On Saturday, April 20th, the Burlington Choral Society (BCS) will perform Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem at the Elley-Long Music Center in Colchester, VT honoring the 150th anniversary year of its first performance at Milan’s Church of San Marco on May 22, 1874.
“The Verdi Requiem is one of the titans”, says BCS Artistic Director Richard Riley. “Dramatic from the downbeat!”
Verdi’s original setting was for four soloists, double choir and large orchestra. In this performance, the Burlington Choral Society will be performing a 2012 arrangement by the German choir director and music pedagogue Michael Betzner-Brandt, who arranged the work as a “chamber oratorio” for piano, horn, double bass, marimba and percussion. The four vocal soloists will be soprano Helen Lyons, mezzo soprano Amber Smoke, tenor Joshua Collier, and bass Jeremiah Johnson. Richard Riley will conduct.
The Verdi Requiem is almost never performed in a church setting, both because of the size of the full orchestra and chorus, and because its musical language is considered more operatic than liturgical. Nevertheless, it has become one of the most frequently performed major choral works in the United States and Europe. The Metropolitan Opera has performed it more than 50 times since 1901, most recently in September 2023. During World War II it was performed sixteen times by Jewish prisoners in the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp (Terezin). It was last performed in Burlington by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in 2010.
In presenting this Requiem performance, the Burlington Choral Society honors the memories of past members and leaders Ann Curran, William Harwood and Maria Novas-Schmidt.
Please join us at the Elley-Long Music Center at Saint Michael's College on April 20th at 7:30pm. Tickets available at http://www.sevendaystickets.com.
SATURDAY, APRIL 20 — 7:30pm
Elley-Long Music Center, 223 Ethan Allen Ave., Colchester
Accessibility
Elley-Long Music Center has dedicated parking spaces for people with disabilities: one in front of the building and two in the parking lot along the side of the building. The main entrance for audience members is flat with no barriers. All restrooms have a stall that will accommodate a wheelchair.
If you would like a space reserved in the hall for a wheelchair, or if you need other accommodations, please email us at BCSsingers@gmail.com.
Questions about the concert?
Please contact the Burlington Choral Society at BCSsingers@gmail.com.