Before, Brahms, and Beyond

 Mary Beekman, conductor

Emily Hindrichs, soprano

Dana Whiteside, baritone

Schütz: Selig sind die Toten

Brahms: Ein deutches Requiem

Whitacre: Sleep

Sunday, November 8, 2009 at 3:00 PM

Pre-concert lecture at 2:00 PM by Donald Teeters  

New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall

30 Gainsborough Street

Boston, MA 02115

Musica Sacra and The Boston Cecilia begin their seasons in collaboration to present a gala concert of the Brahms Requiem plus works of 17th century composer Heinrich Schütz and 21st century composer Eric Whitacre. Mary Beekman, who celebrates her 30th season as Artistic Director of Musica Sacra, conducts.



In Ein deutsches Requiem, Brahms sets texts chosen from the Bible to reflect on the deaths of two people of paramount importance in his life: his great friend Robert Schumann and his own mother. Ms. Beekman will be providing a context for the Requiem by pairing it with the performance of two choral works reflecting the past and future of the great tradition of choral music. One of them, Selig sind die Toten was published in 1648 by Heinrich Schütz, a composer whom Brahms admired and emulated and a seminal influence on composers of choral music for almost 400 years. The other, a contemporary work, Sleep, was composed at the dawn of the 21st century by Eric Whitacre, a contemporary composer giving new voice to the choral medium with his use of luminous sonorities that only a chorus can produce.



Tickets are $15, $27, $42, $62 and include a pre-concert lecture by music director Donald Teeters. Order tickets online at www.musicasacra.org/brahms or through the Musica Sacra box office at 617-349-3400.