Mass Appeal Mass, led by conductor Kent Tritle
6:30PM - 7:30PM in Gansevoort Plaza (Ninth Ave and W. 12th, Manhattan)

Join acclaimed conductor Kent Tritle for a truly massive concert: a large sing-it-yourself performance of Mozart's Coronation Mass and selections from Handel's Messiah, echoing off the walls of the Meatpacking District, as part of this year's Make Music New York.

Singers of all kinds are invited to join! The only requirement is to show up, with music in hand and joy in heart.

Soloists will include Jamet Pittman, soprano, Meg Bragle, mezzo, John Tiranno, tenor, Jesse Blumberg, baritone, and pianist Michael Sheetz. Download the scores here to join them (each are PDF files, right-click to save):

Download flier for Mass Appeal Mass

Kent Tritle is one of America's leading choral conductors. Called "the brightest star in New York's choral music world" by The New York Times, he is founder and Music Director of Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, the acclaimed concert series now entering its 21st season at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York City; Music Director of the Oratorio Society of New York, New York City's acclaimed 200-voice volunteer chorus; and Music Director of Musica Sacra, the longest continuously performing professional chorus in New York City. In addition, Kent is Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music and is a member of the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School. An acclaimed organ virtuoso, he is also the organist of the New York Philharmonic.

Jamet Pittman is a native of Washington, DC. At age 23, she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for the Washington area (Northeast Region). One of the judges took notice and invited her to study at the Manhattan School of Music. In 1998, Jamet made her Carnegie Hall debut with a performance of Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream under the direction of Sir Neville Marriner. Most recently, Ms. Pittman performed at Carnegie Hall in Bach's B-Minor Mass and Handel's Messiah with Musica Sacra. She has sung with the NY Choral Artists at Avery Fisher Hall with the NY Philharmonic under the baton of such Maestri as Loren Maazel, Zubin Mehta, and Riccardo Muti. Jamet has performed in several musical theater productions, including Carousel and Master Class. She is an original cast member of 3 Mo' Divas.

Recognized for her "expressive virtuosity" (San Francisco Chronicle) and "memorable, raw-silk voice" (Toronto Star), American mezzo-soprano Meg Bragle is garnering praise for her dynamic and eloquent performances of music from Bach and beyond. Recent highlights include a European tour of Bach's Mass in B Minor with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists, including performances at the Bachfest Leipzig, the Prague Spring Festival and the Aldeburgh and Brighton Festivals, Handel's Messiah with the Dunedin Consort in France, the premiere performance of a new edition of Salieri's Requiem in Washington, DC and Pergolesi's La Maddalena al Sepolcro in New York City. During the 2010/11 season, she debuts with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Houston's Mercury Baroque Orchestra singing Mitrena in Vivaldi's Motezuma, and Les Voix Baroques with Ensemble Arion.

Versatile American tenor John Tiranno's recent opera engagements include creating the role of Trouble in Gisle Kverndokk's Max & Mortiz (New York Opera Society), Alfredo in La Traviata (Granite State Opera), Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Concert Opera of Philadelphia), Lord Tolloller in Iolanthe (Nashville Opera), Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor (Connecticut Grand Opera), Beppe in Pagliacci (New York Grand Opera), Dr. Caius in Falstaff (Toledo Opera), Faust in Gounod's Faust (Opera in the Heights), and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni (Opera Colorado). As a concert soloist, highlights include Mahler's Symphony No. 8 (National Academy Orchestra of Canada), Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Haydn's Creation (Vermont Mozart Festival), and Handel's Messiah with the Dayton Philharmonic. He has sung with Sarasota Opera, Lake George Opera, Teatro Grattacileo, Boheme Opera, Light Opera of New York, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Discovery Orchestra, and the Boulder Philharmonic.

Baritone Jesse Blumberg is an artist equally at home on opera, concert, and recital stages. Last season he performed the role of the Celebrant in Bernstein's Mass at London's Royal Festival Hall under the baton of Marin Alsop, debuted with Boston Lyric Opera as Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos, and performed recitals in Paris with the Mirror Visions Ensemble. In 2007 he created the role of Connie Rivers in The Grapes of Wrath (recorded by P.S. Classics) at the Minnesota Opera, and later made his Utah and Pittsburgh Opera debuts in the same production. He has also given the world premieres of two important chamber works: Ricky Ian Gordon's Green Sneakers and Lisa Bielawa's The Lay of the Love and Death. In 2008 Jesse was awarded Third Prize at the International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau, becoming its first American prizewinner in over thirty years. Jesse is also the founder and artistic director of the Five Boroughs Music Festival, a new concert series in New York City.

Based in New York City, Michael Sheetz is active as a conductor, vocal coach, and collaborative pianist. Performance venues have included Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center (Terrace Theatre), the Metropolitan Opera Guild, the Middlebury Opera Company, and the Atlantic Wind Symphony, as a concerto soloist. As a conductor he has led productions of "Into the Woods" and "Wuthering Heights", a world premiere, and as a choral accompanist he has collaborated with Musica Sacra, Oratorio Society of New York, Greenwich Choral Society, and the Make Music New York Festival. He has worked on the music staffs of the Aspen Opera Theatre Center, the College Light Opera Company, and currently serves as Music Coordinator for La Lingua Della Lirica, a summer training program for singers in Novafeltria, Italy.