Arun Choral Society present Verdi’s Requiem

The concert is on Saturday, April 9, 2022 in Arundel Cathedral.

A spokesman said: “Arun Choral Society, founded in 1912, is an accomplished choir with over one hundred members. Now under the baton of Joe Paxton, the society typically presents two large choral concerts a year, usually accompanied by the Sinfonia of Arun. We collaborate with over 200 local primary school pupils for our carol concerts."

Ticket details here

“We are a growing and developing choir and are thrilled with the number of new members that have joined us since returning to singing post-pandemic. For this performance, the choir is 100 members strong from all parts of West Sussex.

“In its day, Verdi’s Requiem was a controversial piece. For its first performance in 1874 in San Marco Cathedral, Milan, special permission had to be obtained from the archbishop to allow the piece to be performed. It was, after all, scored for female as well as male voices. Permission was granted, on the condition that the women were veiled and screened from the congregation.

“The requiem was completed towards the end of Verdi’s career. The piece has origins in a work originally intended for commemorating the anniversary of the death of Rossini, whom Verdi described as the “glory of Italy”. The requiem is a huge work, lasting on average 1 hour 20 minutes. It is scored for full orchestra, double choir and four soloists. Verdi is most famous for his operas, including Rigoletto, La Traviata, Aida, and Othello to name a few. The requiem echoes the operatic format for which Verdi was famed, with its cycle of air, chorus numbers and recitative, all used seamlessly to execute the rollercoaster that the catholic requiem mass conveys: man’s confrontation with mortality. The tenets of opera – drama, pathos and euphoria – are as apparent in his requiem as they are in his works for the stage.

“If you want to know what it is to experience the terrific highs and lows of human emotion through music, come and listen to the beauty tof Verdi’s Requiem. You will be transported to another plane by simply absorbing the peaceful and rather splendid surroundings of Arundel Cathedral. Man’s struggle with the meaning of existence, as expressed by this sublime score, brings solace to all: especially in the shadow of a pandemic. You could spend hundreds of pounds on therapy. But you could also come and find comfort in Verdi’s Requiem.”

Tickets at £15 (£7.50 students and under 18s) available from ACS Box Office: [email protected] or 01903 410274, or (plus a 10% booking fee) from https://www.wegottickets.com/event/533161

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