The Crossing, led by conductor Donald Nally, is set to make its Cincinnati debut with the world premiere of a new work by Jennifer Higdon at the national conference of the American Choral Directors Association.

The concerts, which will be held on Feb. 24 and 25, 2023 at the Aronoff Center for the Arts, will see the chorus perform “The Absence Remember,” the 2022 Raymond W. Brock Memorial Commission.

The program will explore themes of extinction, loss, absence, and our relationship to the Earth, hope, and responsibility leading with SHIFT by The Crossing’s inaugural Composer in Residence, Ayanna Woods.

The program also includes Edie Hill’s “Spectral Spirits,” most recently featured on The Crossing’s current Grammy Award-nominated album, Born: The Music of Edie Hill and Michael Gilbertson. Works by Shara Nova, singer/songwriter from the band My Brightest Diamond, are featured throughout including selected movements “Urgency,” “Tone-policing” and “Resolve” from her “Carols After a Plague.”