Musica Sacra - Professional Choral Music at its Finest

Music Director Kent Tritle

Kent Tritle is one of America’s leading choral conductors.  Called “the brightest star in New York’s choral music world” by The New York Times, he was appointed Music Director of Musica Sacra in February 2008, succeeding Richard Westenburg, who had designated Mr. Tritle as his successor.

Kent Tritle is also founder and Music Director of Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, the acclaimed concert series now in its 21^st season at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York City; Music Director of the Oratorio Society of New York; Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music; and a member of the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School.  An acclaimed organ virtuoso, he is also the organist of the New York Philharmonic.

Kent Tritle’s 2009-2010 season includes not only Mozart’s Requiem (at both St. Ignatius Loyola and Manhattan School of Music), Mendelssohn’s Paulus (Oratorio Society of New York), and Handel’s Messiah (Musica Sacra and Oratorio Society), but the U.S. premieres of John Tavener’s Requiem and Valentin Silvestrov’s Diptychon (St. Ignatius Loyola) and gems of the choral repertoire not as often programmed – including the Stabat Mater of Scarlatti (Musica Sacra) and Steffani (St. Ignatius Loyola), and Cherubini’s Requiem (Oratorio Society).  Tritle will conduct a significant orchestral work by Mozart, the Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488, with Musica Sacra.  In addition, the season features Bach cantatas with both the forces of the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola and Musica Sacra; Mozart’s “Grand” Mass in C Minor with Musica Sacra; Vaughan Williams’s Five Mystical Songs with Oratorio Society; and programs at St. Ignatius Loyola that mix centuries:  Purcell, Handel, and Howells; and Monteverdi, Stravinsky, and Pärt.  He also leads a master class in oratorio performance for the Metropolitan Opera Guild, and is the featured soloist with the New York Philharmonic in performances of Saint-Saëns’ “Organ” Symphony led by Sir Andrew Davis.

As part of his work as Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music, Kent Tritle recently led student forces in performances of Mozart’s Requiem and Schubert’s Mass in G.  Kent Tritle is also renowned as a master clinician giving workshops on conducting and repertoire. In July 2008 he was a featured conductor at the Berkshire Choral Festival, where he led a performance of Handel’s Solomon performed by a chorus of 215 voices.

From 1996 to 2004, Mr. Tritle was Music Director of the Emmy-nominated Dessoff Choirs, winners of the ASCAP/Chorus America award for adventurous programming of contemporary music. Under his direction the Dessoff Choirs performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, American Symphony Orchestra, and Czech Philharmonic, as well as in many performances of Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, including a nationally telecast Live from Lincoln Center concert of Mozart’s Requiem.

Mr. Tritle has prepared choruses for conductors Philippe Entremont, Christoph von Dohnányi, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas, Robert Spano, Gerard Schwarz, Vladimir Spivakov, Nicholas McGegan, Leon Botstein, and Dennis Russell Davies. Among the soloists with whom he has collaborated are singers Renée Fleming, Jessye Norman, Hei-Kyung Hong, Marilyn Horne, Susanne Mentzer, Susan Graham, and Sherrill Milnes; cellist Yo-Yo Ma; pianist André Previn; and actor Tony Randall.

As an organist, Mr. Tritle has appeared often as a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. As an organ recitalist he performs regularly in Europe and across the United States; recital venues have included the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Zurich Tonhalle, the Church of St. Sulpice in Paris, King’s College at Cambridge, and Westminster Abbey.  With the Philharmonic he has recorded Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Britten’s War Requiem and Henze’s Symphony No. 9, all conducted by Kurt Masur, as well as the Grammy-nominated Sweeney Todd conducted by Andrew Litton. He is featured on the DVD The Organistas and Creating the Stradivarius of Organs.

At the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, Kent Tritle was artistic consultant on the design and installation of the four-manual, 68-stop mechanical action organ, which was dedicated in 1993. This instrument again drew national attention in July 2007 in a program of organ concertos for the American Guild of Organists conducted by Mr. Tritle, with corresponding critical success.

Kent Tritle has made more than a dozen recordings on the Telarc, AMDG, Epiphany, Gothic, VAI and MSR Classics labels. His most recent CDs with the Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola, Wondrous Love and a disc of works by Ginastera and Schnittke, have been praised by Gramophone, the American Record Guide, and The Choral Journal magazines.

Mr. Tritle holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from The Juilliard School in organ performance and choral conducting and has been on the Juilliard faculty since 1996, currently directing a graduate practicum on oratorio in collaboration with the school’s Vocal Arts Department, and teaching choral conducting. He has been a featured personality on ABC World News Tonight, National Public Radio, and Minnesota Public Radio, as well as in The New York Times and numerous other radio and print outlets.

For more information, sound clips, and updated concert information, visit www.kenttritle.com.