OCR Text |
Show Hi Choir's annual spring concert XA German Requiem' May 4 5 The South Davis Community Choir's annual spring concert will feature Johannes Brahms' 'A German Requiem, on May 4 and 5 at 8 p.m. in the Woods Cross High School auditorium. The choir will be accompanied by Diane Bastion on the organ. Tickets will be available at the door; children 8 and over are welcome. Originally conceived as a nondenominational work to console the grieving, 4 A German Requiem" Re-quiem" has found frequent expression expres-sion during wartime. With the recent re-cent conclusion of the Persian Gulf War, the Choir dedicates this presentation pre-sentation to the memory of Utah's casualties in the war, and especially to Lance Cpl. Dion Stephenson and his family of North Salt Lake. and choral societies throughout North and South America. Her abilities also include extensive exten-sive training in conducting with a bachelor and master of music degrees from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J. with additional ad-ditional training from the University Univer-sity of Iowa and the Royal Academy Acad-emy of Music in London. Bass soloist Don Hyland is a native of Utah with a bachelor of science degree from the University of Utah. An original member of the Mormon Youth Chorus, he was the bass section leader for five years. He played Col. Pickering in "My Fair Lady" at Promised Valley Playhouse, and is currently appearing appear-ing in "The Sound of Music" at the Salt Lake Repertory Theater. Claudia Krone will sing the soprano solo in the fifth movement. Recently transplanted from the Performing Per-forming Arts Division of the University Uni-versity of Massachusetts at Amherst, Krone currently teaches voice privately in Salt Lake City. She has extensive solo experience in such works as the "Barber of Seville,' the "Bach Magnificat," "The Mozart Requiem," the "C Minor Mass, as well as the demanding solo in Mendelssohn's "Elijah." The traditional Catholic Mass for the Dead was intended to pray for the souls who must face Judgment Day. In composing "German Requiem,' Re-quiem,' Brahms had a simpler goalto console the living. His personal per-sonal motivation included the loss to early death of his close friend, Robert Schumann, and his mother whom he idolized. The first movement begins almost like a funeral procession heard off in the distance drawing closer and closer. One recognizes the grief and despair of death and the horror it brings unexpectedly into our lives. As the listener follows throughout the funeral and hears words of spiritual and human comfort, he is raised to celestial heights of spiritual vision and comfort. com-fort. The bass solo reminds us of our mortality and asks "to know the measure of my days on earth, to consider my frailty, that I must perish, that I must perish..." The choir echoes this thought: "Verily mankind walketh in a vain show, and their best state is vanity. The widely sung chorus in the fourth movement, "How Lovely Is They Dwelling Place,' seems to part the curtain veiling heaven and provide a glimpse of the eternal glory of heavy and the majestic power of God to overcome mortal death. The soprano solo provides the more human comfort of the soothing mother, answering the despair of the bass solo. "Yea, I will comfort you, as one whom his own mother comforteth...ye know that for a little time, labour and sorrow were mine, but at the last, I have found comfort." The final movement fades out into the distance just as a funeral procession departs from the church, leaving the mourner to remember and treasure the spiritual vision and human comfort received. A .a"'"V t N - if r ' ' - MARYWESCOTT Guest conductor, Mary Wescott, is a widely acclaimed alto soloist. She recently appeared with the choir in its annual "Messiah" Christmas concert. She has soloed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and many outstanding orchestras |