In a performance presented by Death of Classical, Jennifer Koh performs Bach in the catacombs of Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery.
In Tuesday’s (5/20) Guardian (U.K.), Osman Can Yerebakan writes, “The Church of Intercession rises on West Harlem’s vibrant 155th Street … A less conspicuous feature of the 110-year-old gargantuan Episcopal sanctuary is its small underground crypt…. It was this enigmatic [space] that mesmerized Andrew Ousley—the founder of the alternative classical music series Death of Classical—when he first stepped into the chamber a decade ago…. The vaulted crypt, which can accommodate 45 guests at a time, is among the organization’s main venues, in addition to Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery and its long tunnel catacombs. Each event—generally an instant sellout—draws an audience in search of an intimate concert … Ousley … started the project with a desire for an alternative way to engage with classical music. Conrad Tao, at the time a 21-year-old newcomer, inaugurated the … series at the end of 2015 with a program of his own score … A growing number of shows over the years have included debuts by young composers, such as Gregg Kallor and Maxim Lando, blended with Mozart or Hildegard of Bingen … Ousley believes that the genre’s power comes from the way [classical music] ‘always responds to the times while it stays immortal.’ ”
