Our Music
Selected Performances
Here
are a few of our favorite performances from the past five years, including those performed under our previous name.*
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 selected this gorgeous song, Take Me to the World, from the Stephen Sondheim musical, Evening Primrose.
This show was written for television and originally aired in 1966
on the series ABC Stage 67.
Director: Tabitha Allen / Pianist: Jesse Warkentin / Videographer: Mary Glen Fredrick
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.
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. Directed by Chris Whittaker.
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.
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.
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. Directed by Chris Whittaker.
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.
Washington Heights Community Choir operates as a project of Players Philanthropy Fund, a Maryland charitable trust 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.