ÍøÆغÚÁÏ

The Crossing is an American choral ensemble, about 35 singers strong, that has gained unusually wide critical acclaim while specializing in contemporary music and bringing a broad variety of new music to the repertory via commissions. The group has commissioned a large variety of new works. Under the directorship of Donald Nally, The Crossing has been a prolific creator of new albums on labels oriented toward new music, including Innova, Cantaloupe, and Navona. On the latter, it issued the album Ochre in 2024.

The Crossing was founded in 2005 by a group of friends who included veteran choral director Donald Nally, who had served as artistic director of the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia and as chorus master of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. (A co-founder, Jeffrey Dinsmore, died suddenly during a rehearsal in 2014.) The new group quickly gained a reputation and held a residency at the 2007 Spoleto Festival in Italy. Since then, The Crossing has worked with ensembles as diverse as the American Composers Orchestra and The Rolling Stones (on a 2013 tour). They have appeared at New York's Lincoln Center (in the Mostly Mozart Festival), premiering a new work by John Luther Adams, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall. From 2009 to 2014, the choir operated a festival of its own, Month of Moderns. The Crossing has recorded for the contemporary music labels Navona, Innova, Albany, ECM, and Cantaloupe.

Perhaps the heart of The Crossing's activities has been its energetic commissioning of new music. The group has been responsible for more than 70 premieres of new works by a wide variety of composers, including international figures such as Latvia's Ä’riks EÅ¡envalds and Iceland's Anna Thorvaldsdottir as well as American composers of many styles and schools, including in addition to Gregory W. Brown and John Luther Adams, Gabriel Jackson, David Lang, David Shapiro, and Lewis Spratlan. The choir's musical qualities have won consistent praise in mainstream press organs as well as among connoisseurs of new music. In 2019, The Crossing, under Nally, released two albums, Voyages: Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Robert Convery, and Kile Smith: The Arc in the Sky, both of which earned Grammy nominations. The Crossing was featured on another Grammy-nominated album in 2019, joining the New York Philharmonic on Julia Wolfe's Fire in My Mouth. The choir retained its prolific ways during the COVID-19 pandemic despite the dangers associated with choral singing, issuing no fewer than 11 albums between 2020 and 2024 and scoring another Grammy Award in 2023 for the album Born. In 2024, The Crossing released the album Ochre on the Navona label; that album, too, received a Grammy nomination. ~ James Manheim

Lyrical verses and memorable hooks are common ingredients in the output of Mez, a rapper and producer who hails from North Carolina. The Raleigh native issued his first mixtape in 2009 and soon became known for his ability to excel with a wide variety of collaborators, from nearby heroes Little Brother to gangsta pioneer Dr. Dre. Most notably, his writing and guest verses were key to the latter's Compton (2015), and he also contributed to Dreamville's Grammy-nominated Revenge of the Dreamers III compilation (2019). Mez stepped back from releasing solo material for a few years to focus on directing and producing music videos and commercials, but he returned with The Loading EP (2024), an album prelude issued in affiliation with Mass Appeal.

Mez (Morris Wayne Ricks II) was born in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and was raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. As King Mez, he released his first mixtape, LLTK, in 2009, and the next year teamed with producer Commissioner Gordon for another tape, The Paraplegics. Lasting associations were made at the same time with other North Carolinians, heard on projects such as Rapsody's Return of the B-Girl and 9th Wonder's The Wonder Years. Mez paired with Durham's Khrysis for the 2011 release The King's Khrysis, an EP featuring an appearance from Phonte on its title track. My Everlasting Zeal, issued the next year, was highlighted by production from J. Cole on "The Allure." Mez's next big move was a contribution to Lecrae's Church Clothes 2, followed by his 2014 tape Long Live the King.

Through Rapper Big Pooh, Mez was brought to the attention of an A&R representative at Aftermath Records. This led to Mez working on Dr. Dre's Compton. Featured beside the likes of Snoop Dogg, Marsha Ambrosius, and Kendrick Lamar on "Talk About It," "Dark Side/Gone," and "Satisfaction," Mez also co-wrote nine additional tracks on the album, which entered the Billboard 200 at number two. More in demand than ever, Mez made subsequent contributions to high-profile projects like the Game's Documentary 2.5, SiR's Her Too, and Andy Mineo's Always in a Rush, plus Dreamville's Revenge of the Dreamers III and the soundtrack for Creed III. Mez also issued three volumes in his noncommercial mixtape series Data Plan, but eventually worked more behind the scenes; he directed videos for J. Cole and also directed "Sleep Deprived," a Revenge of the Dreamers III track on which he appeared, and branched out to commercials. He returned in 2024 with The Loading EP, a seven-track effort with Isaiah Rashad, Leon Bridges, and SAINt JHN among the guests. ~ Andy Kellman