Tour Information

The New York Choral Society first became "ambassadors of music" in 1984 and has since produced 11 tours to Italy, Austria, China, France, Croatia, Greece and the Czech Republic. In 2008, the chorus will return to Beijing at the invitation of the Chinese Ministry of Culture and the China Performing Arts Agency to perform three concerts in the Olympic Cultural Festival.

Our main lessons learned are first, that everyone around the world loves American spirituals (and other American music such as Gershwin and Bernstein), and second, that singing the native music of a country is beloved by audiences. For example, singing the Chinese popular song Da Hai ("The Sea") made the biggest hit in Beijing.

In reverse chronological order, our recent tours were:

2006
The chorus toured Venice from June 28 to July 9. We sang four a capella motets at a noon Mass in San Marco, and an orchestra concert with the Collegium Ducale Orchestra in the Church of Saint Steven (Chiesa di Santo Stefano). The repertoire included the Mozart Mass in C minor, the Stravinsky Three Sacred Choruses, and a selection of spirituals arranged by Robert DeCormier.

An Italian paper included the following review:

Vivo successo ha registrato il concerto che si é svolto ieri sera nella chiesa di S. Stefano e che has visto protagonisti l'Orchestra Collegium Ducale e la New York Choral Society dal Maestro John Daly Goodwin. Per il 250 della nascita di Mozart é stata eseguita la Messa in do minore K427 con la partecipazione dei solisti: Bernadette Fiorella, Carla Cenacchi, soprano, del tenore Luca Favaron e del basso Claudio Zancopé.

Translated, the review reads:

The concert which took place last night in Santo Stefano Church with the Collegium Ducale Orchestra and the New York Choral Society, conducted by Maestro John Daly Goodwin, was a great success. For the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart, they performed the Mass in C Minor, K427 with the participation of soloists: Bernadette Fiorella, Carla Cenacchi, soprano, tenor Luca Favaron and bass Claudio Zancope.

2005
A small group (18 singers) traveled to Shanghai to participate in a performance Mendelssohn's Elijah. This was part of a symposium to internationalize choral singing in China. We sang with students from the Shanghai Conservatory and the chorus of the Shanghai Opera. The orchestra was the Shanghai Opera Orchestra. The role of Elijah was sung by the Metropolitan Opera baritone, Tian Hao Jin.

2004
We toured France, appearing at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Flâneries Musicale d'Été in Reims and at the Cathedral of Chartres. At the latter two venues, we appeared with the Orchestre Symphonique Belle Arte of Paris in the Mozart Mass in C Minor, Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna and a spiritual.

2002
A huge opportunity for us! Based on our tour of China in 2001 (see below), we were invited to Shanghai and the Beijing Music Festival for two concerts: the first was a concert suite of Porgy and Bess, and we were also invited to participate with six other choruses in the Chinese premiere of Mahler's gigantic Symphony No. 8. For the latter, the China Philharmonic joined with the Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra to form an orchestra of 180. The chorus numbered about 800, with the cutest children's chorus you could imagine, all of whom had their part memorized. This tour was 100% funded by Prudential Financial Corp. and the Beijing Music Festival.

2001
Our first tour to China, with 150 singers and nearly 140 guests. This tour was a joint effort with the Hartford Chorale. We sang an all-American program in Beijing (Copland, Bernstein) accompanied by the National Film Orchestra of China. We then traveled to Shanghai where we sang the Verdi Requiem and the Beethoven Ninth Symphony with the Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra.

1998
We toured to the Czech Republic and Greece, where we again appeared at the Santorini Music Festival. The repertoire in Prague included Otce Nas by Leos Janacek and a Haydn Mass. Also in our repertoire were selections from Guys and Dolls—a big hit in Greece.

1995
We were participants in the Zimriya Festival of Choirs in Jerusalem, Israel. In the Sherover Theater in Jerusalem, we sang a program of Philip Glass, Morton Gould and Aaron Copland. We also appeared at the Mann Theater in Tel Aviv with orchestra singing Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, and at a moshav near Haifa.

1991
We toured to Eisenstadt, Vienna and Salzburg, Austria. This was the bicentennial of Mozart's death. In Eisenstadt, where Haydn worked for many years, we performed the Haydn Theresienmesse and Mozart's Thamos, Re di Creta. In Salzburg, we sang Mozart choruses in the Salzburg Cathedral.

1987
We toured to what was then Yugoslavia (now Croatia) and to Greece, where we appeared at the Santorini Music Festival. The repertoire was the African mass, Missa Luba, parts of the Haydn Harmoniemesse and folk songs from around the world. We performed at Dubrovnik, Hvar and on the island of Santorini.