New York Polyphony photo by Jacob Blickenstaff
Chicago-based oratorio tenor Steven Caldicott Wilson has appeared as soloist at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Trinity Church Wall Street, and Symphony Hall Boston. Mr. Wilson was a gentleman of the choir at St. Thomas 5th Avenue (2007-12) under the direction of the late John Scott. A member of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Chorus since 2015, he is also a tenured member of Chicago’s acclaimed Grant Park Music Festival Chorus. Since 2011, Steven has been a member of New York Polyphony, peerless among chamber ensembles of its kind in the U.S.
In 2023, he returned to Carnegie Hall NYC to sing Messiah solos with Musica Sacra, and was a soloist with Handel + Haydn’s production of Isreal in Egypt. In 2022, he was soloist with Apollo’s Fire (Monteverdi Vespers and Handel Messiah), and an inaugural member of The Leonids with Chor Leoni Vancouver. Past appearances include Chatham Baroque, TENET Vocal Artists, Clarion Orchestra NYC, and multiple Evangelist roles and Bach cantata recitals with Trinity Baroque Orchestra in Montreal and NYC.
One of the world’s foremost vocal chamber ensembles, New York Polyphony is praised for a “rich, natural sound that’s larger and more complex than the sum of its parts” (NPR) and “singers of superb musicianship and vocal allure” (The New Yorker).
Their innovative programming spans Gregorian chant to contemporary commissions, and their focus on familiar and rare works of the 12-17th centuries has helped bring early music to modern audiences. They have garnered wide acclaim for their technical excellence and innovative programming that bridges the gap between historical and modern music, helping move early music into the classical mainstream.
Founded in 2006, the quartet’s discography includes two GRAMMY-nominated albums, and many of their releases have topped the “best of” lists of The New Yorker, Gramophone, and The New York Times. Sky of my Heart (2025, BIS) incorporates commissions and collaborations along with revered works from the early music repertoire. Selections include works of Byrd and Gibbons through 20th and 21st century compositions by Ivan Moody, John Tavener, Becky McGlade, Akemi Naito, Paul Moravec, Andrew Smith, and Nico Muhly.
And the sun darkened (2021, BIS) received accolades from publications worldwide: BBC Music Magazine hailed it as “imaginatively programmed” and “immaculately sung,” Early Music America called the disc “radiant,” and Klassik Heute applauded the album’s “flawlessly pure sound that amazes the listener.” Lamentationes (2019, BIS) was a finalist in the 2020 Gramophone Awards and praised by Classics Today as “perfect ensemble singing, ideally recorded.” It features Francisco de Peñalosa’s Lamentationes Jeremiae Feria V, which was used as part of Aleph Earth, a groundbreaking audiovisual piece developed in collaboration with the University of Oregon’s Artificial Intelligence Creative Practice Research Group.
Missa Charles Darwin (2017, Navona Records) features American composer Gregory W. Brown’s innovative setting of the writings of Charles Darwin; New York Polyphony has twice performed the work at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin underneath the largest mounted dinosaur skeleton in the world. Roma Æterna (2016, BIS) debuted at #4 on the Billboard Classical chart, was hailed as “resplendent and elegant” by the San Francisco Chronicle, and its Missa Papae Marcelli was chosen by Gramophone as the top solo ensemble performance in their July 2025 “Guide to the greatest recordings.” 2014’s Sing thee Nowell (BIS) earned the group a second GRAMMY nomination in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category, having earned their first GRAMMY nomination in 2013 for Times go by Turns (BIS) in the same category.
New York Polyphony tours extensively, performing in some of the world’s finest concert halls and participating in major festivals at home and abroad. Engagements have included Wigmore and Cadogan Halls (London), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Stavanger Kammermusikkfestival (Norway) in 2018 and 2023, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston) in 2017 and 2022, Taipei International Choral Festival, Heidelberger Frühling (Germany), Tage Alter Musik Regensburg (Germany), Festival Internacional de Música Abvlensis (Spain), Cartagena Festival International de Música (Colombia), and Early Music Vancouver. They presented Jonathan Berger’s opera Visitations at Bing Concert Hall as part of their 2013 residency at Stanford University. As of 2025, the quartet has performed in all but eight US states.
An engaging and versatile musician, Steven brings sensitive expression and a disciplined attention to detail to solo and ensemble settings. His career has focused on historical performance practice plus a dedication to new music, and he is a skilled pianist, teacher, and coach. A native of Virginia, he has been based in Chicago since September 2022.
Steven is an enlisted veteran of the United States Air Force Band Singing Sergeants, and a graduate of Ithaca College (BM) and the Yale University Voxtet program in early music, oratorio, and chamber ensemble (MM).