Our Music
Selected Performances
Here
are a few of our favorite performances from the past five years, including those performed under our previous name.*
You can check out more performances on our YouTube channel.
December 2024
Ushering in Winter
Our annual Winter concert featured a joyful selection of music ranging from Irving Berlin to Ysaye Barnwell to new music from multiple local composers, including a commissioned piece by Brandon Hilfer. Our audience joined us in a spirited Winter singalong at the end of our concert.
A link to our full concert is below.
Director, WHCC: Tabitha Allen / Piano: Kent Dennis /Videographer: Xander Black / Sound: Dan Sepke
November 2024
Befriending Aliens at the United Palace
In collaboration with United Palace and the Young People's Chorus of New York City, we presented a newly arranged vocal interpretation of the iconic "conversation" between humans and aliens from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. To our knowledge, this rendition, named Wild Signals, has never been performed vocally before. Our performance was followed by a screening of the film.
Director, WHCC: Tabitha Allen // Director, YPC: Francisco J. Núñez
Wild Signals: Composer, John Williams // Arranged by Balint Varga
May 2024
Ushering in Spring
This concert featured pieces by living and local composers along with old uncommon works that are sure to become new favorites.
We were joined again by student singers from the Washington Heights Choir School, too!
You can view the entire concert here.
Director, WHCC: Tabitha Allen / Director, WH Choir School: Julio Vaquero / Piano and Guitar: Mark Klett / Percussion: Mauro Corona /Videographer: Xander Black / Sound: Dan Sepke
Video: Non nobis Domine - Rosephayne Powell
December 2023
Songs of the season
Our winter concert was a festive evening featuring beloved classics, exciting new works, and holiday favorites.
The performance culminated in a joyful sing-along to celebrate the winter season.
You can view the entire concert here.
Director, WHCC: Tabitha Allen / Pianist: Mark Klett / Cellist: Anastasia Golenishcheva / Videographer: Xander Black/ Sound: Dan Sepke
Video: Prayer to Adonai from Song of Solomon - Andrew Beal // Soloists: Daniel Huston, Emily Intersimone, Carlos Olivares, Stacy Yoskioka
May 2023
Celebrating a new beginning
In May we performed our first public concert under our new name. What a joy to be back singing for a crowd again! We were joined by student singers from the Washington Heights Choir School, too.
You can view the entire concert here.
Director: Tabitha Allen / Pianist: Mark Klett / Videographer: Xander Black
Video: Hard Times Come Again No More - Stephen Foster, arr. Pax Ressler (Soloist: Chelsea Yost)
December 2022
A little Sondheim
In December we took to the stage to share some music with our friends and families, performing for the first time under our new name, the Washington Heights Community Choir.
Tabitha Allen, our new choral director, selected this gorgeous song, Take Me to the World, from the Stephen Sondheim musical, Evening Primrose.
You can view the entire concert here.
Director: Tabitha Allen / Pianist: Jesse Warkentin / Videographer: Mary Glen Fredrick
Video: Take Me to the World - Stephen Sondheim
MAY 2022
A requiem for our time
In our first post-COVID concert, we performed Dan Forrest's Requiem for the Living accompanied by members of the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra and featuring guest mezzo-soprano Kathryn Janssen.
This moving
performance was our last under the direction of the gifted and
dedicated Chris Whittaker.
Video: Requiem for the Living - Dan Forrest
DECEMBER 2021
Back together, post-pandemic
As with most choirs, our singing was put on pause for a year and a half during the height of the pandemic. Reunited in the Fall of 2021, we were beyond joyful to sing together again. We did not perform that season but did record several songs to mark our return.
Director: Chris Whittaker.
Video: Sure on this Shining Night - Morten Lauridsen
DECEMBER 2018
Handel, but make it jazzy
In 2018 we played the role of backup singers to a group of incredibly
talented gospel vocalists, in this jazz/gospel/latin-infused production
that re-imagines Handel's Messiah. Under the direction of Chris
Whittaker and accompanied by the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra,
this one-night-only performance at the United Palace was an
unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Director: Chris Whittaker
Video: Excerpt from Too Hot to Handel: The Gospel Messiah
MAY 2018
Celebrating Spring and local composers
Our Spring concert showcased a broad range of works and composers, both classical and contemporary. Directed by Chris Whittaker, the concert featured choral works by both Chris, and our accompanist, Alison Beck.
Program:
Leonard Bernstein: Warm Up;
Tomás de Luis Victoria: O Magnum Mysterium; Francisco Nunez: 3 Dominican
Folk Songs;
Eleanor Aversa: Knock On Wood; Alison
Beck: Passing Faces; Francis Poulenc: Gloria; Chris Whittaker: The Way
Wings Should (Premiere); Arr. Stacey V. Gibbs: Roll, Jordan, Roll.
Director: Chris Whittaker / Accompanist: Alison Beck
Video: Spring Concert 2018
DECEMBER 2017
Bridges, psalms, and wild things
This
concert was an eclectic mix of music, including a series of Chinese
folk songs, a rousing spiritual, and a new work by local composer David
Fox, also one of our Tenors.
Program: Libby Larsen: I Will Sing and Raise a Psalm; Chen Yi: Three Chinese Folk Songs; David Fox: The Bridge (world premiere); Jake Runestad: The Peace of Wild Things; Randall Thompson: Alleluia; Sergei Rachmaninoff: Bogoroditse Devo from All-Night Vigil; Moses Hogan: Music Down in My Soul.
Director: Chris Whittaker / Accompanist: Alison Beck
Video: Fall Concert 2017
Washington Heights Community Choir is a project of Players Philanthropy Fund, Inc. a Texas nonprofit corporation recognized by IRS as a tax-exempt public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (Federal Tax ID: 27-6601178, ppf.org/pp). Contributions to Washington Heights Community Choir qualify as tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.