Antioch Chamber Ensemble & Joshua Copeland
Biography Antioch Chamber Ensemble & Joshua Copeland
Antioch
is thrilled to be releasing a brand new CD of works by legendary choral composer Robert Kyr, titled “In Praise of Music”, on July 9, 2021, produced by the GRAMMY-award winning SoundMirror and released by Bridge Records. Check out our webpage dedicated to this project. Preorder your disk on Amazon now!
Widely regarded as one of the finest professional choral ensembles in the United States, The Antioch Chamber Ensemble is currently celebrating its 23rd season of exceptional music-making. Under the leadership of founding Artistic Director Joshua Copeland, and executive director Stephen Sands, the ensemble strives to present as diverse a program as possible of the world’s greatest choral literature, both sacred and secular, and has performed works ranging from Renaissance polyphony to contemporary masterpieces with a core group of ten to twelve of the New York metropolitan area’s finest singers.
Antioch has been awarded first-place honors in the highly prestigious Tolosa International Choral Competition in Spain, establishing them among the top rank of professional choirs in the world. In recent seasons, Antioch has been called “stellar,” “flawless,” “an exceptional group,” and “a spectacular example of what a classical choir should sound like” by the national press. Of the ensemble’s début for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The New York Times wrote: “The Antioch Chamber Ensemble performed … with clarity of tone and intonation so pure that you could hear the buzz of overtones created by some of the close harmonies. The most daring of these often color the sighs and wordless exclamations that punctuate both spiritual and secular texts, and the Antioch singers gave each its expressive register: impassioned, weak-kneed, swooning.” Other past performance highlights include concerts for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, the American Choral Directors Association Eastern National Conference and the Festival des Choeurs Lauréats in France.
In recent years, Antioch has earned a glowing reputation for its pitch-perfect and expressive interpretation of modern music. The ensemble gave the European premiere of Eric Whitacre’s “The City and the Sea,” as well as the world premiere of Bruce Adolphe’s “Of Art and Onions: Homage to Bronzino” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, commissioned by the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. The same year, the group’s second recording, The Passing of the Year (featuring the titular cycle by contemporary composer Jonathan Dove), was released by MSR Classic; Fanfare raved of the group’s “flawless blend, excellent intonation, and enthusiastic but sensitive phrasing.” Composers Paul Mealor, Ivo Antognini, Matthew Brown and R. Douglas Helvering have all composed works specifically for Antioch.
Dedicated to the support and education of promising young composers and singers, Antioch has held residencies at colleges and universities including Princeton, Harvard, St. Lawrence, and Washington and Lee Universities, and Vassar College. The ensemble is the recipient of a grant from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music and produced the first recording of choral works by Matthew Brown, (though love be a day). Antioch recently made a recording of the works of Robert Kyr, which was engineered by the Grammy Award-winning SoundMirror company, to be released in 2021.
Joshua Copeland
has been Artistic Director of the Antioch Chamber Ensemble since its inception in 1997. He holds a Music Education degree from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, where he was a member of the highly acclaimed Westminster Choir for four years. Joshua has toured as a singer and director both in the United States and abroad throughout Asia, Europe, and South America. Under Mr.Copeland’s direction, Antioch took top honors at the 2008 Tolosa International Choir Competition and has dazzled audiences and critics alike with diverse programming that has included classic choral masterworks as well as championing todays most exciting contemporary composers. In addition his duties with Antioch, Joshua has created a highly successful choral and handbell program at the Bedminster Township School where he has taught since 2004. An avid gardner, outdoor enthusiast, and historic preservation buff, Joshua splits his time between his residences in Mount Tabor, New Jersey and Northport, Maine.
