Brahms Requiem To Close Master Chorale 2017/18 Season

A pillar of the choral repertoire, Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45, is paired with contemporary works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composers David Lang and Caroline Shaw in the Los Angeles Master Chorale's final concerts of its 2017/18 season on Saturday, June 9 at 2 PM and Sunday, June 10 at 7 PM at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The concerts will feature the West Coast premiere of Lang's where you go and open with Shaw's Fly Away I. The performances will be conducted by Grant Gershon, Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director, and feature the full 100-voice chorus and LA Master Chorale Orchestra.

Gershon said he decided to program the short, a cappella choral works as a prelude to the Requiem, suggesting a contemporary context to then hear Brahms' score.

"The two works by Caroline Shaw and David Lang are both relatively brief, seemingly simple, and quietly devastating. They each sing of love, solace, and commitment to those we cherish in both life and death. I can't think of a more poignant way to lead into Brahms' opening statement in his Requiem: 'Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted'. I believe that this will be an extraordinarily moving concert experience-we're very proud to present these three composers together on our final concerts of the season."

Caroline Shaw won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 2013 for her a cappella work Partita for 8 Voices. Fly Away I dates from 2012 and was written for the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco. The piece begins with an improvisatory, intimate sequence of solo voices singing the phrase "I'll fly away," followed by the altos' repeated chanting ("I went the way") - to be sung "almost like speaking, very naturally, like one of those late-night conversations." At full force, Shaw instructs the ensemble to create a sound "like velvet concrete." This will be the first time the Los Angeles Master Chorale has performed a work by Shaw.

David Lang won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 2008 for his composition the little match girl passion, part of the Master Chorale's concert and recorded repertoire. He composed where you go for chamber choir in 2015 to mark the 75th anniversary of the Tanglewood Music Center. Writing about the work, Lang said where you go: "is a rewriting of what I remember as my favorite part of the biblical Book of Ruth, the famous lines where Ruth tells [her mother-in-law] Naomi that she will stay with her forever. I say 'what I remember' because in my memory the book is a beautiful statement of love, friendship, and devotion, from one person to another. I always forget that the book is mostly a series of legal arguments, about how someone claims land, or an inheritance, or a wife, or a family. Ruth's simple desire to follow her heart sets in motion an examination of a complicated chain of interlocking obligations and overlapping responsibilities. That pretty much describes my piece as well."

Soloists for the Brahms Requiem are the acclaimed Trinidadian soprano Jeanine De Bique and American baritone Justin Hopkins, both making their Master Chorale and Walt Disney Concert Hall debuts. De Bique is currently making her Dutch National Opera debut reprising her role as Annio in Peter Sellars' acclaimed Salzburg Festival production of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito. In August 2017 she made her BBC Proms debut with the Chineke! Orchestra performing works by Handel, and in March she performed a solo recital for the Ravinia Festival.

Justin Hopkins made his Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra debut last season, performing as the bass soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with conductor Jeffrey Kahane in a performance that also featured the Master Chorale. He also performed the role of Stephen Kumalo, in LACO's production of Kurt Weill's Lost In the Stars. In his review of the Beethoven concert, Mark Swed of the LA Times called him a "gifted young bass" with a "stirring voice and commanding presence." In the fall of 2018 he will make his debut with Opera Vlaanderen in Gent, Belgium as Lord Krishna and Parsi Rustomji in Philip Glass' Satyagraha.

These Los Angeles Master Chorale performances of the Brahms Requiem are supported by Dr. Annette Ermshar and Mr. Dan Monahan, Jane and Edward McAniff, Jenny Soonjin Kim and Chip Baik.

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