MANSFIELD, PA—The Mansfield University Festival Chorus, under the
direction of Peggy Dettwiler, will present A German Requiem by Johannes Brahms on Saturday, April 11, 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 12, 2:30 p.m. in Steadman Theatre.
Joining the choristers will be two Mansfield Music Department alumni as featured soloists
Annamaria Santalucia Myers, 1981 graduate from Port Allegany, PA, will sing the soprano solo, and Mark Johnson Rehnstrom, 1979 graduate from New York City, the baritone solos.
The performances will include the Festival Chorus with full orchestra of university faculty, students and area professional players.
Myers has made numerous solo appearances in the region, including the 1998 performances of Handel’s Messiah at MU. Most recently, she appeared with the Twin Tiers Symphony. Myers most significant contribution to music is the many years transforming young lives as the vocal/general music teacher for the Port Allegany School District.
Rehnstrom has developed a full-time career as a soloist, opera singer and professional chorister in New York City and across the U.S. He sings frequently with the Voices of Ascension, St. Ignatius Loyola’s Sacred Music in a Sacred Place, Musica Sacra, the New York Choral Artists and St. John the Divine’s Great Music in a Great Space. In recent years Rehnstrom has travelled, as a professional chorister, to Tel Aviv, Israel, Salzburg, Austria and Verbier, Switzerland.
Brahms wrote his Requiem at a surprisingly early age. There is circumstantial evidence that the inception of the work may have had something to do with the death, in 1856, of his friend and mentor, the composer Robert Schumann—an event that no doubt was traumatic for the young musician, then in his mid-20s.
Even though the Requiem is a youthful work, it is the most monumental composition that Brahms left us. Ein deutsches Requiem is profound for several reasons: It is deeply steeped in musical practices of the past, harkening back to Renaissance a capella techniques and the great choral works of Bach and Handel; it ventures into solemn grandeur and monumentality on a par with Beethoven’s symphonies; and it has had an impact on later composers, as is noticeable in the requiem compositions of Fauré, Duruflé, and Rutter.
Brahms departed from the traditional Latin text of the Catholic liturgy, selecting texts from the Lutheran Bible in the German language instead; quotes from as many as twelve books from both the Old and New Testaments are incorporated. He arranged his texts in such a way as to project a story from mourning to affirmation of faith in an eternal life, thereby making concrete his message of comfort and consolation to the bereaved.
Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for senior citizens and $5 for students and children. They can be purchased online at music.mansfield.edu or by calling (570)662-4710. Tickets will also be available at the door.
The concert is supported in part by student activity fees.