3rd Festival of Universal Sacred Music Scheduled April 26-27 at 4th Universalist Society in Manhattan

Business Wire,  April 22, 2008  

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Eight International Composers Commissioned to Create New Works

KATONAH, N.Y. -- Noted New York Conductor Harold Rosenbaum will lead The New York Virtuoso Singers and the Universal Sacred Music Ensemble at the "3rd Festival of Universal Sacred Music," presented by the Society for Universal Sacred Music at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, April 26 and 27 at the 4th Universalist Society at Central Park West and 76th Street in Manhattan.

Maestro Rosenbaum is also artistic director and conductor of The New York Virtuoso Singers and The Canticum Novum Singers. He will also conduct the Society's Foundation choir and instrumental ensemble and international soloists at the Festival.

The organization creates opportunities for sacred music to be performed and heard through concerts, workshops and festivals, with original and existing recordings available for distribution. It provides a resource for religious leaders, music directors, composers and others who seek new material for their spiritual work.

"Music is one of the great transmitters of spiritual energy, and the composition and performance of music that sings of unconditional love and infinite compassion must become an ever-greater part of the fabric of life everywhere," states Society president Roger Davidson.

Eight composers were commissioned by the Society to create new works that will be premiered at the Festival, selected from a competition that featured 100 proposals from composers from throughout the world.

The composers selected for this year's festival include Sungji Hong of Korea, Anatoly Korolyov of Russia, Maya Raviv of Israel, and from the United States: Roger Davidson of New York; William Thomas McKinley of Reading, Mass.; Johannes Somary of Switzerland and New York; John D. White of Westminster, CO; and Judith Lang Zaimont of Maricopa, AZ.

An added feature to this year's festival will include "A Musical Meditation for World Unity" featuring Deepak Kumar Pareek, which will take place on Sunday, April 27 at 4 pm, also at the Universalist Society.

Tickets are priced at $20-$35 and can be purchased at the box office at 416 West 42nd St., New York City, between Ninth and Tenth Avenues from noon to 8:00 PM daily, by phone at 212-279-4200 or online at www.ticketcentral.com. For further information call, 732-291-0168 or visit www.universalsacredmusic.org.

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