mezzo soprano soloist

Bergamot Quartet
Ledah Finck, Violin
Sarah Thomas, Violin
Amy Huimei Tan, Viola
Irène Han, Cello

GREGORY SPEARS – "The Tower and the Garden"
ELISENDA FÁBREGAS – "The Flaming Rock" 
LAURA SCHWENDINGER – "Silent Springs" on a libretto by Ginger Strand  
AARON COPLAND – "In the Beginning

Photo Credit: Jacob McCoy