RVC singer Carey premiers Adams piece in NYC

Rockville Centre’s Eric Carey was center stage at The Morgan Library in New York City on April 13 when he premiered the musical piece “Little Cosmic Dust Poem” by Grammy award-winning composer John Luther Adams.

Carey sang the tenor part of the selection that is based off the John Haines poem and a part of the First Songs concert series, which features performers in the Bard College Conservatory Graduate Vocal Arts program headed by Dawn Upshaw, a five-time Grammy winner. She won the award three times for Best Classical Vocal Soloist, one for Best Opera Recording and one for Best Chamber Music Performance.

All of the songs featured that night have never been performed before an audience. Carey’s selection was about discovering the serenity of nature, a common theme in Adams’ works, in an outer-space setting.

“It’s difficult because there’s not any recordings I can refer to,” he said. “Being able to be the first to do this puts a lot of weight on me because I’m sort of setting the tone for how this might be performed in the future.”

But Carey said working with Upshaw has been a rewarding experience.

“It’s been fantastic,” Carey said of working with Upshaw. “This program is quite small and we get work done four out of the five days of the week, so getting to work with her is amazing.”

Last month, he sang at the world premiere of Philip Moore’s “Lift Up Your Heads Oh Ye Gates” to help celebrate the 250th anniversary of the historic Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City. Later this spring, he will perform the “World Premiere of a Song Cycle” by New York composer Whitney E. George before heading to Beijing, China, this summer as part of the Asian Performing Arts Council of the United States.

Carey, 23, graduated from South Side High School in 2011 and received the National Choral Award that year. He was also a member of the ACDA All-Eastern Honor Choir, the All-State Mixed Chorus and helped the Rockville Centre chapter of the TRI-M Music Honor Society. Carey was also seen in numerous musicals, the chamber singers, wind ensemble and symphony orchestra. But he first discovered his love for singing as a seventh-grade member of the St. Agnes Cathedral Choir.

“I got a small solo in Mozart’s ‘Requiem’, and when I got up and was singing with the orchestra, I was like ‘Whoa,’” he recalled. “It brought emotions to me that I hadn’t really felt before. [I thought] maybe this is what I should do.”

He also graduated from the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in vocal performance with a concentration in music business. He is pursuing his Master of Music at Bard and hopes to one day perform at the Metropolitan Opera House.