New Choral Society Ends 30th Season With Magical Performance of Elijah

The New Choral Society Chorus and Orchestra perform at Hitchcock Presbyterian Church (Photo Credit: Tony Allen Photography)On Sunday afternoon May 5 the New Choral Society (NCS), under the professional direction of Dr. John T. King, Artistic Director and Conductor, concluded its 30th anniversary season with an “over the top performance” of Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah.

Dr. John T. King with soloists Katherine Whyte, Rebecca Ringle Kamarei, Jonghyun Park, and Kenneth OvertonYou couldn’t have been better served had you been at the Metropolitan Opera or Carnegie Hall in New York City. But you didn’t need to be because the professional music performed was right there in your own neighborhood or nearby from a short distance from a Westchester town.

It was rainy and damp outside as the audience took their seats inside for the 4 p.m. performance in the Sanctuary of the Hitchcock Presbyterian Church on Greenacres Avenue in Scarsdale. Once inside, they warmed-up quickly to the spectacular, magical and highly professional performance of Elijah.
There wasn’t an empty seat in a sellout as even the balcony was jammed with NCS’ music devotees.

A Cohesive Performance

Everybody played an important musical and stand-up role in this cohesive performance: Dr. King, the soloists, choral singers numbering 43, a larger orchestra of 26 players than typical, and Eleanora LaSalle, a 12-year-old seventh grader at the Edgemont Junior and Senior High School in Scarsdale and youth soloist from the Westchester Children’s Chorus, who came out of the audience from her first pew seat with her father and brother, to shine in her first performance ever with the pros from the Metropolitan Opera and other such important and highly recognized musical houses around the world.

Not to be undone, Emera LaSalle, a soprano and Eleanora’s mother, and Giselle Vagnini, an alto, came out of their singing positions to join soloists Katherine Whyte, a soprano, and Rebecca Ringle Kamarei, a mezzo-soprano, up front for a quartet rendition of “Holy Is God.”

All the fantastic soloists never missed a beat, and were poised, and excellent, including baritone Kenneth Overton as Elijah, who performed without music several times while using hand-and-arm motions to help make a point during his solos, and eventually drew the most applause, and tenor Jonghyun Park, who appeared courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera.Soloists Eleanora and Emera LaSalle with Conductor Dr. John T. King

NCS’ 31st Season Starts in October

The NCS’s 31st season will open on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 at 4 p.m. with renditions of W.A. Mozart’s Solemn Vespers, and J.S. Bach’s Magnificat.
Tickets will be available in the summer.  Dr. King will be starting his 31st year as the director and conductor.