About Us

New York City’s “fine avocational choir”, The New Yorker, May 2009

“...worthy of company with the top amateur choruses in the New York metropolitan area” Mark Greenfelt, The New Music Connoisseur, June 2009

Central City Chorus, one of the premiere mid-sized choruses in New York City, is now enjoying its 31st Season. Currently in residence at the Church of St. Ignatius of Antioch on Manhattan's Upper West Side, the Chorus performs music of all periods, from a cappella compositions to works for chorus and orchestra, from countries around the world. The Chorus’s repertoire includes performances of the Brahms Requiem, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, J.S. Bach’s Magnificat and Christmas Oratorio, and the rarely-heard Requiem by Frederick Delius. In recent years, the Chorus has collaborated with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony in a performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at Riverside Church, with the Astoria Symphony in a performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and with the Empire State Youth Orchestra in a performance of William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast.

Central City Chorus is a strong advocate for contemporary music, and enjoys an active and successful commissioning program. Commissioned composers include James Bassi, whose work, Harpsonnets, was given its world premiere by the Chorus in 2004. Harpsonnets was accepted for publication by Oxford University Press in 2006. Other commissioned composers include Elliot Z. Levine, founder of the internationally-acclaimed a cappella ensemble Western Wind, and Kristin Kuster, composition faculty member at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Additionally, the Chorus has given several New York City premieres, including Emma Lou Diemer’s cantata, A Feast for Christmas (“a major addition to the choral repertoire” Choral Journal), Steve Heitzig’s choral suite, Leaf Songs, based on the poetry of the American poet Wendell Berry, and Carol Barnett’s The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass.

Phillip Cheah, Music Director Conductor, vocalist, pianist, and teacher Phillip Cheah is the Music Director of the Central City Chorus and of Guildsingers, a medieval music consort of voices. He is a member of the professional choir at the Church of St. Luke in the Fields and the Bach Choir of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, as well as a staff accompanist at The Brearley School. More >