New Amsterdam Singers
New Amsterdam Singers is an amateur chorus of 70+ skilled singers whose performances in New York City and abroad have won critical acclaim. We rehearse at Broadway Presbyterian Church on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and perform three subscription concerts per year in and around New York City under the direction of Clara Longstreth.
In 1966, the Master Institute Chorus, conducted by Allan Miller, was run as an adult education course, with Clara Longstreth as assistant conductor and Elizabeth Rodgers as accompanist. On Miller’s departure in 1968, Clara Longstreth became conductor.
When the Master Institute dissolved in 1971, Clara, Elizabeth and an informal group of singers decided to regroup under the name New Amsterdam Singers. From 1972-1978 NAS was in association with the Bloomingdale House of Music. In 1978 it became fully independent under the management of its own elected Board of Directors.
Today NAS is a chorus of 70 skilled singers whose concert performances in New York City and abroad have won critical acclaim. The group is known for the variety and interest of its repertoire, ranging from the 15th century to the present day. The chorus specializes in a cappella and double chorus repertoire and regularly performs 20th century, contemporary and commissioned works. It continues to rehearse on the Upper West Side, performing three subscription concerts and giving a number of other performances around the greater metropolitan area each season.
All subscription concerts are performed in Manhattan at such locations as Merkin Hall, St. Peter’s Church at Citicorp, St. Ignatius Episcopal Church and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. The chorus has also performed at most of the city’s major halls, including Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall, and in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Washington, D.C., Westchester and New Jersey.
