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Death of Classical and The Green-Wood Historic Fund are excited to announce the second season of The Angel’s Share, their acclaimed concert series featuring opera and chamber music in Green-Wood’s remarkable Catacombs.

The season opens with the Burgers, Bourbon & Beethoven Festival, taking place on May 25 on the grounds surrounding Green-Wood’s massive Gothic Arch, where audience member will taste burgers and rate them on the Burger Club website, sample whiskeys, and enjoy a performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony by the String Orchestra of Brooklyn. Next is a fully-staged production of Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas June 4, 5, 7, and 8, directed by Alek Shrader and starring mezzo Daniela Mack and baritone Christopher Herbert. On June 24-26, violinist Augusta McKay Lodge will lead her ensemble Voyage Sonique in a Baroque music program entitled “Epilogues and Epitaphs.” Star pianists Adam Tendler and Jenny Lin will come together September 24-27 to play Liszt’s towering ten-movement Poetic and Religious Harmonies, and the season will close October 8-10, with the String Orchestra of Brooklyn returning for a program that includes Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Barber’s Adagio for Strings, and Pärt’s Fratres.

Each performance will begin with a pre-concert reception with food, drinks, and a whiskey tasting overlooking the Manhattan skyline and the New York Harbor at sunset. At dusk, guests will then follow a candle-lit pathway down to the Catacombs for the performance.

Said series curator Andrew Ousley: “The second season of The Angel’s Share centers around the theme of grief, and how we find meaning in the face of loss. Whether Dido’s heartbreaking plea for us to remember us as she was, or the profound empathy of the Stabat Mater, these are works that challenge us to confront our own sense of meaning and mortality.”

Harry Weil, Director of Public Programs and Special Projects at Green-Wood, said, “Green-Wood is thrilled to partner with Death of Classical to present another season of the critically acclaimed series The Angel’s Share. Each evening provides visitors with the unique opportunity to engage with our site’s historic landscape and structures through classical music. No other place in New York could provide a better setting for compositions by the likes of Purcell and Liszt that meditate on mortality, evoking the beauty of life and the sorrow of loss.”

The Catacombs are one of the oldest structures in Green-Wood, a 478-acre National Historic Landmark., The Catacombs were built in the 1850s, and are normally closed to the public. The series takes its name – The Angel’s Share – from the distiller’s term for whiskey that evaporates while maturing in the barrel, thus going to the angels.

Pianos for The Angel’s Share are generously provided by Yamaha. Whiskey will be generously provided by Stillhouse Van Brunt, NY Distilling Co, and others.

PLEASE NOTE: Ticketholders must be 21 years or older. Tickets are $85, $80 for Green-Wood Historic Fund and Brooklyn Historical Society members. To purchase tickets, visit www.deathofclassical.com.

Relevant Links
The Angel’s Share Website
https://www.deathofclassical.com/angelshare

Crypt Sessions & Angel’s Share Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/deathofclassical/

Green-Wood Website
https://www.green-wood.com/the-angels-share/

Listing Info
Burgers, Bourbon, & Beethoven
May 25
7:00 – 10:00 PM

Season 2 of The Angel’s Share will open with the first-ever “Burgers, Bourbon & Beethoven Festival.” Situated in the grounds surrounding Green-Wood’s towering Gothic Arch, it will feature four different slider-size burgers which audience members will rate on the Burger Club (www.brgrclub.com) website, alongside a sampling of different whiskeys. It will finish, as all good parties must, with a rousing performance of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, performed by the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, conducted by Eli Spindel.

Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
June 4, 5, 7, & 8
7:00 – 10:00 PM
Henry Purcell wrote Dido & Aeneas in 1680, but this tragic meditation on destiny, love, and death resonates just as powerfully today. Director Alek Shrader interweaves excerpts from Christopher Marlowe’s play based on the same story, infusing a sense of agency and dignity back to the character of the wounded queen, and the terrible decision she faces when abandoned by the love of her life. The production features opera stars Daniela Mack as Dido and Christopher Herbert as Aeneas, alongside a downright luxury cast of singers and instrumentalists.
Directed by Alek Shrader
Lighting by Tláloc López-Watermann
Dancing/Choreography by Liana Kleinman
Costumes by Fay Eva
The Singers:
Daniela Mack, Dido
Christopher Dylan Herbert, Aeneas
Randall Scotting, Sorceress
Marc Molomot, Achates
Brooke Larimer, Anna
Alyssa Martin, Witch
Erin Moll, Witch
The Orchestra:
Elliot Figg, Music Director and Harpsichord
Jude Ziliak, Violin
Isabelle Seula Lee, Violin
Danika Paskvan, Viola
Anthony Albrecht, Cello
Arnie Tanimoto, Viola da Gamba

Epilogues and Epitaphs
June 24, 25, & 26
7:30 – 10:30 PM
Most people wouldn’t equate “historically-informed Baroque chamber music” with “soul-blasting, face-melting hot sauce fire”… at least not until they hear Augusta McKay Lodge. She and her ensemble Voyage Sonique, plus singer Molly Netted, will perform a program of Baroque chamber works and arias, centering around musical monuments and remembrances by Rebel, Handel, Vivaldi, Corelli, Dowland and more.
Program:
Jean-Fery Rebel: Tombeau de Lully
George Frederic Handel: Waft her angels through the skies, Jephtha
Arcangelo Corelli: Trio Sonata in D Major op. 3 no. 2
John Dowland: Now, o now, I needs most part
Antonio Vivaldi: La Folia
‍Henry Purcell: Evening Hymn
Performers:
Augusta McKay Lodge, violin
Jeffrey Girton, violin
Keiran Campbell, cello
Adam Cockerham, theorbo
Robert Warner, harpsichord
Daniel Moody, countertenor

Liszt: Poetic and Religious Harmonies
September 24, 25, 26 & 27
6:00 – 9:00 PM
Almost no one plays the complete Poetic and Religious Harmonies by Franz Liszt. Between the sheer finger-bending virtuosity, emotionally-draining intensity, and epic length, each of the ten movements stands as its very own musical monolith. But when experienced all together, the cycle gains an almost mystical transcendence, a spiritual journey from the opening “Invocation,” the meditative glow of “The Blessing of God in Solitude,” the anguish of “Funeral,” and the quiet rapture of “Hymn of Love.” It’s a lot for one pianist to take on, so these programs will feature a pair of keyboard stars: Adam Tendler and Jenny Lin, both bringing their unique talents and vision to their respective half of the piece.
Performers:
Adam Tendler, piano
Jenny Lin, piano
Pergolesi: Stabat Mater
October 8, 9 & 10
6:00 – 9:00 PM
The Stabat Mater is a medieval poem that describes the suffering of Jesus’s mother Mary as she stands at the foot of the cross. Pergolesi’s setting of the text is among the most haunting and gut wrenching compositions ever put to paper. At one point, the piece asks us if it’s possible to watch someone else suffer so deeply, and not somehow share in their sorrow. It stands as one of the purest musical depictions of empathy, and a powerful reminder that – no matter what pain we may feel in the moment – we’re never truly alone in our sadness. Performed by the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, conducted by Eli Spindel, the program will also feature Barber’s wrenching Adagio for Strings, and Arvo Pärt’s slow-burning Fratres, and if that all wasn’t enough – the entire performance will feature wall-to-ceiling film projections up and down the Catacombs.