The People Address the Nation’s Issues

Commissioning music that “explores and expands ways of writing for choir, singing in choir, and listening to music for choir”, Philadelphia’s The Crossing is celebrated as the originator of a new canon of American choral music. Conducted by Donald Nally, The Crossing has won four Grammy awards, and was Musical America’s 2024 Ensemble of the Year. For What Now: 2026, the ensemble has commissioned a new piece from Haitian-American Grammy-nominated performer artist Nathalie Joachim who has been hailed by The Nation for being “a fresh and invigorating cross-cultural voice”. The new piece, a setting of Benjamin Franklin’s Thirteen Virtues, will be presented with many of The Crossing’s previous commissions from Philadelphia composers as part of a historical retrospective of their unique body of music.

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Artwork by Caroline Bergstrøm Scheibel, behance.net/Scheibel