Evento

Faure "Requiem" & Mozart "Solemn Vespers"

The Bellingham Chamber Chorale will present the Faure Requiem and Mozart Solemn Vespers at St Paul's Episcopal Church, 2117 Walnut Street, Bellingham on Saturday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and students, and $5 eighteen and under. Tickets can be purchased in Bellingham at Piper Music, Village Books, The Community Co-op, in Lynden at The Noisy Neighbor, at brownpapertickets.com and at the door. For more information call 360-738-4375 or visit www.bellinghamchamberchorale.org.

Joining BCC and director Ryan Smit for this performance of the 'Faure "Requiem" and Mozart "Solemn Vespers" will be the BCC community orchestra, WWU faculty and guest soloists. Soloists include Wade Dingman, organ, and vocal soloists Amber Sudduth Bone, soprano, Kathryn Weld mezzo soprano, Stephen Rumph, tenor, and Evan Norberg, baritone.

"We have chosen two exquisite and popular liturgical works for our winter concert to showcase the full range of Bellingham Chamber Chorale's artistry, and to feature the beautiful pipe organ and acoustics of St Paul's church," said Ryan Smit, BCC artistic director and conductor.

Of the many settings of the Requiem, Faure's may be one of the most widely loved, and its music perfectly suited for the intimate and subtle clarity of a chamber choir like BCC. Instead of the anguish, loss and horrors of death and judgement day of a grand-scale Requiem like that of Brahms or Verdi, Faure's music is gentle, elevating and comforting, as if to interpret the literal meaning of 'requiem' as 'rest.'

Rounding out the program is Mozart's Solemn Vespers for choir, soloist, organ and orchestra, including the beautiful Laudate Dominum soprano solo. Composed in 1779 near the end of Mozart's tenure as court organist at Salzburg, the work is far from solemn. Rather, it is a sunny and effervescent, yet dramatic setting of Psalms that shows off Mozart's youthful creative genius.