February 6, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — A New York Times story previewing an upcoming performance of Hector Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts ("High Mass for the Dead") as part of the Carnegie Hall Choral Workshop at Carnegie Hall states, "Robert Spano, a successor once removed of Shaw as music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, will conduct, and Norman Mackenzie, Shaw’s immediate successor as director of the Atlanta Symphony Chorus, will oversee the workshop, aided by members of the orchestra’s chamber chorus. The festival chorus will be joined by the National High School Festival Chorus and Thomas Cooley, as tenor soloist."
Cooley is a 1991 graduate of DePauw University. The performance of the Requiem on Sunday, February 13, will also feature the Orchestra of St. Luke's.
James R. Oestreich writes, "This is the second time the
work has been presented in Carnegie’s annual choral festival, founded in
1991 by the choral wizard Robert Shaw; Mr. Shaw conducted the first
performance, in 1993."
Read the full piece -- headlined "A Requiem So Big That Performing It Takes a Multitude" -- at the Times' website.
Learn more about the upcoming program and Thomas Cooley in this article.