| About Daniel Hyde
Daniel Hyde is Organist and Director of Music at Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York City, USA. Born in the UK, Daniel began his education as a chorister at Durham Cathedral, where he was later to return as organ scholar. Whilst at school he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists at the age of 17, and won the organ scholarship to King’s College, Cambridge. During his time at Cambridge University he served under Dr Stephen Cleobury, performing world-wide with the renowned King’s College Choir; he studied the organ with Dame Gillian Weir and Nicolas Kynaston. Upon graduation with First Class Honours in Music, he was appointed as Director of Music at Jesus College, Cambridge, serving five years developing the College’s music programme, and training a choir of men and boys and an undergraduate mixed-voiced choir. In 2009, he took up the post of Informator Choristarum at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was also an Associate Professor in Oxford University’s Faculty of Music. During his time there, Magdalen College Choir became known for its “particularly fine trebles” (The Observer); a distinctive sound described in The Times as “vibrant and appealing”.
Hailed for his “attention to inner detail and clear sense of architecture” (Gramophone, June 2015), Daniel has been in increasing demand as a choral and orchestral conductor, and has worked with the BBC Singers, the London Bach Choir, the Britten Sinfonia, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the City of London Sinfonia. Since moving to New York in September 2016, he has directed the Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys alongside the renowned Orchestra of St Luke’s and New York Baroque Incorporated. Magdalen College Choir recorded exclusively with Opus Arte, the label of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Daniel’s broad-ranging discography can be found on the Opus Arte, Linn, Naxos and EMI and Priory labels.
As an organist, Daniel has performed across the UK and the world. Recital engagements have taken him to Vienna, Finland, Germany, Holland and also Australia, where he has performed at all the major venues including the Sydney Opera House and Adelaide Town Hall. In New York, he was recently a featured recitalist in Carnegie Hall’s citywide festival, La Serenissima. He has been a concerto soloist with the BBC Philharmonic, and with the Britten Sinfonia he has performed the Poulenc Concerto a number of times, and has recorded the Hindemith Concerto to great critical acclaim. He was awarded Second Prize and the Audience Prize in the Royal College of Organists Performer of the Year 2002 competition. A regular accompanist to the BBC Singers on BBC Radio Three, he has appeared at the BBC Proms on numerous occasions, and he made his solo debut there in 2010, performing Bach’s Canonic Variations at the organ of the Royal Albert Hall. In the 2014/15 season, he performed the complete organ works of J S Bach on the Dobson organ in Merton College, Oxford. As an ensemble player he has appeared with Phantasm, the Britten Sinfonia, Aurora Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields amongst others.
About Benjamin Sheen
Benjamin Sheen, Associate Organist at Saint Thomas Church in New York City, is one of Great Britain’s brightest young organists. Hailed as a “brilliant organist” by the New York Times, he is the 2013 winner of the Pierre S. du Pont First Prize in the inaugural Longwood Gardens Organ Competition, and that same year received Second Prize and the Jon Laukvik prize at the St. Alban’s International Organ Competition. He holds degrees from the University of Oxford and the Juilliard School, is a prize-winning Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, and the 2011 recipient of the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Silver Medal.
As a concert organist, Mr. Sheen has performed throughout Europe, the USA, Canada, Singapore, and South Africa. Engagements in 2019 include his concerto debut with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and solo recitals in Christchurch and Wellington as well as throughout Australia. He has performed with notable orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia in the UK and Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York City. He has made several appearances on BBC radio and television and New York’s classical radio station WQXR in a complete performance of J.S. Bach’s ClavierÜbung III. Recent highlights have included performances and masterclasses in South Africa as well as being a featured artist at the 2018 AGO National Convention in Kansas City, MO.
Benjamin Sheen is represented in North America exclusively by Philip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, LLC.
About The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys
The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys is considered by many to be the leading ensemble in the Anglican choral tradition in the United States. The choir performs regularly with the period instrument ensemble New York Baroque Incorporated, or with Orchestra of St. Luke’s as part of its own concert series. Its primary raison d’être, however, is to provide music for five choral services each week. Live webcasts of all choral services and further information including recordings of the choir may be found at www.SaintThomasChurch.org.
Supplementing its choral services and concert series over the past three decades, the choir has toured throughout the U.S. and Europe with performances at Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, King’s College, Cambridge, Windsor, Edinburgh, St. Albans, and the Aldeburgh Festival. In 2004, the choir toured Italy, and performed for a Papal Mass at the Vatican. During 2007, the choir performed Bach’s St. Matthew Passion for the opening concert of the Mexico Festival in Mexico City as well as at Saint Thomas Church. In February 2012, the Boys of the choir traveled to Dresden to give the premiere of Lera Auerbach’s Dresden Requiem with the Dresden Staatskapelle in the Frauenkirche and Semper Oper. Later in 2012, the choir was invited to perform in the Thomaskirche at the Leipzig BachFest, a highlight of their June 2012 tour to Germany and Copenhagen.
In addition to the annual performances of Handel’s Messiah, concerts at Saint Thomas have included Requiems by Fauré, Brahms, Mozart, Duruflé and Howells; Bach’s Passions and Mass in B Minor; the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610; a Henry Purcell anniversary concert; Rachmaninoff Vespers; the U.S. premiere of John Tavener’s Mass; a concert of American composers featuring works by Bernstein and Copland and a composition by Saint Thomas Choir School Alumnus, Daniel Castellanos; the world premiere of Scott Eyerly’s Spires, and a concert of music by Benjamin Britten.
The Men of the Saint Thomas Choir are professional singers; the Boy choristers attend Saint Thomas Choir School. Founded in 1919, it is the only church-related boarding choir school in the U.S., and one of only a few choir schools remaining in the world. The Choir School offers a challenging pre-preparatory curriculum, interscholastic sports, and musical training for boys in grades three through eight. The Choir School is committed to training and educating talented musicians without regard to religious, economic, or social background. Choristers are sought from all regions of the country. Details of admissions procedures and audition requirements are available at www.ChoirSchool.org.
About Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Orchestra of St. Luke’s (OSL) is one of America’s most versatile and distinguished orchestras, collaborating with the world’s greatest artists and performing approximately 80 concerts each year—including its Carnegie Hall Orchestra Series, Caramoor Summer Season, and new Resonance Chamber Music Festival debuting in June 2017. In its 42-year history, OSL has commissioned more than 50 new works, has given more than 175 world, U.S., and New York City premieres; and has appeared on more than 100 recordings, including four Grammy Award winners and seven releases on its own label, St. Luke’s Collection. Pablo Heras-Casado is OSL’s principal conductor and the orchestra’s fourth titled conductor; previous music directors and principal conductors are Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Charles Mackerras, and Donald Runnicles.
OSL grew out of a chamber ensemble that began giving concerts at the Church of St. Luke in the Fields in Greenwich Village in 1974. Today, the 21 virtuoso musicians of St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble makeup OSL’s artistic core.
OSL owns and operates The DiMenna Center for Classical Music in Midtown Manhattan, sharing a building with the Baryshnikov Arts Center. The DiMenna Center is New York City’s premier venue for classical music rehearsal, recording, and learning, renowned for its superb acoustics, beautiful state-of-the-art facilities, and affordability. Since opening in 2011, The DiMenna Center has welcomed more than 100,000 visitors, including more than 400 ensembles and artists such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, James Taylor, and Sting. OSL hosts hundreds of neighbors, families, and schoolchildren at its home each year for free community events.
Through its Education & Community programs, OSL has introduced audiences across New York City to live classical music. OSL brings free chamber concerts to the five boroughs; offers free interactive music programs at The DiMenna Center; provides chamber music coaching for adult amateurs; and engages 10,000 public school students each year through its Free School Concerts. In 2013, OSL launched Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s (YOSL), an intensive in- and after-school instrumental instruction program emphasizing musical excellence and social development, in partnership with community organizations and public schools in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.
For more information, visit www.OSLmusic.org. |
