The Clarion Choir was formed in 2006 and made their Lincoln Center debut in 2011, performing Bach Chorales as part of the White Light Festival. The Choir has a focus on Baroque and Classical repertoire. But over the last decade, they have also expanded into later literature, developing a particular speciality in the choral music of Rachmaninoff and his contemporaries.

In 2014, the choir gave the New York premiere of a lost Russian masterwork from the 1920s, Passion Week by Maximilian Steinberg. In October of 2016, Clarion premiered the work in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and London. Their performances were featured on PBS, and their recording of the work, the Choir’s debut recording, received nominations for a GRAMMY® and for BBC Music Magazine’s Choral Award. The Choir has since performed and recorded other works from this period, such as Kastalsky’s Memory Eternal, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Classical charts, and Kastalsky’s Requiem, which received ‘Editor’s Choice’ in Gramophone. In 2023, the Choir performed and recorded Rachmaninoff’s large-scale sacred choral works in celebration of the composer’s 150th birthday, a project that was featured in the New York Times and BBC Music Magazine. The Choir sang Rachmaninoff’s Liturgy of St. John at New Year in 2023 and the All-Night Vigil (‘Vespers’) at Carnegie Hall in May of 2023. Their recently-released recording of the Vespers was nominated for a GRAMMY® for Best Choral Performance.

In 2019 and 2023, the Choir joined The English Concert and Harry Bicket for their annual Handel tour, performing Handel’s Semele and Solomon, respectively, in the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, the Barbican Centre in London, Cal Performances in Berkeley, Théatre des Champs Elysée in Paris, LA Opera and Carnegie Hall. The Clarion Choir has also performed regularly in recent years as part of the Live Arts series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art;. They have presented large-scale Renaissance works by Victoria, Palestrina, Tavener, Josquin, Ockeghem and Guerrero in the Medieval Sculpture Hall and the Met Cloisters.

The Choir has collaborated with other notable artists and ensembles such as Leonard Slatkin, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, The Knights, Susan Graham, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Isabel Leonard, Angel Blue and Madonna at the 2018 Met Gala.

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