Trinity Choir, under the direction of J. Owen Burdick, established itself as one of the pre-eminent professional American vocal ensembles and continues to expand its presence in the community in Lower Manhattan and away. In collaboration with period instrument ensembles, including Rebel Baroque Orchestra, Trinity Choir excels in performing major works of the Baroque and Classical eras: Bach, Buxtehude, acclaimed annual presentations of Handel’s Messiah; programmes featuring French, Italian and Latin American Baroque; Purcell operas, Monteverdi and Scarlatti. Varied offerings outside early music have included Swedish choral favourites, Britten, Brahms, Stravinsky’s drama Les Noces, and scenes from Jake Heggie’s acclaimed opera Dead Man Walking, with Heggie as well as Frederica von Stade and Joyce DiDonato. The choir was invited by the Tribeca Film Festival to perform Arvo Pärt’s Passio in a mixed media collaboration with Paolo Cherchi Usai’s film of the same name, and was described by The New York Times as possessing ‘…voices so pure they suggest a seraphic chorus beyond the human sphere’. Trinity Choir has offered New York premières of many works, including Dominick Argento’s The Masque of Angels and William Albright’s oratorio A Song to David. The New York Times music critic Bernard Holland called the Trinity Choir’s Messiah ‘A “Messiah” to beat in a season bursting with them’ and praised the soloists taken from the choir as ‘clearly individual talents…pure, trained voices…a touching effect’.

Although the choir performs concerts regularly in the Gothic setting of Trinity Church, and in the Georgian splendour of St Paul’s Chapel, its focus has always been to provide music for its weekly schedule of choral services. In 2008 the choir began the enriching practice of inviting guest conductors to the podium, including Jane Glover, Stefan Parkman, Simon Carrington, Andrew Megill and Eric Milnes.

Trinity Choir and REBEL / Photo by Leo Sorel