Upcoming Concerts
Duruflé REQUIEM
and Other Works for Chorus and Organ
Friday, May 2, 2025, at 7:30 PM
This winter, the Riverside Choral Society extends the warmest welcome to Dr. John Wilson, our new director. Dr. Wilson, who holds degrees from both Westminster Choir College and Rutgers University, is the current director of choral activities at SUNY New Paltz (where he is an Assistant Professor) and director of the Choral Art Society of New Jersey. Learn more about Dr. John Wilson.
This spring, Dr. Wilson will conduct his RCS inaugural at the renowned Romanesque Church of St. Francis Xavier. In a concert that will be highlighted by a performance of Duruflé’s magical, meditative, and plainchant-based Requiem, the program will also include:
Evening Hymn – Henry Balfour Gardiner
Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Refuge – Ralph Vaughan Williams
Magnificat – John Wilson
Friday, MAY 2, 2025 at 7:30 PM
CHURCH OF St. FRANCIS Xavier, 46 West 16th St, NYC
The concert features renowned organist David Enlow; soloists Sarah Nelson Craft, mezzo, and Edmund Milly, baritone; and instrumentalists Nathan Whittaker, cello, and Perry Sutton, trumpet. Finally, the choir welcomes Biraj Barkakaty, Marisa Curcio, Melissa Fajardo, Paul Greene-Dennis, Noel McCormick, and Alex Guerrero to the concert.
Organist David Enlow
David Enlow is a “commanding” organist (The New Yorker), conductor, and teacher based in New York, who is active in North America and Europe. David is Music Director of Park Avenue Synagogue, Organist & Choir Master of the Church of the Resurrection, and Assistant Conductor, Organist, and Repetiteur to the Clarion Music Society.
His solo recordings on the Pro Organo label include Pater Seraphicus, the complete major organ works of César Franck; Piano à l’Orgue, an album of piano transcriptions; and Bach on Park Avenue, recorded on the Mander organ at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York.
David has taught church music, improvisation, and organ repertoire classes for local, regional, and national events of the American Guild of Organists (AGO), the Royal Canadian College of Organists, and at the Juilliard School, from which he received two degrees. David also received the Fellowship diploma, with both prizes for highest marks, from the AGO; this resulted in his joining the committee on professional certification, which sets the standards for national organist examinations and grades them. David then served two terms as Dean of the New York City Chapter of the Guild.
Featured Soloists
Known for her vibrant and engaging storytelling and the “rich beauty of her voice,” mezzo-soprano Sarah Nelson Craft has been hailed by Opera News as “exquisite… glowing… and genuine.” As a song recitalist she has been presented by Carnegie Hall, Five Boroughs Music Festival, Brooklyn Art Song Society, and Music Academy of the West, collaborating with renowned pianists including Warren Jones and Martin Katz. Seen and Heard International noted that she “cast a spell over the audience” and is “one of those singers for whom words and tone combine to create a beautiful, bubbling musical flow of emotion.”
She brought her passion for early music to the title role in Handel’s Solomon with New York Baroque, Inc. and Princeton Pro Musica, as well as the role of Piramo in Hasse’s Piramo e Tisbe with The Little Opera Theatre of NY. Concert highlights include Bach’s Mass in B minor at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall, Mozart’s Coronation Mass at Alice Tully Hall, Vivaldi’s Gloria at Carnegie Hall, Mahler’s Symphony No.2 with the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne with the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, and Berlioz's La mort de Cléopâtre with New York Repertory Orchestra. Favorite operatic roles have included the title role in Rossini’s La Cenerentola and Massenet’s Cendrillon, as well as Cherubino, Hansel, Dido, and Hermia in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Ms. Craft has performed with companies including the Caramoor International Music Festival, New York City Opera, Death of Classical, ChamberQUEER, and the Macau International Music Festival. Last season she performed Berlioz’s La mort de Cléopâtre with New York Repertory Orchestra, was a soloist in Caroline Shaw’s The Listeners with Amor Artis Chamber Choir, and performed in Brooklyn Art Song Society's New Voices Festival where she premiered a new song cycle by composer/violist Jessica Meyer.
photo by Jack Colver
Bass-Baritone Edmund Milly is sought after for his “annunciatory power” (New York Times), “perfect diction” (Los Angeles Times), and distinctive “delicacy and personal warmth” (Boston Classical Review). The 24/25 season saw his solo debuts with the Baltimore Symphony (in Stravinsky’s Renard) and the Lancaster Symphony (in Handel’s Messiah). Other recent solo engagements include Britten’s War Requiem with the Yale Symphony, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Washington Bach Consort, Haydn’s Creation with Princeton Pro Musica, and Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society. In 2024 he was nominated for a GRAMMY award as a soloist on Benedict Sheehan’s Akathist.
Edmund’s education began with cello lessons at age 3 and continued at the American Boychoir School, where he became steeped in the concert repertoire while singing under conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Kurt Masur, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and André Previn. Edmund holds degrees from McGill University and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, where he studied with James Taylor.
Since his Lincoln Center debut as Jesus in Bach’s St. John Passion with Yale Schola Cantorum led by Masaaki Suzuki, Edmund has been frequently engaged as a soloist in Bach’s Passion settings, with performances at the Oregon Bach Festival, Bach Akademie Charlotte, Trinity Wall Street, and the Staunton Music Festival. He has also performed over 100 of Bach’s cantatas. Edmund “stole the show” (Seen and Heard International) in his Bachfest Leipzig debut in 2024, and cherishes his work with many of the organizations around the country committed to bringing Bach’s music to life, including the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Gamut Bach Ensemble, and Cantata Collective.
A veteran of the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” Edmund has been a soloist at the White House, the Pentagon, and the U.S. Supreme Court. His recorded work includes solo credits on the BBC and CBC, and appearances on several GRAMMY-nominated albums. Edmund often performs alongside his wife, mezzo-soprano Sylvia Leith, including in their work with the Polyphonists, a vocal quartet they co-founded which recently made its Lincoln Center debut in Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light. For a full calendar of upcoming performances, see edmundmilly.com.
Photograph by ShAy Frey
Photograph by ShAy Frey
Sign up for Riverside Choral Society’s email list to be informed about future concerts.
Follow RCS on Facebook or Instagram for information about upcoming activities.
Facebook.com/RiversideChoralSociety
IG @riversidechoral_society
Your donations make our concerts possible.
Thank you for your tax-deductible gift! Donate by clicking here.
Header Image by Danny Bristoll Photography