AMERICAN CLASSICS Paul MORAVEC Sanctuary Road An oratorio based on the writings of William Still Libretto by Mark Campbell Laquita Mitchell, Soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis, Mezzo-soprano Joshua Blue, Tenor Malcolm J. Merriweather, Baritone Dashon Burton, Bass-baritone Oratorio Society of New York Chorus and Orchestra Kent Tritle Paul Moravec (b. 1957) Sanctuary Road Oratorio as Musical Drama extraordinary events and circumstances. Oratorio’s In the third movement, Reward! , the chorus joins the Conductor’s Note sacred associations and central use of chorus make it action as slave hunters issuing wanted posters for the A few years ago, librettist Mark Campbell and I wrote The well-suited to convey the biblical scale and suffering of capture and return of slaves to the South. The chorus Sanctuary Road began as an initiative from one of our Shining , an opera based on the Stephen King novel, for the tragedy. returns as both actor and observer in I Waited , a setting singers in the Oratorio Society of New York, Jody the Minnesota Opera. The operatic form proved to be the For Sanctuary Road , the challenge of approaching of Psalm 40 and a continuation of movement 7, This Side Spellun. Having grown up in segregated Kentucky, Jody ideal way to convey the passion in Mr. King’s terrifying the sweeping saga of the Underground Railroad called Up , in which Henry “Box” Brown recounts his amazing expressed to me a desire to address questions such as story of love and madness. Our collaboration further for a similarly large-scale canvas. The role of the chorus escape in a crate mailed from Richmond to William Still in “How could we make a statement with deep roots about convinced us of opera’s primacy in musical storytelling; as both participant and commentator in the action Philadelphia. The story goes that when the crate was racial disparity in our history?” but in Sanctuary Road , we also discovered an equal seemed an effective way to suggest the epic nature of opened, Brown stood up and recited the psalm to the We had performed in recent seasons the New York power in the form of oratorio. these stories of courage, perseverance, and sacrifice. As assembled abolitionists. The chorus’s most unusual premiere of Paul Moravec’s The Blizzard Voices . On the Opera and oratorio originated at essentially the same with all story-telling, of course, God is in the details, dramatic role comes in 15. Interlude: 1861–1865 , in strength of that experience, Ms. Spellun wished to time and place: early 17th-century Italy. Both employ solo which are recounted principally by the five soloists. which I imagine their wordless singing as the ghostly commission Paul to create a new work along these lines. singers, chorus, and orchestra to tell stories through In addressing this important chapter in American voices of fallen soldiers in the Civil War. To our delight, he and librettist Mark Campbell proposed libretti set to music, but with a few salient differences. history, Mark chose to adapt the writings of William Still, an In the Finale , Still tells of recovering his Underground an oratorio based on William Still’s The Underground Reflecting its Florentine origins, opera has been mainly a African American conductor on the Underground Railroad. Railroad records kept hidden during the War, among Railroad (1872). secular genre, whereas Rome-linked oratorio has been Still was based in Philadelphia and facilitated the escape of them letters from fugitive slaves written when they The Oratorio Society of New York performed the US generally associated with sacred subjects. Another some 800 fugitive slaves, recording in detail their accounts reached Canada. The soloists sing excerpts from the premiere of Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem in 1877, distinction between the two is oratorio’s greater emphasis and eventually compiling them in his landmark 1872 book, letters expressing gratitude to Mr. Still, and the oratorio beginning a long legacy of first performances of works in on the role of the chorus. Most obviously, opera is staged The Underground Railroad . The astonishing stories of ends with an anthem of freedom for the combined forces. the choral canon. Recent premieres include Moravec’s musical theater, whereas oratorio is traditionally Ellen Craft, Wesley Harris, and others make up the We too owe a debt of gratitude to William Still. The The Blizzard Voices , Ranjbaran’s We Are One , performed without staging, in concert. substance of the libretto’s narrative. At the center of it all activities of the Underground Railroad were necessarily Merryman’s Jonah and Filas’s Song of Solomon . Beneath these differences, however, there remains stands the majestic Mr. Still, whose words and resolute secret during its years of operation, but his “record of facts” Sanctuary Road marks a high point not only in this the common bond of enthralling musical drama delivered spirit guided me as a composer through the challenge of ensures that the courage and virtuous resolve of these tradition of premieres but in the Oratorio Society’s role in through shared conventions such as aria and recitative. imagining this work’s musical universe. people struggling for freedom will always be remembered. the creation of new works. For instance, Bach’s oratorio St. Matthew Passion stands In Mark Campbell’s libretto, William Still assumes the as one of history’s greatest musical dramas, performed roles of both narrator and active participant. As narrator, Paul Moravec Kent Tritle without staging, in concert. Stravinsky and Cocteau Still begins the oratorio by stressing the need to imaginatively combined the two genres in their 1927 document and remember the history of the Railroad, a secular “opera-oratorio” Oedipus Rex . Over the four sentiment echoed by the other solo voices and chorus centuries of its existence, oratorio has demonstrated (Write ). As an agent in the action, in movements 5, 10 , considerable durability, variety and flexibility. and 13 , Still conducts interviews with fugitive slaves for Sanctuary Road is an oratorio, the second in a series the records that will form the basis of his book. of my large-scale works I call “American historical In the second movement, Quietly , the soloists sing of The composer and librettist of Sanctuary Road, and the Oratorio Society of New York Chorus and Orchestra, oratorios.” My first was The Blizzard Voices , commissioned their longing for freedom from slavery. On the words express our profound gratitude to Joanne Abell Spellun for supporting the creation, and premiered by Opera Omaha in 2008, with a libretto “May not be tomorrow” they introduce what might be performance, and recording of this work. by Ted Kooser, about the “Children’s Blizzard” which called the “freedom” musical theme that runs throughout Our sincere thanks also go to Larry Madison, Sue Dramm, Bruce Patrick, Denise Sobel, devastated the Great Plains in 1888. Ted’s libretto is the oratorio, returning at pivotal dramatic points in The William and Lesleigh Forsyth, and Richard and Lois Pace for their contributions to this recording. based on the actual words of the blizzard’s survivors: Same Train , This Side Up , Interview/Ensemble , Rain , plain-speaking, ordinary people describing the most and, most crucially, the Finale . SANCTUARY ROAD Authentic narrative, letters, et cetera, WILLIAM STILL BARITONE Narrating the hardships, Write it down. Emiline Chapman… An oratorio based on the writings of William Still, Hairbreadth escapes, Write it. Charlotte Giles… conductor for the Underground Railroad. And death-struggles, Write. Our testimony… Of the slaves in their efforts of freedom, Record. Our testimony… Commissioned and premiered by the Oratorio Society of As related by themselves and others, Recount. New York Orchestra and Chorus through the generous Or witnessed by the author; Chronicle. SOLOISTS support of Joanne Abell Spellun. Together with sketches of Write. Our sacrifices. Write it down, 1 Some of the largest stock-holders WRITE And most liberal aiders and Every word. WILLIAM STILL William Still, Soloists, Chorus Advisors of the road, Every word they say, From cities and plantations, By William Still.” Every detail. Rice swamps and cotton fields, SOPRANO Every sentence, Kitchens and mechanic shops, Sarah Grace… MEZZO-SOPRANO Every phrase, From cruel masters, and kind masters, A slave all her days… Escaped on the roof of a train… Every syllable. They arrived. Separated from her family… Cordelia Loney… Write it down. By steamer, by skiff, Write it. By train, on foot, Ellen Craft… Emiline Chapman… Write. Shipped in a crate… Sold three times. Charlotte Giles. They arrived. WILLIAM STILL MEZZO-SOPRANO TENOR Set it to paper. CHORUS + SOLOISTS [Overlapping with above.] [Overlapping with above.] Preserve every story, every fact, Our testimony. Clarissa Davis… Wesley Harris… Every event. Our stories cannot be forgotten. Born in Martinsburg… On horseback all night… Preserve, collect, Our testimony, A slave all of her life… On foot… Compile every testimony. Our stories will be repeated, A slave all of her days. On a steamer… Talbot Johnson… Over and over. SOPRANO Our testimony will never be forgotten. TENOR A slave all of his life… John Henry Pettifoot. Clarissa Davis… Our struggles, [Overlapping with above.] Harriet Eglan… Our triumphs, Wesley Harris… Ellen Craft… Our sacrifices, Talbot Johnson… SOPRANO [Overlapping with above.] Mary Epps… Will be remembered, Fled from Richmond… Our struggles, Remembered. On horseback all night. Separated from her family… Henry Brown… MEZZO-SOPRANO BARITONE SOLO + BARITONE CHORUS Owner had five-hundred slaves… BARITONE Cordelia Loney… Our testimony, Edmundson Turner. [Overlapping with above.] Sarah Grace… Our stories cannot be forgotten. Barnaby Grigby… Our struggles… Our testimony, BARITONE Isaac Jackson… Our stories will be repeated, [Overlapping with above.] Fled from Charleston… TENOR Over and over. Isaac Jackson… Samuel Green. Isaac Jackson… Our testimony will never be forgotten. Fled from Charleston… Sam Green… Write it down. WILLIAM STILL Fled from Atlanta… Robert Carr… Every word they say, [Spoken.] Hid in a cave for one year. Our stories, Every word, “The Underground Railroad. Every detail will be remembered. A record of facts, Remembered. 3 WILLIAM STILL MEZZO-SOPRANO REWARD! BARITONE Josiah Jackson… Their testimony will never be forgotten. Spoken, spoken, Chorus, Soloists Robert Carr… Write it, Spoken in a whisper, Wesley Harris… Write, Too good to be true, CHORUS Sam Green… Write, Free. Reward will be paid! Runaway slave! Write it down. Age… TENOR Every word they say, BARITONE + TENOR Appearance… Emiline Chapman… Every word, every detail. Hard to believe, Countenance… Sarah Grace… Dip the quill in the well. Not a hope in Heaven, Demeanor… Clarissa Davis… Draw, draw from it deeply, But there it is, Last seen… Deeply, and write. Even just a chance, Reward will be paid! TENOR Write it down. They must never know. Runaway, runaway slave! John Henry Proudfoot… Write it, Saj Tracey… Write. MEZZO-SOPRANO + SOPRANO BARITONE + TENOR CHORUS Record. Quietly, quietly. Reward. ALTO Recount. They must never hear. Sarah Grace… Chronicle. CHORUS Clarissa Davis… Write, SOLOISTS $100… Write it, One little word, $2000… ALTO Write, One sweet little word, $400… Cordelia Loney… Write. Free. $1600… Barnaby Grigby… 2 QUIETLY MEZZO-SOPRANO + SOPRANO SOPRANO + ALTO CHORUS CHORUS Soloists Free, Will be paid. AGE: To be your own person, BARITONE To have your own life, BASS + TENOR CHORUS CHORUS Spoken in a whisper, For the apprehension… Twenty-nine… Spoken in a whisper, TENOR + BARITONE Forty years of age… Quietly, quietly, To raise your own family, BARITONE CHORUS Thirty-four years old… Just a rumor, Free to have your own life, For the safe return… Thirty-six… Too good to be true, Fifty-nine years old… Free. SOLOISTS CHORUS Between nineteen and twenty-two… Your own soul. For the arrest and confinement… Older than he looks… TENOR May not be tomorrow, Of a runaway slave. Sixty-four… Spoken, spoken in a whisper May take us a while. They both are twenty-five… Spoken in a whisper, Imagine it, BARITONE Forty-seven years old… Younger than her years… Never too loud, Pray for it, Talbot Johnson… On the verge of womanhood… Just a rumor, Find a way, Edward Morgan… Lies about his age. Too good to be true, Make it come to be, Mary Epps… Too good to be true, Quietly, CHORUS Free. Quietly, APPEARANCE: Free. 4 6 CHORUS THE SAME TRAIN (ELLEN CRAFT) No one knows. RUN I (WESLEY HARRIS) Five feet seven inches… Mezzo-soprano solo Not a soul. Tenor solo A little over five feet… They see me as a sick, white gentleman, High cheekbones… MEZZO-SOPRANO A sick white gentleman, TENOR A little bowlegged… He doesn’t know. Who has his own valet – Run, run, Broad across the shoulders… He doesn’t know. A black man who sits with the other slaves, Run through the woods, Round featured… He shuffles into the train, In the other car. Along the creek, Stoops while walking… Huffs a “hello,” But he’s not my valet. Past the marsh, Face rough… And sits across from me, That man is not my valet. Up the ridge, A scar above his eye… Right across from me. He’s the man I will marry, Down the hill. Small mustache and beard… My master’s brother. The man I will marry in Philadelphia. Avoid the trail, Thickset and stout made. I’m done for. He’s in a different car. Avoid the road, I’m finished. But we’re on the same train, Avoid the port, CHORUS He sees through my disguise! Humming along like a hymn, Anywhere they wait, DEMEANOR: Knows I’m a slave. All the way to Philadelphia, Anywhere they wait, Throws me in jail, To Philadelphia. To stop you. BARITONE + TENOR CHORUS Has me whipped, 5 Run, run, run... Arrogant eyes… Shot, INTERVIEW I 7 Worse. William Still, Baritone solo THIS SIDE UP (HENRY “BOX” BROWN) SOPRANO + ALTO CHORUS But... but he doesn’t know. Baritone solo A happy countenance… He does not know. WILLIAM STILL Last night I served him leg of mutton, How old are you? BARITONE CHORUS Sweet potatoes, They can’t seem to read. Can read and write well… Blueberry pie. BARITONE They don’t seem to know. Plays on the violin… Poured his wine, Thirty-two years old, first day of June. The crate I’m in, A confident manner… Cleared his plates, It says: Quick-spoken… Twice folded his napkin. WILLIAM STILL “THIS SIDE UP WITH CARE” Laughs a good deal… Everything but chew his food for him. Were you born a slave? This side up with care. Of awkward manners… Last night I was a slave: In big, big letters. Stammers some. Young, female, black. BARITONE To clarify: Reward will be paid! Today I’m a gentleman: Yes. “This Side Up” is above me, LAST SEEN: Old, feeble, and white, Not below. On their way up north… At death’s door, WILLIAM STILL Been on a cart, [Coughs theatrically.] How have you been treated? On a train, SOLOISTS On my way to see my “doctor” in Philadelphia, On a steamer, New York… Dressed up in a fine suit, BARITONE And on a train again. Boston… Tinted glasses, Badly all the time. It’ll be twenty-six hours since I had myself A free state… A little powder to lighten my skin, Nailed in a shipping crate. Philadelphia… My head bandaged up. It’ll be twenty-six hours of being thrown I pretend not to hear This way and that, CHORUS If someone speaks to me. Of not seeing the light of day, Philadelphia. But no one does. Of not moving a muscle, Of not saying a word, Run, SOPRANO/MEZZO-SOPRANO SOPRANO + MEZZO-SOPRANO Twenty-six hours of breathing through a Go, By gout / By scarlet fever. (Like that man, Hole in this box Run, Walking right toward us...) No bigger than a button. Hide under a house, SOPRANO + MEZZO-SOPRANO Then it’s... My brain may burst from being Hide in a cave, So sudden, “Oh, oh, Upside down. In a hollow, So, so, so sudden, Poor, poor Aunt Abigail. And my eyeballs may explode. Up a tree, Too soon, too soon, Will our suffering ever cease? But it’s worth every second, In a barn, Oh, oh, oh...” Every second of those twenty-six hours, Hide, SOPRANO Even if I’m caught, Then run, Plucked from our arms. SOPRANO Even if I’m beaten, Run again... How many tears? Even if they hang me from a tree, 0 MEZZO-SOPRANO For just a chance, INTERVIEW II By the clutches of death. MEZZO-SOPRANO For the slightest chance, William Still, Soprano solo The dimmest hope, How many sobs, For just a chance, WILLIAM STILL SOPRANO + MEZZO-SOPRANO The slightest chance, What do you mean by Oh, oh, oh, SOPRANO The dimmest hope that this crate, Being treated badly? Poor Aunt Abigail. How many whimpers, This crate I mailed myself in arrives, Will our suffering ever, Safe and sound in Philadelphia. SOPRANO Ever cease? SOPRANO + MEZZO-SOPRANO Philadelphia. Have been whipped and sold three times. So far, so good, How many whimpers? Now if only these fools could READ. On this train. How many “ohs?” And how many nose-blows, 8 WILLIAM STILL I WAITED What was the name of your master? SOPRANO To Philadelphia? Chorus No one wants to question, To Philadelphia... SOPRANO @ CHORUS Fleming Bibbs. SOPRANO + MEZZO-SOPRANO RUN III (WESLEY HARRIS) I waited, No one wants to trouble, Tenor solo, Chorus I waited patiently for the Lord, WILLIAM STILL The black women in black, And He inclined unto me, Where did he live? Their faces covered in veils. TENOR And heard my calling. But we’re not in mourning, Run, run, 9 SOPRANO We’re not in mourning, Run through the woods, RUN II (WESLEY HARRIS) Caroline County. And poor Aunt Abigail, Along the creek, Tenor solo ! She doesn’t exist. Past the marsh, AUNT ABIGAIL (HARRIET EGLAN, Up the ridge, TENOR CHARLOTTE GILES) MEZZO-SOPRANO Down the hill. Run, Mezzo-soprano solo + Soprano solo And if someone looks askance, Avoid the trail, Go, Avoid the road, Run, SOPRANO + MEZZO-SOPRANO SOPRANO Avoid the port, Quicker than the wind, Oh, oh, oh, If someone suspects, Anywhere they wait, Quicker than their horses, Poor, poor Aunt Abigail. Anywhere they wait, Quicker than their whips, Summoned to Heaven To stop you. Quicker than their bullets. Too, too, too early Run, $ Go, CHORUS RAIN (CLARISSA DAVIS) I’ll dance in that rain. Run, You don’t hear it. Soprano solo, Soloists I’ll dance in that rain, Quicker than the wind, You don’t feel it. I’ll dance. Quicker than their horses, SOPRANO Quicker than their whips, TENOR Come down, rain. SOPRANO Quicker than their bullets. There was no shot. Come down hard. I’ll dance. Run all day, all night. And it’s so close, So close... Come down fast. % CHORUS So close... Come down Noah’s Ark heavy. INTERLUDE: 1861 –1865 All day, all night. You can wrap your arms around it... Empty the streets, Chorus Empty the squares of those ^ TENOR CHORUS Who might want to catch me. FINALE Was that a voice? You can taste it. Empty the streets of those William Still, Soloists, Chorus You’re nearly there. Who might want to stop me, CHORUS Who might want to hurt me, WILLIAM STILL You don’t hear it. TENOR Who might want to kill me. Five years since I hid these records. So close... nearly there... Five years, TENOR # SOPRANO Five terrible years since the start of the war. Was that a face? INTERVIEW III Double the darkness of this night, And fearing the outcome, William Still, Soloists That I might slip away, Concealed them in a shelf in CHORUS Like a shadow, Lebanon Cemetery. You don’t see it. WILLIAM STILL And get to the boat The war is done. We’re giving you some new clothing. That will take me up North The records must be recovered. TENOR A good meal. To liberty, Gently, gently, Was that a shadow? Money, and a ticket away from here. To my own life. So that they don’t fall apart. To New York and then Boston Come down, rain. Gently... and pray that no moisture or mice TENOR + BARITONE CHORUS And then further north. Come down hard. Got in to trouble the page, Don’t look back. Talk to no-one. Come down fast. To trouble the fate of their testimony. Don’t look around. Don’t look around. Come down Noah’s Ark heavy. Do not look back. And when I’m free, Survived. CHORUS Keep on moving. When I’m free, Not there. Keep on going until you’re I’ll dance in that rain that hid me, Every page, Over the border. That saved me, Every record, TENOR That delivered me to freedom. Every handbill, Was that a shot? SOLOISTS Every account, New clothing. SOLOISTS Every letter, CHORUS A good meal. Come down, rain. And here, You don’t hear it? And a ticket away from here. Come down hard. The best letters, Talk to no-one. Come down fast. The ones from Canada, TENOR Don’t look around. Come down Noah’s Ark heavy. Sent when they got there. Was that another shot? Do not look back. And when I’m free, Sent when they first knew freedom. Keep on moving. When I’m free Sent when they first saw their new flag Keep on going. And shook hands with the lion’s paw. MEZZO-SOPRANO WILLIAM STILL SOLOISTS SOLOISTS + WILLIAM STILL Dear Mister Still... Every word they say. I wish all in bondage were as Shout from every roof top, I take this method of informing you... Every detail. Well off as I am… In health and mind... Every phrase. I must request from you to write ALL SOLO + CHORUS Every syllable. A few lines to my wife… Loud as can be, TENOR Write every story, If my brother is well send him on Joyfully, My dear friend Mister Still... Every detail... For I have a place for him… Finally come true… Excuse me for not writing sooner... Send me word if any of our friends As I don’t write myself... SOLOISTS Have been passing through… SOLOISTS + WILLIAM STILL [Overlapping.] I am grateful for my liberty… Free. BARITONE Much pleased with Toronto… Obliged to you for all you have done and Free. Dear brother in Christ... Made a good start… For your kindness… One sweet little word. As I don’t write myself... Endeavored to make every day When I was in distress and Everyone must hear, Tell for itself… Out of doors you took me in… Everyone must know. SOPRANO I will open a shop for myself… I was hungry and you fed me. Dear Sir... I go to work this morning… CHORUS That I am well... Went right to work at the Willard House… SOPRANO + TENOR Thou shalt not deliver For these things God will reward you. Unto his master the servant SOPRANO + MEZZO-SOPRANO MEZZO-SOPRANO + SOPRANO Who has escaped his master I arrived safe into Canada… $16 a month… MEZZO-SOPRANO + BARITONE Unto thee. I arrived on Friday last… I hope to meet you all again. And I am happy to tell you I am well… SOLOISTS SOLOISTS, WILLIAM STILL + CHORUS $5 a week… SOPRANO + TENOR Shout from every rooftop, WILLIAM STILL I shall, with the help of the Lord, If not on Earth may we so live... Loud as can be: Write it. Go to school… Free. Recount every word. I have no master in Canada, SOLOISTS Record every syllable. But I am my own man… That we shall meet in that happy land [THE END.] Learning to read and write… Where tears and parting are never known. TENOR Shaking hands with the lion’s paw. MEZZO-SOPRANO + SOPRANO CHORUS © 2018 by Mark Campbell. All rights reserved. No part of this Hear that big cat roar. The wedding takes place on Saturday… Shaking hands, publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in I’m unbound, Shaking hands with the lion’s paw. any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, Unchained, SOLOISTS + WILLIAM STILL or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior Unshackled. Shaking hands with the lion’s paw. SOLOISTS + CHORUS written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief A slave no more. In the nick of time. Here I know I’ll stay. quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other Fin’lly found a place The sky, noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission Where freedom is not a crime. The land, requests, contact the Barbara Hogenson Agency, 165 West The whole world is mine today. End Ave # 19C, New York, NY 10023. 212-874-8084.

Libretto included with the kind permission of Mark Campbell. Paul Moravec Laquita Mitchell

Paul Moravec, recipient of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in Music, has composed Laquita Mitchell has earned acclaim on international stages numerous orchestral, chamber, lyric, choral and operatic works. He holds the including the Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, unique position of University Professor at . His best known Washington National Opera, and the New York Philharmonic. In works are , The Time Gallery , and operas and The addition to global live performances, she is seen in her signature Shining . His catalog of nearly 200 published compositions is available at role as Bess in Porgy and Bess on DVD from San Francisco www.subitomusic.com Opera and PBS broadcast.

www.paulmoravec.com www.laquitamitchellsoprano.com

Raehann Bryce-Davis

Photo: Joanna Eldredge Mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis’s recent credits include Don Carlos , Satyagraha , Sadko , Der fliegende Holländer (Opera Vlaanderen); La Favorite (Teatro Massimo, Palermo); Elgar’s Sea Pictures (Musikverein Wien); Verdi’s Mark Campbell Requiem (Carnegie Hall); and Die Ring-Trilogie (Theater an der Wien). She is a 2018 recipient of the prestigious George London Award. Mark Campbell has written thirty-five opera librettos, seven musicals, five song cycles and two oratorios. His best-known works are Silent Night (2012 Pulitzer www.raehann.com Prize for Music) and The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (2019 GRAMMY Award). Other operas include Stonewall , Elizabeth Cree , As One , The Shining , and Later the Same Evening .

www.markcampbellwords.com Joshua Blue Dashon Burton

British-American tenor Joshua Blue’s career has taken him to The Kennedy Center, Critically acclaimed by , bass-baritone Dashon Burton has Carnegie Hall, and the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival. He has sung with the established an international career in opera, recital, and in many works with Washington National Opera, , Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Theatre of orchestra. He is also active in education, activism, and is interested in music of all Saint Louis, and with the National Symphony Orchestra. Blue attended the Oberlin kinds. Conservatory of Music and The Juilliard School. He is currently a Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist with the Washington National Opera. www.dashonburton.com

www.joshuabluetenor.com

Photo: Daniel Delang

Photo: Arielle Doneson

Malcolm J. Merriweather Oratorio Society of New York

Conductor and baritone Malcolm J. Merriweather is music director of The Dessoff Since its founding by Leopold Damrosch, the Oratorio Society of New York has been an essential part of New York Choirs and assistant professor at Brooklyn College. He has conducted ensembles in City’s cultural fabric, and is one of the city’s oldest cultural organizations. The Oratorio Society presented its first venues from Carnegie Hall to the Vatican before Pope Francis, and has been concert on December 3 1873. One year later, on Christmas night, the Society began what has become an unbroken featured as a baritone soloist throughout the US. tradition of annual performances of Handel’s Messiah , given at Carnegie Hall since its opening in 1891. The Oratorio Society has given world, US, and New York premieres of works as diverse as Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem (1877), www.malcolmjmerriweather.com Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette (1882), a full-concert production of Wagner’s Parsifal at the Metropolitan Opera House (1886), Britten’s The World of the Spirit (1998), Filas’s Requiem (2015), Moravec’s The Blizzard Voices (2013) and Sanctuary Road (2018), and Ranjbaran’s We Are One (2018). On its 100th anniversary the Oratorio Society received the Handel Medallion, ’s highest cultural award, in recognition of these contributions.

www.oratoriosocietyofny.org Photo: Tim Dwight

Kent Tritle

Kent Tritle is one of America’s leading choral conductors. Music director of the Oratorio Society of New York since 2005, he is also director of cathedral music and organist at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City and music director of Musica Sacra, the longest continuously performing professional chorus in New York.

www.kenttritle.com

Photo: Jennifer Taylor Paul

MOR(b. 1A957V) EC

Sanctuary Road (2017) AMERICAN CLASSICS 1 Libretto by Mark C!ampbell (b. 1953) 2 1. Write 6:06 @ 11. Aunt Abigail 3:34 After the success of his opera The 3 2. Quietly 2:26 # 12. Run III 2:14 Shining , Pulitzer Prize-winning composer 4 3. Reward! 2:27 $ 13. Interview III 1:27 Paul Moravec has once again 5 4. The Same Train 4:52 % 14. Rain 4:00 6 5. Interview I 0:52 15. Interlude: collaborated with librettist Mark 7 6. Run I 1:13 ^ 1861–1865 3:41 Campbell to create the second of his 7. This Side Up 3:27 16. Finale 9:23 8 & “American historical oratorios.” 9 8. I Waited 2:29 “Write It!” – Reflections 0 9. Run II 0:50 on Sanctuary Road 20:34 Sanctuary Road draws on the astonishing 10. Interview II 0:44 stories to be found in William Still’s WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING book The Underground Railroad , which 1 3 0 ! # $ ^ documents the network of secret routes – Laquita Mitchell, Soprano 1 4 ! # ^ and safe houses used by African – Raehann Bryce-Davis, Mezz1o-3so 6p r9a @no # ^ American slaves to escape into free – states and Canada during the early- to Joshua Blue, Tenor 1 3 5 7 # ^ – mid-1800s. The epic nature of these Malcolm J. Merriweather, Baritone1 5 0 # ^ Dashon Burton, Bass-baritone stories of courage, perseverance and sacrifice is transformed into an Orator1i o3 S8o @c i%et ^ y of New York enthralling saga, heard here at its world Chorus and Orchestra premiere performance at Carnegie Kent Tritle Hall – a performance acclaimed by The English libretto is included in the booklet, and may also BroadwayWorld for its “riveting, pulsating be accessed at www.naxos.com/libretti/559884.htm wall of sound [and] stellar soloists.” Recorded live: 7 May 2018 at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY, USA Producer: Richard Pace www.naxos.com Recording engineer: Leszek Wojcik Editing, mixing and mastering: Joseph Branciforte Pl aying Booklet notes: Paul Moravec and Kent Tritle Time : Publisher: Subito Music Publishing Cover: William Still by an unknown photographer 70:43