The National Philharmonic will be part of the second Songs of Life Festival at Lincoln Center on June 26
Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Columbus Ave at 65th St.
Sunday, June 26, $25-$65, 3:00
803-545-4167
www.songsoflife.org
Founded in 2008 by Kalin and Sharon Tchonev, Songs of Life: Compassion in Action honors the Bulgarian rescue of 49,000 Jews from the Nazis during WWII. Following performances in Washington, DC, and Boston, the organization’s latest presentation, the newly commissioned oratorio “A Melancholy Beauty,” comes to Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center on Sunday afternoon, in a production by composer Georgi Andreev, lyricist Scott Cairns, contributing author Aryeh Finklestein, and conductor Henry H. Leck. Featuring Bulgarian folk instruments, costumes, dance, and traditional and orchestral music, it will be performed by the National Philharmonic, the Indianapolis Children Choir, the Victor Valley College Singers and the Master Arts Chorale, the Philip Kutev National Folklore Ensemble, and KHORIKOS, NYC, with soloists Neli Atanasova Andreeva (soprano), Charles David Osborne (tenor), and David Kravitz (bartitone). In addition, Osborne will premiere his motet “Whosoever Saves a Single Life,” and festival conductors Leck, Jesse Peckham, and Thomas Miller and artistic director Andreev will lead an a cappella program. Songs of Life is a very personal mission for the Tchonevs; Kalin is from Bulgaria, while Sharon is an Israeli who had two grandparents among those rescued. Their goals for the event include promoting tolerance and diversity, building bridges between cultures, fighting social injustice, and “reversing the trend that seeks to erase the memory of past genocides, holocausts, and any kind of killing field.”