Musica Viva of New York

A Brief History

Founded in 1977 Musica Viva of New York is a professional chorus of 30 singers with orchestra. Our aim is to stretch the musical reach of our audiences by performing rarely heard works as well as much-loved familiar pieces like Carmina Burana and Mozart’s Requiem. Our season consists of 3 choral concerts per year with orchestra and one organ concert. Each year we perform one early music concert with period instruments and aim to commission and/or premiere at least one new work. Over the years we have gained a reputation for excellence in performance and programming that sets us apart from other choral concert organizations.

WALTER KLAUSS, Conductor and Artistic Director

WALTER KLAUSS, conductor and organist, received his M.A. degree from Case Western Reserve University and pursued doctoral studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York. At the age of 17, Mr. Klauss made his debut as an organ recitalist at the Cleveland Museum of Art and was later invited by the Museum to perform the American premiere of Jean Langlais’ Organ Concerto for the May Festival of Contemporary Music. At the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, Mr. Klauss was one of six organists invited to perform the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen in a concert honoring the composer, who was present. He continues to appear as a recitalist and most recently appeared with the Zurich Symphony Orchestra performing Jean Langlais' Pièce en Style Libre with the Zurich Symphony Orchestra at the Tonhalle in Zurich.

Mr. Klauss studied conducting with F. Karl Grossman in Cleveland, Ohio, and Wolfram Wehnert in Hanover, Germany. Since 1976 Mr. Klauss has been Minister of Music at All Souls Church in New York City. He retired as Chairman of the Music Department and Professor of Music at the CW Post Campus of Long Island University in 1998. Long Island University awarded Walter Klauss the status of Professor Emeritus upon his retirement as Chairman.

He is also the founder and conductor of the critically acclaimed Musica Viva concert series in New York and has appeared as guest conductor of festival choruses and led several workshops in choral conducting and performance techniques. In recent years, Mr. Klauss has appeared as guest conductor of various choral and orchestral works with L'orchestre de J.L. Petit in Paris. Thanks to Maestro Jean-Louis Petit, Musica Viva presented a series of concerts in Paris in February 2004 to standing ovations in such venues as Eglise de la Madeleine and Notre Dame de Paris. Musica Viva's 2006 European tour included performances at several historic venues, including the honor of performing as a guest choir for Evensong at the Thomaskirche, Leipzig. Other performance venues in March 2006 included Dresden, Polditz, and Prague.

In 2012 the ensemble traveled to Italy, where it performed in Tuscany and the Veneto, including venues in Florence and Venice.

Musica Viva, Inc., 1157 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10075 Telephone 212.794.3646