Benjamin Niemczyk

WOS is excited to be introducing our new, young and inspiring conductor, Benjamin Niemczyk. No stranger to WOS, Benjamin has been our official photographer and graphic designer, and has on occasion added his rich bass/baritone vocals to our concerts. Welcome Benjamin. We are delighted to have you on board and we look forward to your artistic leadership and inspiration. Click here to read an online interview about Ben.

At work both in front of and behind the camera, Benjamin Niemczyk is an artist of uncommon range. Balancing his time between photography, graphic design, singing and conducting, he gave his debut as conductor of the Civic Orchestra of the Chicago Symphony in a staged performance of Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals in 2000. Since that time, he has sung in the most admired concert halls of Chicago and New York. Having studied under contemporary music gurus Cliff Colnot and Harold Rosenbaum, he gave his Town Hall conducting debut in 2004, his European debut in the south of France in 2004 and continues to participate in concert performances at such venues as Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall as well as on national television and in feature films.

He can be heard on numerous commercial recordings, particularly those of early music. He is a founding member of C4 (Choral Composer/Conductor Collective, www.c4ensemble.org), the nation's largest new music choral ensemble and looks forward to continued sold-out performances in NYC and elsewhere. He is a strong advocate of the production and performance of new music of all genres and musical languages. He comes to WOS with an equally steadfast commitment to preserving music of the past, cementing it into the modern musical canon, especially works of the mid and late Romantic period.

In addition to his musical interests, Mr. Niemczyk is an accomplished photographer and graphic designer, having created advertising materials for companies including Hal Leonard, G. Schirmer and Lyric Opera of Chicago and numerous small arts organizations. His design business, BDN Design (www.bdndesign.com), specializes in advertising materials and art photography, particularly of and for the NYC area.

Not a stranger to Westchester Oratorio Society, Mr. Niemczyk has often taken the reins in the absence of its past conductor, as he has done for The Canticum Novum Singers, an ensemble of which he was a member from 2003-2007. Future projects include increased work with WOS and C4 as well as a broad proliferation of photography projects beyond the east and into the Midwest. Mr. Niemczyk holds two degrees in composition from Wheaton College Conservatory of Music and the DePaul University School of Music. He resides in Brooklyn, NYC.

The Westchester Oratorio Society enters its exciting twelfth season with renewed energy
under the baton of its Artistic Director and Conductor, Benjamin Niemczyk.

WOS will open the 2009-10 Season on Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 4PM at the Presbyterian Church of Mount Kisco, featuring Mary Jane Newman on organ in Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Anthony Newman's Kyrie and Chorale from Requiem (accompanied by the composer), and Beethoven's Mass in C, Op. 86.

Featured soloists are Melissa Shippen, Soprano, Elizabeth Thorne, Alto, Daniel Neer, Tenor, and DeAndre Simmons, Baritone.   

WOS' spring concert will take place in May at the same above venue and will feature Bach's Motet No. 6, Brahms' Las dich nur nichts and concludes with Schubert's Mass No. 5 in A-Flat.

On Sunday, November 21, 2010, WOS will present Handel's Messiah, complete, with REBEL Baroque Orchestra on period instruments at the Presbyterian Church of Mount Kisco.

HISTORY

WOS was founded in 1997 when a few individuals in South Salem joined with their neighbor, the noted choral conductor, Harold Rosenbaum, in order to form a choral group that would create a high quality musical experience for audiences and singers in northern Westchester and surrounding areas. Since its inception, WOS, has made a significant contribution to the musical fabric of the County, performing early music, choral masterworks of the 18th to 20th centuries and contemporary works accompanied by professional soloists and orchestras. Artistic Director, Benjamin Niemczyk, an accomplished soloist in his own right, is also a strong advocate of the production of new music of all genres.
Voted "Best Amateur Chorus in Westchester" by Westchester Magazine, the Westchester Oratorio Society has also distinguished itself in guest appearances at Carnegie Hall and the Performing Arts Center at Purchase, as well as in performances with the Brooklyn Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (in a production of Olivier Messiaen's opera, St. Francis of Assisi lauded by the New York Times), the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and at Carnegie Hall performing Verdi's haunting Requiem.

In addition to providing major concert experiences for singers and audiences, the Society offers musical opportunities to the community. Its popular Summer Sings series, which is open to singers at all levels, involves reading sessions of choral masterworks under the direction of top-notch conductors. The Society's Chamber Choir provides choral music on a smaller scale to local organizations and institutions, such as hospitals and nursing homes. The Society also affords the opportunity for young people, from middle school to college age, to participate. It encourages their individual membership in the chorus and involves youth choral groups in many of its concerts.