Author Archives: Melodia Women's Choir

It’s hard to comprehend how a music genre that unites people through music in a seemingly harmless and collaborative way has suddenly become one of the most dangerous activities a group of  people can engage in. Recent reports emphasize that the close proximity of singers to each other and the force with which they projectContinue reading “Choral Singing in the Age of a Pandemic, by Jenny Clarke”

Over the course of Melodia’s seventeen-year history, the choir has performed many rarely-heard works that were composed for women’s voices and instruments, pieces that have frequently disappeared from concert repertoire over the years. Often, the challenge with performing these works is obtaining the instrumental parts. This turned out to be the challenge in presenting twoContinue reading “The Score is the Thing”

Summer months bring a massive shift in the choral world. As the last few concerts of the season close, it’s not just the music that fades away. Gone are the protracted and intense rehearsal periods when conductors and singers seek perfection for their long-anticipated concerts. As a choral singer, I experience a change, even aContinue reading “Summer Singing with a Treble Twist”

In upcoming concerts Gloria ~ Lifting the Veil on Vivaldi’s Masterpiece, Melodia Women’s Choir of NYC brings together music, history, dramatic scenes, and story telling this May 4 and 5 with its performance of Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria. Audiences may know this well-beloved classic, but they have never heard or seen it quite like this! To get behindContinue reading “Revealing the Story Behind the Music: Blog Talk Radio host Cindy Cooper in conversation with Vivaldi’s Virgins author Barbara Quick and Melodia’s Cynthia Powell”

Melodia’s fall concert, Where Shadow Chases Light, features premiere works by composers Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian and Deanna Witkowski, two composers who are garnering attention, awards, commissions and accolades. Melodia is thrilled to bring to New York audiences choral works by two women composers who will have a long impact on the music of the future in both classical and jazzContinue reading “Great Music Lies Where Shadow Chases Light”

Melodia Women’s Choir’s was honored to receive a special proclamation from the New York City Council in April, presented by the office of NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson. The proclamation honors Melodia for delighting listeners with high quality musical performances and “for fostering greater harmony throughout our community and beyond.” The proclamation was presented toContinue reading “NYC Council Proclamation Recognizes Melodia’s Contribution to Music and Cultural Harmony”

The Harmony of Morning, the spring concert in Melodia’s 15th anniversary season, features 20th and 21 century works composed for women’s voices and draws together a collection of music that shares a common theme of nature, described through rich poetic landscapes. Elliott Carter’s early work, “The Harmony of Morning,” – the centerpiece of the programContinue reading “A Harmony of Great Music”

This fall, Melodia Women’s Choir proudly showcases Three Songs of Heinrich Heine by the marvelous  Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel. Less well known than her brother Felix, Fanny Mendelssohn is finally getting her due as a brilliant composer and pioneer. Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847) was an accomplished German pianist and composer of nearly 500 works, including several published as and/or attributedContinue reading “Shining a Light on Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Composer and Pioneer”