FULL HOLY GROUND (Danielle Jagelski) World Premiere New York 2025 Voices of Ascension

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: Holy Ground   
• Composer: Jagelski Danielle   
• Libretto: Text excerpted from “I am the Gardener” by Charli Fool Bear-Vetter, “Marshlands” and “Prodigal” by E. Pauline Johnson, “Refugee Blues” by W.H. Auden, and “Mannahatta” by Walt Whitman  
• Venue & Opera Company: Church of the Ascension, New York City  
• Recorded: April 8, 2025
• Type: Concert Live
• Singers: Kirsten Kunkle, Samantha Martin, Bo Shimmin, Dylan Aguayo, Damian Norfleet
• Conductor: Danielle Jagelski  
• Orchestra: The International Contemporary Ensemble  
• Chorus: Voices of Ascension  
• Stage Director:   
• Costume Designer:   

Information about the Recording

• Published by: Voices of Ascension  
• Date Published: 2025  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: nosubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  The settlement of Manhattan Island embodies a complicated legacy marked by the colonization, clash of cultures, displacement of Indigenous and Black communities, and the continuation of this land as a hub for commerce, art, and connection.

  Voices of Ascension present Voices of Mannahatta at The Church of the Ascension, exploring the history of the land on which our concert hall stands, on the unceded lands of the Munsee Lenape, Mannahatta Island.

  In collaboration with The Eagle Project—NYC’s only Lenape-led performing arts organization—this concert will feature the multimedia world premiere by composer Danielle Olana Jagelski (Oneida/Ojibwe). Written for five Indigenous classical singers from the Mvskogee, Acoma Pueblo, Cherokee, Anishinaabe, and Taíno Nations, the composition Holy Ground is accompanied by a five-octave marimba and vibraphone, with video imagery created by visual artist Sage Ahebah Addington (Navajo).

  The program also includes performances of Raven Chacon’s 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning composition Voiceless Mass featuring The International Contemporary Ensemble and the Church’s Manton Memorial Organ, Andrew Balfour’s Vision Chant, and Cris Derksen’s Triumph of the Euro-Christ (a United States premiere).

  “Voiceless Mass is a large ensemble work to be performed in any gathering space of worship with high ceilings and pipe organ. Though ‘mass’ is referenced in the title, the piece contains no audible singing voices, instead using the openness of the large space to intone the constricted intervals of the wind and string instruments. In exploiting the architecture of the cathedral, Voiceless Mass considers the futility of giving voice to the voiceless, when providing space is never an option.” -Raven Chacon, 2021

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