Sunday, October 30 at 7:00 p.m. Westminster Kantorei, conducted by Andrew Megill, will present its first program of the 2005-2006 season at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in New York City, a venue ideally suited for the concert repertoire.

The program will include Dietrich Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri, a cycle of seven brief cantatas so renowned in their time that Bach walked 300 miles to hear them performed, as well as Cantata 4 of J.S. Bach, Christ lag in Todesbanden and Fürwahr, er trug unsere Krankheit from Hugo Distler’s Geistliche Chormusik, Op. 12, a work heavily influenced in music and spirit by the musical traditions of Bach and Buxtehude. 

Specializing in vocal music of the Renaissance and Baroque eras, Westminster Kantorei is a chamber choir composed of 16 students from Westminster Choir College of Rider University.  Its 2004-2005 season included a concert entitled “Blessed: German Requiems before Brahms,” a program of German Baroque masterpieces by Schütz, Bach, and Telemann in collaboration with some of the East Coast’s finest Baroque instrumentalists.  Other highlights of Kantorei’s inaugural year were an appearance at the BachFest at Princeton Theological Seminary and “Tenebrae,” a celebration of light and darkness featuring settings for the Tenebrae service by Gesualdo, Couperin and Tallis, sung by candlelight.

Andrew Megill is recognized as one of the leading choral conductors of his generation, known for his passionate artistry and unusually wide-ranging repertoire, extending from early music to newly-composed works.   

Dr. Megill currently holds four significant positions.  Since 1989, he has served as artistic director of Fuma Sacra, recognized as one of America's leading professional ensembles specializing in Renaissance and Baroque vocal music.  He is also music director of the Masterwork Chorus, one of metropolitan New York’s finest volunteer choirs, and, for the past 11 years, he has served as chorusmaster for the operas of the Spoleto Festival USA.  He is also associate professor at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, where he conducts the Westminster Kantorei.  

Andrew Megill has prepared choruses for many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, including the American Composers’ Orchestra, American Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, National Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, New York Philharmonic and the Mark Morris Dance Company, for conductors including Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Neemi Järvi, and Zdenek Macal.

Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church is located at 213 W. 82^nd Street in New York City.  Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for seniors and students and will be sold at the door.  For information call the church at (212) 787-0634.