FREE concerts
open seating, no advance reservations or ticketing
doors open 45 minutes before the performance
The performances will last ~2hr 15mins, including one intermission
Soloists:
Ellen Leslie, soprano
Sara Couden, alto
Jonathan Elmore, tenor
Simon Barrad, bass
John Wilson, piano
The lovely Fauré Requiem is one of the most frequently performed choral works in the world. This luminous requiem provides a sense of transition, deliverance, and peace. Fauré is reputed to have said, “I see death as a happy deliverance, an aspiration towards happiness above, rather than as a painful experience.”
Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy – for orchestra, piano, and chorus – will showcase award-winning SF Symphony pianist John Wilson, who is also the principal keyboardist for the San Diego, Oakland, and Marin symphonies. Listeners may notice familiar strains of the Ninth Symphony’s finale, Ode to Joy.
Haydn’s famous Mass in Time of War was composed for the name day of Princess Hermenegilde, Count Esterhazy’s wife. Written in 1796 as Napoleon threatened Austria and her allies, it is nicknamed Paukenmesse due to its dramatic use of timpani to suggest the approaching threat of war. Despite its dramatic military sensibility, the music is optimistic and at some points dance-like.