100th Performance of Stainer’s CRUCIFIXION at Brick Church

Friday, March 29, 2024
beginning at 12:15 pm

1140 Park Avenue, on the upper east side of Manhattan

The Brick Presbyterian Church continues its 2023–24 Worship & Arts series with a Good Friday worship service featuring John Stainer’s oratorio The Crucifixion on Friday, March 29 at 12:15 PM.   

Brick Church began performing The Crucifixion in the early 1920s, and this year will mark the 100th year of this grand tradition. To honor the occasion, the Chancel Choir will perform with full orchestra, in the arrangement by Barry Rose, former Master of the Choir at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. The powerful and dramatic solos will be sung by Jeffrey Taveras, tenor, and Malcolm Merriweather, baritone.

The service is free and open to the public, and all are welcome. For more information, please visit this page.  

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Raymond Nagem is Minister of Music at The Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City, and a member of the organ faculty at Manhattan School of Music, where he teaches organ literature, service playing, and improvisation. He completed his D.M.A. at The Juilliard School in 2016, where he was a student of Paul Jacobs. A native of Medford, Mass., Dr. Nagem attended the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School and began organ lessons there with John Dunn. He earned his B.A. from Yale University in 2009, studying the organ with Thomas Murray, and his M.A. in 2011 from Juilliard.

Prior to his appointment at Brick, he served for eleven years at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, where he was Associate Director of Music and Organist. His album Divine Splendor, recorded on the Great Organ of St. John the Divine, is available on the Pro Organo label. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring of

2020, Dr. Nagem began a weekly online recital series from the cathedral, “Tuesdays at 6,” featuring a diverse range of music spanning the entire organ repertoire. In his spare time, he enjoys running, cycling, and crossword puzzles.

GRAMMY nominated conductor and baritone Malcolm J. Merriweather is Director of the New York Philharmonic Chorus and Music Director of New York City’s The Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra. He is a sought-after interpreter of symphonic choral works most recently conducting grand performances of Bach’s St. John Passion, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Handel’s Messiah. In addition to core symphonic repertoire, he is known for the world premiere recordings of The Ballad of the Brown King, Credo, and Simon Bore the Cross by Margaret Bonds (AVIE Records) with The Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra. A frequent guest  conductor, he has conducted the Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Novus Orchestra and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ensembles under his baton have performed at venues that include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Madison Square Garden, Brooklyn Academy of Music Westminster Abbey, and at the Vatican before Pope Francis. At the invitation of Solange Knowles, he joined the interdisciplinary studio and creative agency, Saint Heron, for performances with Voices of Harlem and The Clark Sisters in Glory to Glory: A Revival of Devotional Art. Dr. Merriweather has earned degrees from Eastman, Manhattan School  of Music, and Syracuse University and was a fellow at Tanglewood. He is on the faculty at Brooklyn College. Connect with him on Twitter and Instagram @maestroweather and at  malcolmjmerrweather.com.

Abel Taveras (Tenor).  A native of Long Island, Jeffrey is eager to be back at Jeffrey Brick Presbyterian Church for the 100th performance of John Stainer’s The  Crucifixion. Currently, Jeffrey serves as cantor and choir member in the Music Ministry at St. Aloysius Catholic Parish in New Canaan CT. Prior to being called to this ministry, he was a member of the Chancel Choir at Brick from 2016 to 2023. Jeffrey earned a BA from SUNY-Purchase Conservatory of Music and a  Master of Music in Voice Performance from Boston University. 

ABOUT WORSHIP & ARTS

Brick Church’s concert series, Worship & Arts, welcomes all to experience the joyous, uplifting power of the performing arts. Worship & Arts offers concerts and special worship services throughout the year, featuring Brick’s superb Chancel Choir, recitals on the church’s magnificent Casavant organ, as well as performances by extraordinary guest artists and ensembles from New York City’s vibrant artistic scene. Now in its second season, the program has grown to become an important part of the Brick congregation’s offerings, and a valued part of the New York City arts community. To view the entire 2023–24 season, please visit this page.

At Brick Church, we believe that music, dance, and drama can comfort, inspire, challenge, and bring us closer to the divine, showing us God’s glory reflected in all beautiful things. Join us and share in the warmth, excellence, and energy of the performing arts at Brick!  

ABOUT THE BRICK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Brick Church is a lively and growing congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.) that has been meeting to worship God and serve the New York community since 1767. We welcome all people to our worship services every Sunday at 11 AM followed by coffee hour, as well as seasonal weekday services. Brick Church sponsors a thriving independent preschool, programs that feed the hungry, as well as community outreach to the Upper East side neighborhood and beyond.

Our congregation, members and visitors have worshipped in three locations in New York City. The first church was on Beekman Street across from today’s City Hall. The church moved to Fifth Avenue and 37th Street in 1858, and remained there until 1940, when the present sanctuary at Park Avenue and 91st Street was dedicated and the Brick Church School established.

Every year since 1945, the Christmas trees on Park Avenue have been lit on the first Sunday in December, during a ceremony on the church steps. Church members, neighborhood residents, and visitors from near and far gather to sing carols and honor those who have died in all of our country’s wars.

We welcome everyone to come, visit, worship and see what Brick Church is all about.