Stephen Sands

The Lukas Foss Legacy at Carnegie Hall
2022-10-03 | carnegie hall: stern auditorium
Tenor Soloist and Director of Downtown Voices
Downtown Voices and Buffalo Philharmonic In commemoration of his 100th birthday, we celebrate the life and works of Lukas Foss, music director of the BPO from 1963 to 1970, and a transformative force in the Buffalo arts scene. His early tonal works, like Ode for Orchestra, Symphony No. 1, and Three American Pieces, were sublime, while his later works, such as Renaissance Concerto, which will feature flutist Amy Porter, explored an exciting avant-garde sound for which he became well-known. Rounding out the program is a nod to Foss’ great friend, Leonard Bernstein, with his Three Dances from On the Town, telling the tale of a trio of sailors and their amorous adventures while on leave in New York City.

Mozart on the Meadow
2022-09-24 15:00 - 18:00 UTC | Priave Estate Far Hills NJ
Center for Musical Excellence and Music in the Somerset Hills present an outdoor classical concert on a stunning Bedminster estate featuring Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns – The Carnival of the Animals and Francis Poulenc – The Story of Babar the Little Elephant

Craig Hella Johnson: Considering Matthew Shepard
2022-09-15 - 2022-09-17 | St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway and Fulton Streets, New York, New York, United States
Elliott Forrest and Rod Caspers, Stage Directors
Beowulf Boritt, Scenic Designer
Dustin Z. West, Production Supervisor
Brian Giebler, Matthew Shepard
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street; NOVUS NY; Malcolm Merriweather, conductor

Handel's Theodora at Caramoor
2022-07-31 16:00 - 19:00 | Caramoor, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah, NY, 10536
Theodora stands out as one of Handel’s finest creations. Composed in 1749 at the twilight of his career, this penultimate major work was undervalued at the time but recognized now as the masterpiece it is. An oratorio brimming with dramatic intensity (and often staged as an opera), Theodora traces the tragic tale of the eponymous Christian martyr facing persecution at the hands of the Romans. This concert performance — with Trinity Wall Street’s magnificent period-instrument Orchestra and Choir — features a stellar roster of celebrated soloists including Anthony Roth Costanzo and Marie-Eve Munger.

Handel Theodora
2022-07-29 18:00 - 21:00 | Trinity Wall Street, Broadway & Wall Street, New York, New York, United States
Theodora stands out as one of Handel’s finest creations. Composed in 1749 during the twilight of his career, this penultimate major work was undervalued at the time of composition but is now recognized as the masterpiece it is. An oratorio brimming with dramatic intensity, Theodora traces the tragic tale of the eponymous Christian martyr facing persecution at the hands of the Romans.

America/Beautiful - Min Kwon
2022-07-03 17:00 - 19:00 | Priave Estate Far Hills NJ

Summer Solstice Festival - Carmina Burana
2022-06-18 - 2022-06-19 | Ross Farm
The Ross Farm & Music in the Somerset Hills present: Summer Solstice Music Festival
June 18, 2022 at The Ross Farm, Basking Ridge, NJ
This Summer Solstice Music Festival features a variety of musical offerings spanning multiple genres and traditions. The mainstage event will be a riveting performance of Carl Orff’s thrilling cantata, Carmina Burana, in a popular arrangement for two pianos, percussion, three virtuosic vocal soloists, and a large chorus.
The day kicks off with Americana and 60’s rock from Just Married and ends with dancing to heartland rock, Memphis soul, and modern pop with Nick Ryan and the Mess. Throughout the day there will be family activities, food trucks and vendors, and featured art by local artists.
General admission is $25 and reserved seating is $50. Students of any age are welcome to attend free of charge! Gates open at 5pm. Parking is onsite. Attendees are welcome to bring chairs, blankets, and refreshments.
*Rain date is June 19

Levine - Prayers for Mankind at Compline
2022-06-06 20:00 - 20:30 | St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway and Fulton Streets, New York, New York, United States
Downtown Voices sings excerpts from Levine’s Prayers for Mankind at the Sunday evening compline service at St. Paul’s Chapel.

Ascendit
2022-05-25 20:00 - 20:30 | Trinity Wall Street, Broadway & Wall Street, New York, New York, United States
Evangelist for Ascension Oratorio and tenor in Trinity Choir.
On the eve of Ascension Day, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Trinity Baroque Orchestra perform an all-Bach concert conducted by Avi Stein. Exploring the full emotional range of the human experience, from anguish to elation and from despair to hope, Ascendit presents Bach’s Ascension Oratorio, Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, the motet Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, and his dramatic Magnificat.

Beethoven's 9th Symphony
2022-04-30 20:00 - 22:00 | St. Paul and St. Andrew, 263 W. 86th Street, New York, NY
Camerata Notturna and Downtown Voices perform Beethoven’s 9th Symphony

Lux Aeterna - Durufle and Faure Requiems
2022-04-24 15:00 - 17:00 | Trinity Wall Street, Broadway & Wall Street, New York, New York, United States
Conductor of Downtown Voices

St. Matthew Passion
2022-03-31 19:30 - 22:30 | New York
St. Thomas and Trinity Wall Street Choirs

St. Matthew Passion
2022-03-29 19:30 - 22:30 | St. Thomas 5th Avenue.
St. Thomas and Trinity Wall Street

L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato - Mark Morris Dance Group
2022-03-24 - 2022-03-27 | New York
Trinity Choir and Downtown Voices

Andrea Bocelli with Downtown Voices
2021-12-15 - 2021-12-16 | Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Downtown Voices sings with Andrea Bocelli at Madison Square Garden!

TENET-Messiah
2021-12-03 - 2021-12-05 | New York

Mozart on the Meadow
2021-09-25 | New York
The brilliant young musicians of Min Kwon’s Center for Musical Excellence join with Stephen Sands, opera stars and the Somerset Hills Chorus in our annual autumn festival of music in Bedminster, NJ.

Essex Horse Trials Concert
2021-07-16 | Moorland Farm, Far Hills, NJ
On the eve of the Essex horse trials, Stephen Sands conducts an all star Broadway orchestra led by Jonathan Dinklage, the concert master of Hamilton

Alexie Tartakovsky, virtuoso pianist - MISH Virtual Series
2021-04-17 20:00 - 21:00 | St. John on the Mountain, 379 Mount Harmony Rd, Bernardsville, New Jersey, 07924, United States
Piano Virtuosos: Beethoven, Liszt and Rachmaninoff. Part of the MISH Virtual Series

Kristin Sands, soprano, Stephen Sands, tenor and Dan Foster, Keyboards - MISH Virtual Series
2021-03-13 20:00 - 21:00 | St. John on the Mountain, 379 Mount Harmony Rd, Bernardsville, New Jersey, 07924, United States
The Art of Song. Part of the MISH Virtual Series

Brian Harlow and Christopher Jennings, keyboards - MISH Virtual Series
2021-02-13 20:00 - 21:00 | St. John on the Mountain, 379 Mount Harmony Rd, Bernardsville, New Jersey, 07924, United States
A Fancy For Two To Play: Music for four hands and four feet featuring the pipe organs and pianos at St. John on the Mountain. Part of the MISH Virtual Seires

Les Delices: Arus Nova: Annus Novus - New Art: New Year - MISH Virtual Series
2021-01-09 20:00 - 21:00 | St. John on the Mountain, 379 Mount Harmony Rd, Bernardsville, New Jersey, 07924, United States
Three members of Les Delices delight us by both singing and playing medieval music to welcome the New Year. Part of the MISH Virtual Series

Karim Sulayman and Yi Heng Yang - MISH Virtual Series
2020-12-05 20:00 - 21:00 | St. John on the Mountain, 379 Mount Harmony Rd, Bernardsville, New Jersey, 07924, United States
An intimate fireside Schubertiade: Where Only Stars Can Hear Us
Part of the MISH Virtual Series

Merynda Adams and John Romeri - MISH Virtual Series
2020-11-14 20:00 - 21:00 | St. John on the Mountain, 379 Mount Harmony Rd, Bernardsville, New Jersey, 07924, United States
Transcendent harp and flute music inspiring the imagination and uplifting the soul. Part of the Music in the Somerset Hills Virtual Concert Series.

Mozart on the Meadow
2020-10-17 16:00 - 21:00 | New York
A fall extravaganza of music, art and food in the great outdoors celebrating the 10th anniversary season of Music in the Somerset Hills

The Somerset Hills Outdoor Music Festival
2020-06-19 - 2020-06-21 | New York
Three days of concerts, large and small, to celebrate the start of Summer in the Somerset Hills.

TENET and Ensemble Caprice
2020-05-10 17:00 - 19:00 | New York
Les Plaisirs de Versailles was written by Marc-Antoine Charpentier as a divertissement for King Louis XIV and the French court in 1682. It is an extremely silly story (the librettist is wisely anonymous), but nonetheless entirely recognizable to 21st-century audiences. Two ladies – Music and Conversation – are having a ding-dong argument because Music has been interrupted by Conversation’s babbling (sounds familiar?). Various people try to appease the two ladies, and the quarrel is eventually settled over chocolate! TENET is a group of immensely talented singers, directed by Jolle Greenleaf, who are particularly renowned for their innovative programming and virtuosic singing. In this performance, they will be accompanied by the magnificent Ensemble Caprice, a group of musicians based in Montreal whose mission is “to put new life into baroque music” – luxury casting for the rediscovery of a musical pearl from the Baroque World.

Beethoven at 250
2020-04-25 19:30 - 21:30 | New York
If you visit Symphony Hall in Boston you cannot fail to notice that above the main stage is a trim intended to contain a number of plaques, each dedicated to the memory of a great composer. When the hall was opened in 1900 only the central plaque had a name on it – Beethoven’s – because he was the only composer whose popularity the founders were certain would endure. To this day, the other plaques remain blank. Our tribute to music’s greatest genius on Saturday, April 25 features the Central Jersey Symphony Orchestra and the Somerset Hills Chorus, and is built around what is almost certainly Beethoven’s most famous work – the Ninth (or Choral) Symphony, which ends with Schiller’s Ode to Joy, a passionate salute to the Age of Enlightenment. Beethoven, virtually stone deaf, conducted the first performance, though a second conductor, discreetly placed, was the one from whom the singers and musicians took their time. The two female soloists (18-year-old Henrietta Sontag and 20-year-old Caroline Unger) would both go on to have great careers.

Downtown Voices and Heritage Chorale
2020-04-25 - 2020-04-26 | New York
Stephen Sands and Donald Dumpson team up with their choirs from NYC and Philadelphia for a concert in each city celebrating the diversity of song. Details TBA

Immortal Bach - Kinnara Vocal Ensemble
2020-03-21 19:30 - 21:30 | Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church, 1 East Oak Street, Basking Ridge, NJ, 07920
Kinnara is widely recognized as one of the nation’s most talented vocal ensembles. Directed by J.D Burnett of the University of Georgia (formerly conductor of the New Jersey Youth Chorus and the Masterworks Chorus of New Jersey), Kinnara brings together many of the finest young professional singers in the South and the East. On Saturday, March 21, making their first visit to the Somerset Hills, they will present a program of music that either inspired Bach or was inspired by Bach – music by Monteverdi, Schutz, J.S. Bach himself, Brahms and Distler …. amongst others.
