Gutsy Sacred Music Festival Features 9 World Premieres, Dave Brubeck Work, Intercultural Concert

NEW YORK (PRWEB) September 26, 2006

A gutsy music festival featuring premieres of nine bold works from Eastern and Western religious traditions, a rarely performed spiritual composition by legendary jazz musician Dave Brubeck and a transformative intercultural concert that weaves sacred music from earliest biblical times to the “golden age” of medieval Spain, when Islamic, Christian and Jewish faiths enjoyed an unrivaled harmony, will be held at Merkin Concert Hall in New York Nov. 4-5.

The second Festival of Universal Sacred Music, produced and sponsored by the nonprofit Foundation for Universal Sacred Music (http://www.universalsacredmusic.org), will feature the first performances of extraordinary commissioned works by some of the world’s foremost contemporary sacred music composers, including Emmy and Juno Award winners.

“The festival dares to juxtapose and integrate musical and religious styles and customs in ways that we believe will open people’s minds and hearts,” says foundation Executive Director Ullamaija Kivimaki. “The courageous, healing music will help us celebrate our diversity while at the same time recognize all that we share in common. And through this, it can give us a sacred musical experience far richer and fuller than that of any single tradition.”

The foundation’s purpose is to help bridge the spiritual differences that divide the world today by fostering the creation and promotion of music that reflects the unifying and unconditional love of God.

Under the music directorship of conductor Susanne Peck, the festival’s nine commissioned works will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Reserved seats are $ 35. Brubeck’s piece will be performed during Saturday night’s concert. The intercultural concert will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday, with reserved seats $ 30.

Discounted Festival Passes, with reserved seats for all three concerts, are available for only $ 90. Groups, senior citizens and students are eligible for further discounts.

Complimentary receptions, during which audience members may meet the composers and musicians, follow the Saturday night and Sunday afternoon concerts.

Commissioned compositions and composers at the festival include:

“To God of All Nations,” a four-movement choral and instrumental piece, composed by University of Toronto professor and Hong Kong native Ka Nin Chan, that interweaves passages from the Bible, Koran and Buddhist writings to express the diversity of faiths and the oneness of God.

“The Family of God,” a harmonic, contrapuntal piece in four sections, by Emmy Award-winning Stephen Cohn of Los Angeles, observing the divisions humanity has created from its religious differences.

“Mandala for Dawn,” a musical mantra, by Kim Cunio of Sydney, Australia, of a soul’s liberation to light from darkness, as well as compassion, mercy and emptiness, following the killing of Dawn Griggs, a dear friend of the Cunio’s, who was murdered on her arrival in New Delhi for a meditation retreat; featuring the angelic voice of concert soprano soloist Heather Lee, winner of an ARIA award.

“Woods: A Prose Sonnet,” by Julie Dolphin of Purchase, N.Y., articulating an aural forest that celebrates the universal sum of love that rejoices in the beauty of life’s diversity as an expression of its inherent and coherent unity.

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Gutsy Sacred Music Festival Features 9 World Premieres, Dave Brubeck Work, Intercultural Concert

Sacred Art Installation By Celebrated American Artist Guillermo Esparza Unveils at St. Patrick"s Old Cathedral in New York As Part Of Continuing Events Celebrating The Cathedral"s 200-Year Anniversary

New York, New York (PRWEB) October 24, 2009

Sacred art installation of mural and table for the shrine of “Our Lady of Lujan” by the celebrated American artist Guillermo Esparza unveils at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in New York on September 27, 2009 as part of the continuing events celebrating the Cathedral’s 200-year anniversary. The mural and table for the shrine of “Our Lady of Lujan”, commissioned by Rev. Carlos Mullins and the Argentinean-American Association of Our Lady of Lujan, becomes permanent installation at the Cathedral. The mural of “Our Lady of Lujan” by Guillermo Esparza was executed in oil and gold on linen. It depicts the miracle of Our Lady of Lujan, which took place in 1630 in Argentina. Guillermo Esparza, a master iconographer, sculptor, and painter, is renowned for his sacred art installations in the United States, as well as abroad. The carpentry for the table, following the design by Guillermo Esparza, was executed by Jeff Taisey, known for his work for numerous major motion pictures. The shrine was blessed by the Cathedral’s pastor, Msgr. Donald Sakano.

Another important sacred art installation by Guillermo Esparza unveils on October 15, 2009 at the Holy Name Chapel, St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral. As an addition to the on-going sacred art exhibit, “Arcanum Angelorum” (Mystery of the Angels), Guillermo Esparza’s latest mural icon is “The Deisis”. It depicts Pantokrator (Christ), Theotokos (Virgin Mary), and Prodromos (John The Forerunner). The Deisis is the central part of some Orthodox churches. This mural was executed by Guillermo Esparza in oil and gold on linen, and is 10 feet high and 7 feet wide.

Due to an extraordinary popularity of the event, an exhibit of sacred art – “Arcanum Angelorum” (“Mystery of the Angels”), Art in the Sacred Canon, – with works by Guillermo Esparza, award-winning, internationally recognized American iconographer, painter, and sculptor, is extended through the end of 2010 at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in New York. The exhibit commemorates the Bicentennial Celebration of the Cathedral located in the historic SoHo neighborhood in New York City and the restoration of the tabernacle of the church by the artist-in-residence, Guillermo Esparza. The exhibition features recent paintings of angels in oil, icons in egg tempera and gold, drawings, as well as sculptures and mural designs. The exhibit takes place in the undercroft of the Old Cathedral in the Holy Name Chapel, opposite 263 Mulberry Street. Guillermo Esparza launches his sacred art lecture series on iconography and on “Our Lady of Perpetual Help” icon at the Cathedral. Guillermo Esparza is honored for his work by New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, and receives Proclamation from the Mayor, honoring his current sacred art exhibit, “Arcanum Angelorum”.

Guillermo Esparza is the subject of the documentary by Los Angeles filmmaker Veronica Aberham for Studio-Online, an affiliate of London-based Studio International. Original soundtrack is composed and performed by Esparza’s wife, composer and pianist Maria Andriasova Esparza. The film is released on June 1st, and premiers on June 7th, 2009 at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral for its 200-year anniversary, following the historic mass delivered by Archbishop of New York Timothy Michael Dolan. Russian-language version of the film is translated by Columbia University-trained scholar, Olga Zvenyatsky. Moscow P. I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory and The Juilliard School graduate, composer Maria Andriasova Esparza, is nominated for the distinguished international “Mozart” award from the International Biographical Center, Cambridge, UK, for her original music to this documentary. The soundtrack is listed on Top-40 / Sony Masterworks.

Guillermo Esparza (http://www.guillermoesparza.com), the Artist-in-Residence at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in New York, is an award winning internationally recognized American iconographer, painter and sculptor with collections at the US national archives, the Phanar in Istanbul, Turkey, the Vatican Museum in Rome, Italy, Smithsonian American Art Museum, as well as numerous cathedrals, churches, museums, public art collection, and private collections internationally. An ecumenicist, Mr. Esparza has been awarded important commissions by churches of many denominations, and his original works are installed in Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Byzantine Catholic, and Orthodox Churches. A visionary in the world of public art in the US, Mr. Esparza is the first recipient of the “Percent-For-Art” public commission from the State of Arizona in 1986, thus opening the door to the next generation of artists competing for public commissions. Guillermo Esparza has been honored for his work by His All Holiness Bartholomew I, His Holiness the late Pope John Paul II, New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, among others. Mr. Esparza’s family built churches and cathedrals in Mexico. His paternal grandfather, Don Manuel Esparza, was a prominent US landowner and businessman, whose family held Spanish land grants in Mexico since the 17th century. Mr. Esparza’s maternal grandfather, the noted architect and engineer Don Benito Hernandez y Quiroz, was instrumental in bringing electricity to Guatemala. Guillermo Esparza is married to American concert pianist, film composer, and producer Maria Andriasova Esparza (http://www.andriasovaesparza.com), daughter of the legendary Russian composer Iosif Andriasov. Maria and Guillermo Esparza live and work in Manhattan.

For further information, please visit:

http://www.guillermoesparza.com

http://www.andriasovaesparza.com

ADDRESS:

St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral

Holy Name Chapel, opposite 263 Mulberry Street, New York, NY, 10012

Please note: The exhibit takes place in the undercroft of the Old Cathedral

CURRENT EXHIBITION TITLE:

“Arcanum Angelorum”(Mystery of the Angels) by Guillermo Esparza

Art in the Sacred Canon at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral located in historic SoHo neighborhood in New York City

EXHIBITION HOURS:

The chapel is open daily for services at 9 am and 12:10 pm, except for occasions for major feasts or First Fridays.

For exhibition hours, please contact the Cathedral’s office at (212) 226-8075

RECEPTION WITH THE ARTIST:

Sunday, October 25, 2009

2 pm

Holy Name Chapel, opposite 263 Mulberry Street, New York, NY, 10012

Please note: The exhibit takes place in the undercroft of the Old Cathedral

ARTWORK EXHIBITED, PLEASE CONTACT THE ARTIST GUILLERMO ESPARZA AT:

347-419-6585 cell

PRESS INQUIRIES:

Dame Larissa van Duser

646-489-1242

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Sacred Art Installation By Celebrated American Artist Guillermo Esparza Unveils at St. Patrick"s Old Cathedral in New York As Part Of Continuing Events Celebrating The Cathedral"s 200-Year Anniversary