We are thrilled to offer a terrific concert weekend featuring the beloved Mozart Requiem. These concerts mark the end of our second season, and we're confident this will be our best yet!
About the Requiem
In 1791, the final year of his life, Mozart received a commission to write a Requiem based on the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead. By November of that year, Mozart had fallen ill, and, on December 5 at 1 a.m., he died with the work still unfinished. Constanze, his widow, was anxious to see the completion of her husband’s last composition, so she approached the composer Franz Xaver Süssmayr to undertake this task. Süssmayr proceeded to carry out the instructions Mozart is said to have provided on his deathbed, and ever since the musical world has been trying to establish exactly who wrote what.
A newspaper in Salzburg reported that Mozart said as he was furiously working on the composition: “I fear that I am writing a Requiem for myself.” Superstition aside, the Requiem in many ways represented a new beginning. It contains many stylistic elements that Mozart would no doubt have developed further had he not died just weeks before his 36th birthday. Baroque counterpoint meets an almost Romantic sensitivity here in a completely novel way, a tantalizing glimpse of where his musical genius would have led.
Soloists
Each season CVCS collaborates with professional soloists from around the Conejo Valley and beyond. To read more about our soloists, please view our digital program below.
(pictured left to right: Michelle Pina, soprano | Sarabeth Belón, alto | Albert Ong Stanley, tenor | Keith Colclough, bass)
Orchestra
We are proud to feature and collaborate with members of the California Young Artists Symphony this season. The California Young Artists Symphony (CYAS) is a pre-professional orchestra providing exceptional artist fellowships for the next generation of musicians alongside visionary mentors and directors, bringing monumental music to iconic venues in the Southern California region.
Learn more about CYAS here.
Follow CYAS on Instagram @cyasymphony
For more information about our soloists and concert details, check out our digital program below.
We are looking forward to the concerts, we hope to see you there!