Brahms' Requiem

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Sunday, April 13th, 2014
2:30 PM to 4:30 PM

The Parksville and District Community Choir presents Brahms� Requiem, to celebrate its 45th Anniversary Spring Concert, Sunday,April 13th, 2:30 p.m. at Knox United Church in Parksville. The 50-voice choir will be joined by two soloists familiar to Parksville audiences: Soprano Andrea Sicotte Rodall of Duncan, and Baritone Michael Eckford of Victoria and Whitehorse. Ms. Sicotte Rodall was a featured soloist with the choir�s recent performance of the Gounod St. Cecilia Mass in December. Michael Eckford may well be remembered for his dramatic portrayal of �Elijah� in the Mendelssohn oratorio a few years ago, as well as a number of performances in Handel�s Messiah. He is returning to Vancouver Island after several years in Whitehorse performing in the �Follies.�

Ann Barber, music director, has been working diligently with the choir to bring Brahms� beautiful music to our community. The German Requiem is known as a choral masterpiece, a very challenging work for the singers. The Community Choir has sung many well-known choral works over the years, but this is the first performance of Brahms� Requiem for them. It has been skillfully translated from the original German into English.

Brahms took great pains putting together his text, piecing together fragments from throughout the Bible to create a tapestry of solace. The Requiem is not simply a memorial to the composer�s mother or mentor, as has been suggested by Brahms� biographers, but offers a message of hope for all.

Pianist, Margaret Nelson, and Organist, John Nelson, will be accompanying the choir, using and adapting a two-keyboard arrangement of the score written by Brahms himself. The excitement of the score will be enhanced by the timpani, performed by Gabe Boybell a Ballenas Band student of choir member and teacher Rick Robson. This concert will be an event not to be missed!