For Carmel Symphony Orchestra Music Director Janna Hymes, “Mozart’s Requiem” will be a fitting way to close the 2018-19 season.
“Mozart’s Requiem” is set for 7:30 p.m. April 27 at the Palladium. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was working on the piece when he died at age 35 in 1791.
“It’s such an incredible piece,” Hymes said. “It’s very beautiful. He wrote it on commission but it was never finished. It was finished by some other composers of the time. He drafted it out so there was an outline and they finished it the way they feel Mozart would have written it. It’s a piece that has a lot of discussion because of that. It’s glorious. It doesn’t call for a huge orchestra.”
Hymes said it is two clarinets, two bassoons, three trombones, timpani and strings.
“It doesn’t have big brass section and all the winds aren’t playing,” she said. “I’m really excited to end our season with a piece so large and so different from what we’ve played the rest of the season. When you do a big choral piece like this, it stands out. I haven’t done a lot of choral pieces in Carmel yet. We haven’t done any large classical choral pieces. Even though the ‘Requiem’ is a piece that is written for the dead, it’s a really glorious piece.”
Count Franz von Walsegg, a wealthy landowner from Austria, had commissioned the piece to honor his young wife, who had died.
The concert will start with the “Russian Easter Festival Overture” of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Hymes is conducting that piece along with “Requiem.”
Rick Sowers, director of choirs at Anderson University, is conducting American composer Morten Lauridsen’s “Lux Aeterna.” Anderson University Chorale, Anderson Symphonic Choir and Anderson University Alumni will be part of the concert as well.
“It will be amazing to have all those choirs with us,” Hymes said.
A “Meet the Music” pre-concert discussion will start at 6:30 p.m. For more, visit carmelsymphony.org.
Hymes said the 2019-20 season, including the guest artists, will be announced at the concert.
