‘Requiem’ On Palm Sunday

DANBURY — Danbury Music Centre will sponsor a performance of Maurice Durufle’s Requiem on Sunday, April 13, at St Peter Church.

On Palm Sunday, Danbury Concert Chorus will present a unique concert of musical works that have much in common yet are separated by over 1,000 years of history. The performance will be led by music director and conductor Richard Price.

The chorus, reading from original chant notation, will perform segments from the 9th Century Gregorian chant Mass for the Dead. Organ virtuoso Stephen Rapp will also perform a brief work, Variations on veni creator, op 4, by the 20th Century impressionist Maurice Durufle.

Maestro Price will then present a “guided tour” of Durufle’s Requiem, using live musical examples by the chorus and by Mr Rapp to illustrate how Durufle built his masterwork based on these same 9th Century chants.

In culmination, the concert chorus will give a complete performance of the Requiem – one of the 20th Century’s greatest works for choir, as well as one of the most beautiful requiems ever written. This will be an opportunity to hear a great work and to gain insight into its beauty, all in the magnificent acoustics of St Peter Church.

The concert will begin at 3 pm. The church is at 121 Main Street.

Admission is free, but donations are appreciated. Tony K. and John Pepe have partially funded the performance with members of the chorus providing additional funding.