Two choral groups celebrating milestone anniversaries will unite this weekend for performances of a work known for its quiet beauty and soaring musical intensity.
Nova Singers is a professional choral ensemble marking its 40th season under the direction of Laura Lane.
Galesburg Community Chorus is a non-auditioned group formed so local singers could perform major choral-orchestral works. This year, it is celebrating its 80th season and its 25th with conductor Tim Pahel.
When the two groups perform Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem in Galesburg and Davenport this weekend, they will be more than 80 voices strong – and singing together for the very first time.
Lane said Duruflé built the Requiem around Gregorian chant melodies he had known since childhood, and he also loved Renaissance music.
“Every single melody in this piece is either the original chant tune set to a rhythm so that we could sing it and he could orchestrate it, or it’s almost the same as the original Gregorian chant,” she said. “You hear a lot of chant in it, but it’s the sweetest, most beautiful chant you’ll ever hear.”
Lane last conducted the piece with Nova Singers in 1997, with only a handful of additional singers and a smaller orchestra. Pahel first conducted it in 2002, early in his time leading the Galesburg Community Chorus.
“In the performance it was in the Kyrie, which starts so beautifully and then it swells and the violins are crescendoing and the chorus is building up to these just glorious climaxes,” Pahel said. “I really felt like I literally was feeling blown away. For a minute I was holding onto my stand with my left hand because I thought I was going to fall off the podium.”
Pahel won't have a stand to hold onto this time around. He will be singing with the ensembles, while Lane conducts.
“Of course, I could sit out in the audience and I would love that as well. But it's particularly fun with this group to sing the music,” Pahel said.
Nova Singers will open the program with about fifteen minutes of a cappella music before the combined choir performs the Requiem with organ and orchestra.
Lane said bringing the two ensembles together also brings their audiences together.
“The idea that these two wonderful organizations in Galesburg are singing for the first time, we’re going to have our audience, our fans are going to be there for the first time together in the same room,” she said. “So I think the energy will be amazing.”
She said Duruflé’s Requiem is so beautiful it should be one of the most famous requiems that choirs perform.
“For some reason it's not as famous, which I don't understand. I think it's really, really, really beautiful. And every single moment of it is gorgeous,” Lane said.
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at First Lutheran Church in Galesburg and 4 p.m. Sunday at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport. Tickets are $20 for adults and $17 for seniors. Students are admitted free.
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