Good Friday, April 10, Centennial Hall, 7:00pm (map)
Maestro Fagan, the choirs and three internationally acclaimed soloists present a unique opportunity to experience this rarely performed masterpiece.
The War Requiem is seldom performed, simply because of its huge requirements: double orchestra, three choirs, two conductors and world class soloists. After last year’s huge Good Friday success with the Berlioz Requiem, we feel confident this equally powerful work will duplicate that memorable day.
Inspired by the poetry of Wilfred Owen, Benjamin Britten composed this masterpiece by offsetting the poetry with the traditional Latin text of the Requiem Mass.
The first performance was an intensely moving occasion. In the concluding movement a British tenor and a German baritone enacted Owen’s “strange meeting” in which the two soldiers meet beyond death.
The work has been accepted as a timeless expression of human suffering, and as a testament to God’s eternal redemption of man.
“Requiem aeternam dona eis, domine:
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.”
“Give them eternal rest, O Lord
And may light perpetually shine upon them.”
Soloists: Leslie Fagan, Soprano; Ben Butterfield, Tenor; Mark Pedrotti, Baritone
Featuring: Fanshawe Chorus London; Gerald Fagan Singers; Concert Players Orchestra; Amabile Youth Choir, Brenda Zadorsky, Conductor
Conductor: Gerald Fagan
Sponsor: Fanshawe College
Leslie Fagan's performance is sponsored by Succession
Strategies Inc.
The Concert Players Orchestra is sponsored in part by
Carter's Printing Inc.
