Tariq Al-Sabir
Shereen Pimentel 
Ted SperlingMasterVoices | Orchestra of St. Lukes | Ted Sperling, Conductor
Presented as part of the Waterline Square Park’s Summer Stage program, this effervescent evening is designed to delight your senses – think balmy breezes, atmospheric surroundings, and a lush score that brings the sounds of summer to life. From the fairy forests of Felix Mendelssohn to the porch swings of Samuel Barber, this outdoor serenade will feature the MasterVoices Chorus and Orchestra of St. Luke’s, with vocalists Shereen Pimentel (Ivo van Hove’s West Side Story, last season’s Myths and Hymns) and Tariq Al-Sabir (Toshi Reagon’s Parable of the Sower, Meredith Monk’s Atlas). We’ll transport you through summers in Renaissance Italy and fin-de-siècle Sweden… but if NYC summers are your thing, we’ve got you covered with contemporary works by the phenomenal Ricky Ian Gordon (Grapes of Wrath, Intimate Apparel) and a world premiere commission by boundless talent Tariq Al-Sabir, whose recent commissions include the Harvard University Committee on the Arts (2022), and the 2021 New York Festival of Song.
With Songs for a Summer Night, MasterVoices is a proud participant in the #FestivalofNY – a city-wide celebration of all the things that make us New Yorkers.
Admission is FREE – Throw down a blanket or bring your own chair and enjoy a beautiful evening of summer music. Limited benches and chairs are available for early arrivers. (Rain Date: June 9th at 7:00 pm)
Waterline Square Park – At 60th and Freedom Place South
Running time: Approx. 80 minutes
Highlights:
Overture to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in E major, Op. 21 – Felix Mendelssohn
Song with Choir (from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” ) – Mendelssohn
El Grillo – Josquin des Prez
Blame it on the Summer Night (from “Rags”) – Stephen Schwartz/Charles Strouse
Song of a Summer Night (from “The Most Happy Fella”) – Frank Loesser
New Moon, Summer, and Joy (Three Songs) – Ricky Ian Gordon
Knoxville: Summer of 1915 – Samuel Barber
Excerpts from Les nuits d’été (Summer Nights), Villanelle and La Spectre de la Rose – Hector Berlioz
Night Music Waltz Suite – Stephen Sondheim, arr. Ted Sperling
World Premiere Commission – Tariq Al-Sabir
Program subject to change.
Shereen Pimentel
Shereen Pimentel was last seen in the 2020 Broadway revival of West Side Story as Maria. This promising young soprano was recognized for her outstanding performance as an Outer Critics Circle honoree for Best Actress in a Musical. Ms. Pimentel started performing professionally at the very young age of nine, when she debuted on Broadway as Young Nala in “The Lion King”. She was most recently seen in a production of “Into the Woods” for Encores at New York City Center, she has also recently performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Naples Philharmonic. Her screen credits include John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch on Netflix. Ms. Pimentel is a 2020 graduate from the Juilliard School with a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance.
Tariq Al-Sabir
Composer, Vocalist, Producer and Music Director Tariq Al-Sabir has performed and premiered commissioned works at The Public Theater, Lincoln Center, National Sawdust, MoMA and Columbia university’s Wallach Art Gallery. He nationally and internationally premiered the roles of Richard Moss and Travis Douglass in Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower, an opera by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon. Al-Sabir’s multimedia song cycle #UNWANTED, conceived during the 2018 SUITE/Space residency with the Mabou Mines Theater Company, premiered to the world at The Shed in 2019. Al-Sabir made his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut in the new production of Meredith Monk’s ATLAS directed by Yuval Sharon and is collaborating with Monk on her new evening-length performance with the working title Indra’s Net. In 2021 he served as music director for Rainbird, a new opera by Mallory Catlett and Aaron Siegel, at Experiments in Opera in Brooklyn. He is writing a three-act opera for Harlem Stage as a part of its 2022 WaterWorks Emerging Artists program.
