As did the other ensembles later on the program, the Choral Society performed with plenty of spirit, although throughout the evening the singing often sounded muddy and indistinct in the cathedral's vast and acoustically challenging space.
Nevertheless, Latte remained true to his dream and, in 1953, put together an ensemble that later became the Berlin Baroque Orchestra.
"I hope people don't remember 'The Great Comet' as this whole ridiculous drama, because that wasn't the reality of what 'The Great Comet' was about," Josh Canfield, a member of the show's ensemble, said later.
He worked in the 1940s and 50s with the Goldsborough Ensemble, which later became the English Chamber Orchestra, playing baroque music in the style of the period and stripping away the lushness that symphony orchestras steeped in romantic music had imposed.
For much of his career, Mr. Lucas, 58, has also operated out of the spotlight, initially as a guitarist in the resolutely avant-garde Beefheart ensemble and later, in the early 1990s, as the writer of a dozen songs with Jeff Buckley, the best known of which are "Grace" and "Mojo Pin".
After Conrad and his friend John Cale performed with La Monte Young's ensemble, which later changed its name to The Dream Syndicate, the two musicians and fellow New York guitarist Lou Reed briefly performed as The Primitives.
In a later ensemble the two dance steps he did had a bite and edge that she never showed.
Later ensemble pieces mostly belabored the notion, though the powerfully meshing phrases in excerpts from Ms. Bufalino's choreography could have given the architects of the building cause for concern.
