Grammy-winning choir The Crossing concludes its 2025-2026 season in June with “The Month of Moderns,” a series of concerts performed at venues throughout Philadelphia.

The concerts feature several commissioned world premieres including works by Nicole Lizée, Nathalie Joachim and Peter Boyer as the season culminates in collaborations with ArtPhilly, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Highmark Mann Center. The performances celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence. The schedule includes two performances at The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill.

“The occasion of celebrating 250 years of democracy inspired us to take stock of our catalog of over 200 commissions that tell very American stories, a canon we’ve been developing for over two decades,” choir conductor Donald Nally said in a news release.

“Those stories tell the tale of the challenges of sustaining a democracy, of meeting our responsibilities to each other, of social issues, of successes and failures, of love and death and joy and sorrow, all in an attempt to capture what it’s like to be imperfect humans making art that has hope and dreams of a better world,” he said.

Month of Moderns schedule

‘The People Address the Nation’s Issues’

The Crossing taps into its catalog of commissioned works to perform compositions that examine “Where we are,” an assessment the choir calls “not always optimistic,” but “entirely honest and inquisitive.” The concert includes a world premiere by Lizée, and works from the choir’s social justice commissions.

Broad Street Love, 315 S. Broad St. 5 p.m., June 6. (Pre-concert discussion begins at 4 p.m.)

The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, 8855 Germantown Ave. 5 p.m., June 7. (Pre-concert discussion begins at 4 p.m.)

‘Created Equal’

The concert explores a single day at the 1876 Centennial Exposition, through five characters traversing Fairmount Park during the expo, America’s first world’s fair. In a collaboration with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the choir will perform “A Hundred Years On” by Grammy–nominated composer Boyer and Grammy Award–winning librettist Mark Campbell.

TD Pavilion, Highmark Mann Center. 8 p.m., Wednesday, June 17.

‘Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness’

In a concert that will examines everything from FDR’s vision of democracy to the disappearance of bluestem grasses, the choir will perform a world premiere by Nathalie Joachim, a vocalist and flutist with an affinity for indie rock, pop, classical, and hip hop. The choir will also perform works by some of the ensemble’s “composer friends,” with Thomas Mesa on cello.

Broad Street Love, 315 S. Broad St. 5 p.m. Saturday, June 27. (Pre-Concert talk at 4 p.m.)

The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, 8855 Germantown Ave. 5 p.m., Sunday, June 28. (Pre-concert discussion begins at 4 p.m.)