Schiller Institute NYC Chorus will open the 2026 American History series marking the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on Sunday, May 17th, with Beethoven's Choral Fantasia and a selection of Spirituals and other American music. 

Rehearsals begin Thursday, January 15th, 6:30-8:00 pm in the Lincoln Center area. Please sign up HERE if you'd like more information on joining the chorus, or call John at 201-233-8615. There are no auditions. Hard-working beginners are welcome.

During the 1890s, Antonin Dvorak, a protege of Johannes Brahms, was perhaps the most beloved composer in Europe. When he was asked by Jeannette Thurber to be the director of her National Conservatory of Music in New York City, the Czech composer reluctantly agreed. Brahms urged him to do so in order to study the music of America, but ultimately, the large salary and his wife convinced him to take the position. He toured the American States, studying the many varieties of folk music, their themes and origins, and returned to New York. Here a historic collaboration occurred between himself and Harry T. Burleigh which resulted in the development of the Negro Spiritual as a truly classical art form in America, rivaling the German lied and Italian Canzone.

Dvorak said, 'I am now satisfied that the future music of this country must be founded upon what are called negro melodies. This must be the real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be developed in the United States.'

Sunday, May 17, 2026
St. Paul & St. Andrew UM Church
263 W 86th St, New York, NY

All Schiller Institute performances and concerts are performed at the Verdi scientific tuning of A=432Hz.