New Choral Society Opens 33rd Season

The New Choral Society kicked off its 33rd season with a performance of Haydn's Te Deum and Lord Nelson Mass on Sunday, October 26 (Photo Credit: Tony Allen Photography)

The New Choral Society (NCS) has returned for its 33rd season with a performance of Haydn’s Te Deum in C and Lord Nelson Mass, and the results for the initial performance, under the direction of Dr. John T. King, the Founder and Artistic Director/Conductor for all those years, were the same.

“Perfection Personified!”

As usual, like the many extravaganzas performed over the many years, the choral music was sensational for those who attended, and many said so to each other while leaving the sanctuary of the Hitchcock Presbyterian Church on Greenacres Avenue in Scarsdale after the opening performance last Sunday for the NCS’ 2026-2027 season.
And equally important, nobody in the choir or orchestra seemed to miss a beat, even the new choral singers who were taking direction from Dr. King for the first time in a live performance. The NCS welcomed four new singers to their roster this year, sopranos Catherine Arora and Patty Holmes, tenor Maya Bater and bass John Schaefer.
The violin strings, led by Una Tone, concertmaster, seem to be more energetic than usual in their playing on Sunday afternoon. It seemed like they never stopped playing. In addition to their regular orchestral musicians, Mimi Zhang, French Horn and Cecily DeMarco, Organ, joined the ensemble for the first time and seemed to fit in with the other orchestra players very well.

Once again, the quartet of soloists, all current fellows or recent graduates of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program of the Metropolitan Opera, were dynamite. Bass-Baritone Lonwabo Mose of Cape Town, South Africa, wowed the audience with his deep and full voice. Tenor Jonghyun Park returned for his third performance with the NCS, sounding as clear as ever. Mezzo-Soprano Lindsay Martin, in her second performance with the NCS dazzled the audience with both her gold gown and rich vocal lines, but it was soprano Amanda Batista who stole the show with her soaring vocal lines.

Yes, practice does indeed pay off for perfection, including a two-hour practice each Monday for the chorus, and a three-hour dress rehearsal for all the performers the previous morning to get ready for Sunday afternoon’s very professional and beautiful performance.

Conductor Dr. John T. King backstage with soloists Jonghyun Park, Lindsay Martin, Amanda Batista, and Lonwabo Mose
As the members of the audience left the Sunday performance, many attendees indeed were all smiles and were heard praising the 60-minute performance. And, much of those praises came from the veteran attendees from previous performances as well as several newcomers, who as an overall group know a thing or two about that kind of music.
BRAVO again to Dr. King, the singers and the orchestra. You did it again! You nailed it!

Will the choral music devotees be back for the next performance of Handel’s Messiah Part I on December 4 and 6? Only if they get their tickets soon, as these performances sell out every year! Tickets are available at www.newchoralsociety.org.