Death of Classical

DoC's mission is to create a focused and intensely moving experience around the art form, with programs ranging from the baroque to the brand new, performed by some of today’s most extraordinary artists, with a free spirits tasting before each show. Death of Classical was created by Andrew Ousley, after he discovered the extraordinary Crypt Chapel underneath the Church of the Intercession in Harlem, and decided that he wanted to create a concert series that would offer a more powerful experience around Classical Music and Opera, and help revive a broader excitement about the art form.

The response and acclaim has been unanimous, with the New York Times proclaiming that "Classical is alive and well and living in a Crypt, with a series of intimate, charmingly creepy concerts that offer tightly focused programs from top-flight musicians." Our concerts – most of which sell out in moments – have been hailed as "transcendent" (Billboard), "emotionally-charged" (Forbes), "numinous and genre-bending" (New Yorker), with New York Magazine praising them as “sensitively programmed events in which music and architecture almost meld," and the culture editor of Vogue simply describing a DoC show as "one of the most riveting and unusual chamber music performances of my lifetime."

Death of Classical has presented some of today's most acclaimed artists, including the New York Philharmonic, Lawrence Brownlee, Laurie Anderson, Caroline Shaw, Jennifer Koh, Rufus Wainwright, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Simone Dinnerstein, Gil Shaham, Alexandre Tharaud, Lara St. John, Conrad Tao, and many more. We've partnered with institutions ranging from Carnegie Hall to the United Nations, and our accolades include making the New York Times "Best Classical Music Concerts of the Year" list, receiving a Classical:Next Innovation Award, The American Prize for the Arts, and WQXR's 'Excellence in Opera' award for the world premiere of David Hertzberg's The Rose Elf in the Catacombs.