The NEC Symphonic Choir joins the NEC Philharmonia in two very different 20th century choral pieces. Bartók features women’s voices for his exuberant Slovakian Three Village Scenes, while Shostakovich uses only men’s voices—a male choir and a bass soloist—for his epic song cycle, Symphony No. 13, “Babi Yar.” Shostakovich took part of his text from Yevgeny Yevtushenko's 1961 poem, Babi Yar, a protest against the Soviet Union's refusal to identify Babi Yar, a ravine in the suburbs of Kiev, as a site of the mass murder of 33,000 Jews on September 29–30, 1941.

Hugh Wolff conducts and William Meinert is the baritone soloist.

This performance is open to in-person audiences, and is also viewable via livestream.

BARTOK: Three Village Scenes, NEC Philharmonia & Symphonic Choir Sopranos & Altos
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 13 "Babi Yar", NEC Philharmonia & Symphonic Choir Tenors & Basses