A Musica Sacra program spotlighting works by women composers spanning 500 years; the world premiere of a setting of the Stabat Mater by David Briggs at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Oratorio Society of New York are highlights of Kent’s full spring concert season. Yes, spring is on the way! (Full programs and links follow in the schedule below.)

With the Cathedral Choir and Orchestra of St. John the Divine, Kent leads the world premiere of Stabat Mater for soloists, chorus, organ, and orchestra by David Briggs, Artist in Residence at the Cathedral; also on the program, which will be livestreamed free of charge, are works by George Walker and Morton Lauridsen – watch to learn more (March 8, 2023). Kent also leads the Cathedral Choir in “Venice: City of Light,” a collaboration with Rose of the Compass celebrating the variety in that city’s cultural fabric. (May 16, 2023). 

“A Multitude of Voyces,” a program by Musica Sacra at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (April 18, 2023), features sacred music composed by women, from the Middle Ages to the present day. Kent has created a musical arc that moves from the 16th-century Stabat Mater of Sister Sulpitia Cesis to music of early 20th-century composers Amy Beach and Ethyl Smyth, to works by living composers Kerensa Briggs, Melanie DeMore (a Bronx native), and Rani Arbo (who once was a Cathedral Chorister at St. John the Divine) – alongside J.S. Bach’s Jesu meine Freude, a Musica Sacra signature piece. 

The Oratorio Society of New York’s season-concluding event is a performance of J.S. Bach’s monumental Mass in B Minor, featuring soloists Emily Donato, Lucia Bradford, Brian Giebler, and Sidney Outlaw (May 8, 2023).

Kent performs two organ recitals in New York this spring: at the Church of St. Monica to celebrate the rededication of its organ (March 10, 2023), and his second recital of the season at St. John the Divine, music of David Hurd, J.S. Bach, and César Franck (April 16, 2023). 

As the organist of the New York Philharmonic, Kent gave the first performances on the new organ of David Geffen Hall on the hall’s reopening program, in Respighi’s Pines of Rome; he returns to that organ with the Philharmonic for Respighi’s Roman Festivals (May 4, 5, 6, 2023). Kent also wears two hats at the Philharmonic performances of J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion led by Jaap van Zweden (March 23, 24, 25, 2023) – as organist and as music director of Musica Sacra, the program's featured chorus.

And Kent will be the featured guest at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City at its Founders Day Concert, for which he leads the cathedral’s chorus and orchestra in a performance of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius (March 19, 2023).

Here’s to crocuses, tulips, and surging fortissimi – see you this spring!