The Crossing: Tiny Desk Concert

Tom Huizenga | October 24, 2022
When the vocal ensemble named The Crossing - also known as “America’s most astonishing choir” - warmed up behind the Tiny Desk, it reminded me once again how joyful and powerful it can feel to sing together with a group of people. Singing in a choir is a music-making activity shared by more than 54 million Americans, according to recent research by Chorus America.
While the Philadelphia-based choir and its forward-thinking director Donald Nally enjoy the accolades, including a pair of Grammy awards, the most important thing for them is the clear, precise singing of brand new music. They have commissioned and debuted nearly 110 new works by composers including Caroline Shaw, DavidSo Lang, John Luther Adams, Gavin Bryars and Shara Nova, whose brand new work, Titration, was the focus of this performance. The Crossing performed the work’s world premiere in Montana just four days before visiting NPR.
Nova’s music, which “looks at how we deal with difficult emotions,” she says, requires a wide range of tone and color from the choir. Voices softly enter in translucent layers, a reminder of Renaissance traditions, or bark in a way that conjures up the early American shape-note singing style.
During sound check, Nally stopped the singers to coax a slightly different pronunciation or tweak a volume. And through it all, they sang with power and precision - and with smiles on their faces.
SET LIST
From Titration by Shara Nova
Turn Ya Head
Safety In Peril or Calm
I’m So Mad I Could Spit Nails
Pulses
MUSICIANS
Donald Nally: conductor
Kevin Vondrak: assistant conductor
Choir
Katy Avery
Karen Blanchard
Micah Dingler
Joanna Gates
Dimitri German
Steven Hyder
A.J. Keller
Lauren Kelly
Anika Kildegaard
Maren Montalbano
Daniel O’Dea
Kyle Sackett
Rebecca Siler
Tiana Sorenson
Daniel Spratlan
Daniel Taylor
Shari Wilson
TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Tom Huizenga
Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Series Creator: Bob Boilen
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant, Michael Zamora, Pierre Kattar
Audio Assistant: Neil Tevault
Production Assistants: Jill Britton
Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Marissa Lorusso, Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer, Maia Stern
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann
#tinydesk #nprmusic #thecrossing

[@randybungo2941]

It doesn’t get any better than this ! What a awesome group

[@soysorray]

Hard to find words to describe this - other-worldly, haunting, beautiful. Great performance!

[@Chernobylii]

Sh sh sh Shara! I love My Brightest Diamond. I love the work you did with Sufjan! You are a true artist.

[@haikat4]

Honestly first thing I thought when I watched this was Sufjan Stevens, and I didn't know anything about this group. I can hear the similarities.

Amazing! Thank you! Greetings from Latvia, where our choir culture is deeply rooted within ourselves!

@@Browne7100 who’s Max? ((:

[@0920121908250727]

The work Shara did with The Decemberists is simply out of this world. Unforgettable.

[@singingcyclist6049]

The people saying this (Grammy-winning) choir isn’t good clearly don’t know a thing about choirs. Well done, Donald, and well done, Crossing singers.

[@verenas3536]

I personally do not like individual voices I hear here, that is putting me off quite a bit. And the choir is small enough and the pieces are written in a way that the voices do stand out. But I would never say "the choir is not good".

[@collettearmstrong2113]

Absolutely beautiful 💐

[@thefrofairy]

Very enchanting. They’ve done a beautiful job of merging the different waves of their voices

[@karlsnilsson]

enchanting is the perfect word!

[@xyz8888]

this is like walking in the soul of a person, beautiful work ❤

[@GabriellaGracexo]

I love Shara Nova! She's amazing as My Brightest Diamond

[@sophelet]

Absolutely extraordinary composition and performance. WOW. Congratulations, The Crossing and Donald Nally!

[@Joshd247]

Absolutely amazing, it was very soothing,I could listen to them sing all day !!!

[@tomas5376]

Most enjoyable! Just when you think you’ve heard everything, something new and vibrant comes along! Gracias🎶🎵🎶🎶🎶🎶🎵🎵🎶🎵🎵👏👏👏🙏🏼

[@e_mmmme]

Tiny Desk always brings such nice surprises!

[@porgyt7177]

Close my eyes and drift with the movement. Really nice. Ty.

[@cosmiccreator]

Absolutely awesome! 😍🙏💐

[@stephanieghansen]

Incredible voices! So great 😭❤️👏🏼

[@pachisoyyo]

This music helps me temper my emotions

[@jenmu7870]

beautiful. instantly i felt relaxed.

[@bucketofbarnacles]

Stunning, what a musical treasure.

[@madison5545]

this is amazing

[@sergueibubka]

Thank you!

[@JeffJefferson]

Interesting

[@UndecidedAdrian]

Absolutely loving this!

[@ursulanzimande9515]

they remind me of the singers unlimited...very stunning

[@SaintLane]

A collaboration between these guys and David Byrne would be 🤌

[@JT96708]

Find a bag of Doritos and Byrne will do it. 😂

[@JasonScottWeisinger]

@@JT96708 You are 100% right. The Crossing performed David Byrne's "Knee Plays" in February 2020 and it was amazing.

[@timmmychanga]

Thank you 🔥❤️🙏 Incredible vibes

[@sergioalmeida2544]

Thank you :)

[@nogolzakerian9161]

Wow! I loved it ❤

[@Mojken_yakionigiri]

This is brilliant!

[@pdroguilhermesilva]

Amazing work. Make sme glad to be living tight now here.

[@djuliandrews]

im completely impacted with this music! ❤

[@workingtoseethelight8244]

Only on NPR, I love it! Thanks!

[@djellicon4935]

wow so clean A++++ would inspect again

[@KimClinger]

One of my faves

[@dalurious]

Full body tingles. Loved it!😍

[@sam_bamalam]

How cool!!!!!

[@disophisis]

This reminded me of Philip Glass in a good way.

[@lilianapego]

This is so cool!

[@martixxxx]

you can allways trust NPR Music in good sound...

[@おちむ]

awesome❤

[@mjallenuk]

Magical

[@Grievous-]

I don't understand what I just witnessed.

[@HappyAsAClown]

goosebumps, but in a way I never felt them before 😮

[@katherinethyne945]

Wow!

[@K1LL14N]

Very good performance!

[@nawibf]

Magistral

[@user-ux3jf4ji7t]

When the UU choir brings the fire.

[@AdrianDeVore]

That's right!

[@brakgeluid]

Every NPR tdc I try to spot the Lou Reed book the shelves, just to check if it has moved indicating someone was reading it :)

[@frankie9457]

Woaaahh

[@CamilaMaria27]

Divine 🫶🏼

[@megland9403]

Quand les émotions viennent en chantant.

[@abracadaverous]

Heard this music Thought "There HAS to be a fellow SFGC alum in this choir" Was right!

[@SonOroSound]

Midsommar vibes

[@fododude]

Donald, you appear not to be aging.

[@b._quiet]

❤

[@alexkenley1]

trippy

[@bornjusticerule5764]

🤙🏿

[@onearmedtrex5344]

Me trying to fall asleep. My body: 1:21

[@bornjusticerule5764]

The secret is they're all 4th grade music class teachers.

[@jefb3705]

Aww man, when I saw "The Crossing" I thought it was going to be the Celtic band from Chicago

[@hollivybez]

This was interesting

[@Poodingbrain]

heat

[@markbass_trojanthinking]

😊

[@archerdescognets]

Sounds like Laurie Anderson

[@Matas05]

Lotta trolls on this here post 😂 They were soothing 😅

[@XxXenosxX]

This one is different 🧐

[@jacquim4812]

Well, Tiny Desk.... 🤔 There's something for everyone, I give you that. So, good looking out 😬

[@MrSurferguy99]

Please get King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard!

[@punkbubbles]

Its like synesthesia

[@SpudsMac]

This made me want to go on a bender 🤷 not necessarily a bad thing..

[@ObeseCaligula]

Latino Ex

[@leonardticsay8046]

I was expecting animal crossing.

[@johncontractors1385]

I promise you Kanye will sample this and make a hit.

[@gabsriel]

:-)

[@MakersTeleMark]

FKNA.

[@RikardPeterson]

Good sound! But it is a bit disappointing to see them reading their music - for an occasion like this they should have the music enough to not need the paper. And work a bit on the expression! I heard words about rage, but I didn't see that on screen. The sound is the most important thing for a musician, but classical musicians in particular too often forget the visual aspect of a performance.

[@jennydiver100]

Is this a cult?

[@Ahkbar4Life]

Me no like. Hurts me ears.

[@Neil-Aspinall]

I think they needed a little more rehearsing before this performance?

[@TheJacobBoland]

Absolutely not, this is pure musicianship at its finest.

[@christianfiguroa7147]

So boring 😴

[@johnzurek8174]

Sorry. No joy. No sadness. No excitement. No emotions which is what music is. Maybe eyebrow scrunching. The work and skills put into this are obvious and commendable yet the end result is irritating. Its not just one piece. They are all a bit disturbing. Why not put that tremendous amount of time, effort and talent into something beautiful?

[@CarnaghSidhe]

I'm sorry, but I did not like that choir. There's no shortage of choirs to listen to where I am, and that wasn't a very good one.

[@dannardozza7344]

15 minutes and still waiting for this thing to get off the ground

[@MyBeautifulDarkTwistedFantasy6]

This doesn’t sound enough like Massive Attack