Welcome to the 39th Season, Contrasts

Posted August 14, 2024

A message from our Artistic Director

I spent some time this summer thinking about Contrasts, about how we hold otherness, how we find balance between the parts of our lives that don’t seem to overlap all that much.

People say they are searching for ‘balance’ in their lives, recognizing the importance of finding a middle ground between the opposites of work/leisure, motion/stasis, solitude/socializing, and mind/body.  Often the most creative ideas and solutions combine and synthesize opposites.  Upon reflection, these contrasts in our lives are often interconnected and interdependent. Indeed, the opposites and paradoxes will always be there; our true challenge is to move between them with grace and fluidity. Above all, the opposites in our lives help us discern truth.

In music, we move between the poles of major and minor, consonance and dissonance, tension and release. In our auditions for Ars Nova Singers (just completed this month; we had 66 candidates this season!), I ask prospective singers to demonstrate their ranges: from high to low pitch; dynamically from soft to loud; from long, sustained notes to agile, fast melismas; as well as the range of color in their voice, from bright to dark sound. By exploring the extremes and the differences, we expand the realm of the possible.

For our 39th season, our series of concerts will explore these contrasts, featuring music in which our 40 voices will converge and diverge, with moments of silence and moments of thunder. We’ll traverse the past and the future, ethereal dreams and sharp reality. We’ll hear music from many centuries that integrate elegant simplicity and intricate beauty. And, to keep it all in perspective, along the way we’ll have some fun. Join us!       ~ Tom Morgan

Tom Morgan is the Artistic Director and co-founder of Ars Nova Singers. In recent seasons, Ars Nova Singers has been riding a wave of artistic triumphs, through extraordinary collaborations with internationally acclaimed guest artists and adventurous, innovative programming. In 2021, thanks to a generous major gift and a successful multi-year Endowment campaign, the ensemble hired Morgan as the full-time Artistic Director and Kimberly Brody as the full-time Executive Director.

We are pleased to present our season artwork
by visual artist Chris DeKnikker, chrisdeknikker.com