On April 23 and 24th, the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra will present Brahms’ A German Requiem with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus, the Georgia Southern Chorale, soprano Alexandra Schoeny and baritone, Thomas Dreeze, 75 vocalists strong.
The idea of composing a requiem in the German language based on texts from the Lutheran Bible and the Apocrypha began to take shape in Johannes Brahms’mind in 1857, a year after the death of his friend and mentor, Robert Schumann. But it wasn’t until 1865, following the death of Brahms’ mother, that he took up composition of the music in earnest. It became the central work of Brahms’ career, the one that established him as a composer of major stature and linked two of the most important spheres of his lifelong musical endeavor, the vocal and the symphonic. Ein Deutsches Requiem is a work of consolation for those left behind.
With a voice hailed as “hauntingly beautiful”, Alexandra Schoeny has gained recognition on both sides of the Atlantic, while Thomas Dreeze has shared the stage with Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Sherrill Milnes, to name a few.
The Requiem will be performed On Sunday, April 23 at 4:00 pm and Monday, April 24 at 8:00 pm, under the baton of John Morris Russell. The concert will open with Marjan Mozetich’s Postcards from the Sky which was composed in 1996 for the Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra of Ottawa.
There will be a “chat” about the music and the composers by Conductor Russell one hour before the concert. A reception for the performers, orchestra, and audience will follow Monday concerts in the church’s Gathering Space. The concert is sponsored, with gratitude, by Hilton Head BMW.
Concert tickets are $30, $45, and $55. Reduced matinee prices are available for children with their accompanying parent. Student tickets are available for $10. For further information go online at www.hhso.org or call 843-842-2055
