Cerddorion Vocal Ensemble

Cerddorion Vocal Ensemble Based in New York City, Cerddorion is a mixed chamber choir named for the Welsh word for “musicians."

Cerddorion is a mixed chamber choir dedicated to outstanding performances of adventurous programs that span the breadth of the choral repertoire from medieval polyphony to new compositions. As befits its name (cerddorion is Welsh for “musicians”), the ensemble aspires to musicianship in the fullest sense, using the human voice to explore and fulfill the expressive potential of the art.

Come see Cerddorion perform Judy A. Rose’s piece, “Walk in Beauty, Walk in Light” at our upcoming concert, “Our Singing ...
04/30/2026

Come see Cerddorion perform Judy A. Rose’s piece, “Walk in Beauty, Walk in Light” at our upcoming concert, “Our Singing Must Not Cease,” on May 3rd, 3pm at St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church.

Get your tickets 🎟️ here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-singing-must-not-cease-tickets-1987073939644?aff=oddtdtcreator

Rose says this of her piece: “My piece is not a direct response to Thompson’s piece; it is written to go alongside his brilliant work in more of a modern style. I sat down with a pencil and paper and wrote down Thompson’s titles and thought carefully of how I would modernize my titles. I intentionally decided not to use scripture, as sometimes scripture misses the mark of being fully inclusive. I did include “Woe Unto You” from Isaiah 5.

Throughout my generative writing process, I was guided by these essential questions: 1. Is it possible to live in a peaceable kingdom? 2. Is peace possible? and 3. Can we return to our original light? I ponder these questions every day. I believe “we were born to sing and our singing must not cease; like the song of the bird, may we be forever heard.”

In the midst of global upheaval, it is uncomfortable to deal with daily conflict that arises when tensions are mounting all around us. It is my hope that people will continue to have the courage to speak up to protect and support one another instead of remaining silent. As a composition, Walk In Beauty, Walk In Light is an honoring of the natural world, of healing fractured relationships, raising our voices and continuing to work for peace, justice, and transformation for all beings.”

Come see Cerddorion perform Rubén García Martín’s piece, “Your Voice (Faise Voz),” at our upcoming concert, “Our Singing...
04/29/2026

Come see Cerddorion perform Rubén García Martín’s piece, “Your Voice (Faise Voz),” at our upcoming concert, “Our Singing Must Not Cease,” at St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church on May 3rd at 3pm.

Get your tickets 🎟️ here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-singing-must-not-cease-tickets-1987073939644?aff=oddtdtcreator

Composer Rubén García Martín, of Zamora, Spain, is second-prize winner of Cerddorion’s 2026 Emerging Composers Competition. A professor at the Conservatory of Music in Oviedo, he has gained recognition in competitions both within Spain and internationally.

García Martín’s piece “Your Voice (Faise Voz)”, premiering at our May 3 concert in New York, is a setting of three Asturian poems by writer Berta Piñán, a colleague of the composer’s at Oviedo.

“My work is mainly focused on exploring the relationship between text and sound,” he writes, “seeking a natural balance between the prosody of the word and choral textures.” His particular interest in the poetry of Emily Dickinson, has resulted in various pieces, including the electronic work La ventana d’Emily Dickinson.

Combining composition with his work as a professor, he notes, “allows me to stay in constant contact with music theory and analysis… For me, composing is simply a way to keep learning and to try to build small bridges between poetry and music.”

Come see Cerddorion perform “Invictus” by David Perkins at our upcoming concert, “Our Singing Must Not Cease,” at St. Ig...
04/27/2026

Come see Cerddorion perform “Invictus” by David Perkins at our upcoming concert, “Our Singing Must Not Cease,” at St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church on May 3rd, 3pm.

Get your tickets 🎟️ here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-singing-must-not-cease-tickets-1987073939644?aff=oddtdtcreator

David Perkins, first-prize winner of our 2026 Emerging Composer’s Competition, is a pianist, composer, and arranger based in Shepperton, England.

Active in regional choral, theatrical, and operatic productions, he has taken special interest in supporting young people in the arts, especially through his 25-year association with Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. He served as musical director there for more than 70 productions and composed scores for over 20 musicals. He also works for the charity Liberty Choir, which takes music into prisons with the aim of “unlocking hearts through song.”

His winning composition, premiering on our May 3 program, is an unaccompanied setting of William Ernest Henley’s 1875 poem Invictus, best known for the closing couplet, I am the master of my fate,/ I am the captain of my soul.

“Moved by the emotional resonance of Henley’s writing,” the composer writes, “I was compelled to compose a musical setting that would uphold and amplify the message of strength, without diminishing the impact of the original poem.”

Have ye not heard about the upcoming Cerddorion concert, “Our Singing Must Not Cease”? Get your tickets for May 3rd at 3...
04/23/2026

Have ye not heard about the upcoming Cerddorion concert, “Our Singing Must Not Cease”? Get your tickets for May 3rd at 3pm at St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church!

Here is a sneak peek of Judy A. Rose’s piece, “Walk in Beauty, Walk in Light.” We hope you enjoy!

Randall Thompson’s monumental a ca****la cantata The Peaceable Kingdom forms the centerpiece of Cerddorion’s season fina...
04/21/2026

Randall Thompson’s monumental a ca****la cantata The Peaceable Kingdom forms the centerpiece of Cerddorion’s season finale, “Our Singing Must Not Cease,” on May 3 at St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church.

Get your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-singing-must-not-cease-tickets-1987073939644?aff=oddtdtcreator

A native of New York, Thompson earned bachelors and master’s degrees from Harvard and studied privately for a year with composer Ernest Bloch. In 1922, he became only the third American composer to earn the coveted
Prix de Rome, and he continued refining his craft at the American Academy in Rome through 1925. Back in the United States, Thompson assumed posts at Wellesley College and the University of California, Berkeley, before serving as Director of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. After several additional posts, he returned to Harvard after World War II, where he served as chairman until retiring in 1965.

Known primarily for his a ca****la choral music, most of it in English, Thompson remained a staunch defender of tonality and – horrors! – accessibility, cautioning against undue influence by the European avant garde. Far from simplistic, however, his distinctive compositional style melds influences as diverse as the Sacred Harp school of hymnody from the American South and the great antiphonal works of the late Renaissance.

One can readily discern these influences in The Peaceable Kingdom, widely regarded as Thompson’s finest work. A setting of passages from Isaiah, the work paints a stark musical contrast between God’s unsparing ferocity
toward the wicked and the harmonious joy awaiting the righteous.

Join Cerddorion this Sunday as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s passing. We will be performing ...
02/23/2026

Join Cerddorion this Sunday as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s passing. We will be performing some of his most cherished choral compositions, as well as some lesser known pieces, including his 1938 work, Advance Democracy. This powerful work urged listeners to rise up and unite against the threat of fascism in Europe.

🗓️⛪️Sunday, March 1st, 3pm @ St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church (West End Ave & 87th St) Talk-back and reception to follow!

🎟️⬆️Purchase tickets at the link in our bio above

🎶 🕊️ On Sunday, we’ll kick off our 2025-26 season with “Why the Caged Bird Sings,” featuring music spanning five centuri...
11/15/2025

🎶 🕊️ On Sunday, we’ll kick off our 2025-26 season with “Why the Caged Bird Sings,” featuring music spanning five centuries from Josquin des Prez to Caroline Shaw. We hope you’ll join us for this powerful program celebrating the resilience of the human spirit in the face of oppression, and look forward to sharing music of hope, redemption, and love.

🗓️ ⛪️ Sunday, November 16th, 3pm @ St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church (West End Ave & 87th St). Reception to follow!

🎟️ ⬆️ Purchase tickets at the link in our bio above

✨SPOTLIGHT✨Hi, I’m Cathy and I have been singing as long as I can remember. I know well the joy and the fear!My older br...
01/14/2025

✨SPOTLIGHT✨

Hi, I’m Cathy and I have been singing as long as I can remember. I know well the joy and the fear!

My older brother played in a folk group, so the first songs I recall singing were from the Peter, Paul, and Mary albums. I sang in elementary school, junior high, high school and college -- in musicals, concert choirs and chamber groups. I played piano and guitar and even had a very high soprano range! Since moving to NY, I have sung for weddings and funerals, in church and gospel choirs, assorted choral groups, some ‘interesting’ original musicals, operas in (and out of) the Park, and symphonic choir gigs in the big halls. I have been lucky to sing with such talented and trained ensemble members, soloists, and conductors – some in the early stages of their soon-to-be-big careers and others established – from serious to silly: memorably, among others, under the stick of George Weigle, Alan Gilbert, Dennis Russell Davies, Kent Tritle, and Peter Schickele.

In the late 90s, I was taking voice lessons from the founder of Cerddorion, Susanne Peck, and singing in her other group, Charis. A spot opened up and I joined Cerddorion Sept. 1999 and began my bi-sectionality. 😊 I was on the Board for over a decade and served as President for about 7 years. The group has had many incarnations and people passing through over these 30 years. Our 3 artistic directors – Susanne Peck, Kristina Boerger, and Jim John – brought their own special style to the helm and our members have been consistently talented with many professional musicians among us. Cerddorion is an inviting and warm place to sing and Jim John is kind and encouraging and has an encyclopedic knowledge for programming. He and the Board have engineered interesting collaborations and enabled emerging composers to be heard. Also, I have enjoyed singing with several core members over all of these years, experiencing various personal and global (and vocal!) matters together.

Other Musical Mentions:
The Village Light Opera Group. vlog.org
Gramercy Brass Orchestra of NY: www.gramercybrass.org and
Gramercy Brass Band Camp: www.facebook.com/GBBCamp
Cathedral of St. John the Divine: www.stjohndivine.org/music
5d

Today we are featuring composer Shanan Estreicher, whose piece, Lean, Fire (with text by Laura Reece Hogan) will be perf...
01/03/2025

Today we are featuring composer Shanan Estreicher, whose piece, Lean, Fire (with text by Laura Reece Hogan) will be performed at our upcoming concert, "Prophecies, Mystics, and Music of the Spheres," on Sunday, March 2 at 3pm at St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church.

🎟️Tickets🎟️ are available now: https://www.facebook.com/events/957580482385118/

Shanan Estreicher is a composer and songwriter living in New York City. He studied music at the Manhattan School of Music and Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. He has composed orchestral, choral, and chamber music, art songs, and music for theater, TV, and film. His compositions have been performed at Carnegie Hall and featured on NBC, Lifetime, and Fox. His songwriting work includes five albums as a solo artist and with the alt-country group The Brown Trousers.

Lean, Fire is a commission from Cerddorion Vocal Ensemble to celebrate its 30th anniversary.

The first movement, "Fireball," is a celebratory fanfare that draws inspiration from the Venetian polychoral style of the late Renaissance. The music depicts a "meteorite grazing the atmosphere." The focus shifts from the image of the "green flashing ball" to the divine force that propels all things in the universe.

The second movement, "Universal Law of Turbulence," is a chant-like meditation on the mathematical law of turbulence and its parallels with the “seeming chaos” of our existence. The musical phrases struggle to find resolution and yearn for a final cadence, reflecting how this law resonates with our humanity, as we “divide neatly into whirlpools of uncertainty.”

The work concludes with "Super Supernova," a dramatic journey that begins with the tenor narrating the story of a hawk and an orbiting raven. The upper voices evoke echoes of early Medieval sacred vocal textures. The journey reaches its climax with “the brightest supernova ever recorded.” After experiencing the grandeur of nature, we are left in awe, contemplating our own finitude. The movement ends with a prayer, inviting us to enter into divine love, to “lean, fire, into the collapsing kiss.”



Laura Reece Hogan Shanan Estreicher University of Nebraska Press

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