POTSDAM -- The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam is set to celebrate the institution's bicentennial with a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City. This is the third time in SUNY Potsdam history that a Crane group has performed in the storied venue.

Maestro Duain Wolfe will conduct the Crane Chorus and Crane Symphony Orchestra in a celebratory concert befitting the College's 200th anniversary, featuring guest artists, epic works and a world premiere. This concert will be offered on Sunday, May 8 at 8:30 p.m. in the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage.

Tickets for the Carnegie Hall performance are $40, and can be obtained by visiting www.carnegiehall.org or contacting The Crane School of Music at 267-2813. Alumni and friends of SUNY Potsdam may receive a discount of $15 off admission by using the promo code: CSM23707.

"The May 8 Carnegie Hall performance by the Crane Chorus and Crane Symphony Orchestra is an auspicious one, marking both SUNY Potsdam's bicentennial year and a return to Carnegie Hall for these Crane ensembles. The profile of this concert will showcase on one of the world's most auspicious stages the high standard of excellence constantly maintained by our dedicated faculty, excellent students and loyal alumni," said Crane School of Music Dean Michael Sitton. "It also marks the second major performance in New York underwritten by the Adeline Maltzan Crane Chorus Performance Tour Fund, established by Gary C. Jaquay. The first was Crane's 2012 performance at Lincoln Center. This event will bring to the historic Carnegie Hall venue a performance prepared by Crane's artist faculty, delivered by outstanding Crane students, and generously supported by major alumni contributions from Dorothy Gregory and Gary Jaquay."

Crane is proud to welcome Maestro Wolfe, who is the 2016 Dorothy Albrecht Gregory Visiting Conductor, for a campus residency leading up to the concert, during SUNY Potsdam's Lougheed-Kofoed Festival of the Arts. Two vocalists will be featured soloists in the performance, including soprano Fei Ma and guest artist Christopher Feigum, baritone.

"Crane students are excited for this opportunity to perform in such a prestigious venue. They are eager to celebrate this legacy and milestone in SUNY Potsdam's history by sharing their talent and passion for music. This year's performance will certainly be one of the most memorable moments in their collegiate life," said Dr. Ching-Chun Lai, director of the Crane Symphony Orchestra.

The concert will open with the world premiere of "Awake, Celestial Airs!" by acclaimed composer Gary Fry, which SUNY Potsdam commissioned in honor of the College's bicentennial. The work is based on a poem written by American poet John Pierpont, "The Airs of Palestine," which was written in 1816 -- the same year that the College was founded.

The Crane Chorus and Crane Symphony Orchestra will also perform Ralph Vaughan Williams' triumphal "Serenade to Music," featuring a number of featured student soloists. The program also contrasts two settings of Psalm 150, with celebrated compositions by Cesar Franck and Anton Bruckner.

The central work in the concert program is "Requiem" by Gabriel Fauré, a work that holds a distinct and beloved place in the history of The Crane School of Music. The great Nadia Boulanger conducted the piece three separate times as a guest conductor for the Crane Chorus and Crane Symphony Orchestra, after having studied composition with Fauré himself. The late Crane School of Music Dean Helen Hosmer loved the work so much that it was performed at her memorial service and the opening notes of the "Pie Jesu" movement are engraved on her tombstone.

"The concert opens with an anthem celebrating the Bicentennial of SUNY Potsdam, a 2016 setting of a poem penned in 1816. Also on the program is a favorite of Helen Hosmer, Fauré's 'Requiem,' undoubtedly the most-performed choral/orchestral work in the history of our institution," said Jeffrey Francom, who directs the Crane Chorus. "In contrast, and perhaps symbolic of looking forward to our third century, the three remaining works on the program have never been performed previously by Crane Chorus and Crane Symphony Orchestra. This will be a historic concert that celebrates and exemplifies the rich history and promising future of our SUNY Potsdam community!"

The 2016 Crane School of Music performance at Carnegie Hall will represent another milestone in long tradition of musical excellence at the College. This is the third time that a Crane group has performed at Carnegie. In 1941, Nadia Boulanger conducted the Crane Chorus in a joint performance with the New York Philharmonic -- a performance that also included the Fauré "Requiem." The Crane Chorus and Crane Symphony Orchestra returned to Carnegie in 1952, at the invitation of Robert Shaw, to participate in his Choral Masterworks series.

To learn more about the history of SUNY Potsdam and its Crane School of Music, visit www.potsdam.edu/200.