Pacific Chorale to Open Season with Brahm's REQUIEM, 11/1

Pacific Chorale, the resident classical music choir of Segerstrom Center for the Arts, will be presenting one of the all-time greatest monuments of choral music on Sunday, November 1 at 5:30 p.m. at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall: Johannes Brahms's A German Requiem.

This concert is doubly historic as it will be Pacific Chorale's first performance of the Requiem in the Concert Hall (and their first presentation of it in 10 seasons), and the last conducted by the organization's Artistic Director John Alexander before his planned retirement in 2017, which was announced earlier this year. Long-time collaborator and fellow resident company Pacific Symphony will provide the orchestral forces. The eighty-five minute Requiem will be presented in its original German, without intermission, as the only work on the program.

Written in stages over an eleven-year period, the Requiem has its origins in two profound losses the young composer experienced during his twenties and early thirties: first Brahms's advocate and mentor Robert Schumann's tragic slide into insanity from 1854 until his eventual death two years later, then the passing of Brahms's mother Johanna Henrika in 1865.

Baritone soloist Brian Mulligan joins the choir for two of the movements, pleading for knowledge of God's mysterious ways in movement three, and heralding the final resurrection in the dramatic sixth movement. Brian Mulligan will be the guest soloist for this concert. Known for his performances in Nixon in China, Lucia di Lammermoor, Hamlet, and Faust, Mulligan has appeared to critical acclaim on the stages of the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Oper Frankfurt, and Houston Grand Opera.

Elissa Johnston is the featured soprano soloist for the work. Recently cited by the Chicago Tribune for the "exquisite beauty, sensitivity and precision" of her singing, soprano Ms. Johnston enjoys performing a wide range of repertory. Her recent performances include Handel's Messiah in Tokyo and Osaka with the Telemann Chamber Orchestra, the world premiere of "Some Things Do Not Move" by Ann LeBaron with Southwest Chamber Music, Unsuk Chin's Akrostichon Wortspiel, Chinary Ung's Aura at Le Poisson Rouge with the New York New Music Ensemble, and David Lang's the little match girl passion at the Ravinia Festival.

Concert tickets are priced from between $25 to $135 and are available by visiting the Segerstrom Center's website (www.scfta.org) or by calling Pacific Chorale at 714/662-2345.