2019

Kaunas State Choir November 8 will perform "Requiem" by W. A. ​​Mozart with the Symphony Orchestra and soloists at the Yerevan Opera House in Armenia. Conductor - Constantine Orbelian (USA). The choir has been performing this work for almost half a century. It was the first major world classical piece performed by the collective at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic in 1971 together with Armenian soloists, the Lisicans family. It is symbolic that after half a century Kaunas choir will be visiting Armenia and performing with the best soloists and symphony orchestra in that country.

Requiem, a mourning Mass for the Dead, one of W. A. ​​Mozart's most famous compositions, completed in 1791. This was the composer's last work for 4 soloists, a mixed choir and orchestra, completed by his colleague after the death of W. A. ​​Mozart.

W. A. ​​Mozart produced relatively little church music. According to legend, a black-clothed stranger visited him and commissioned the composer to write a mourning Mass. About this visit a couple of months before his death, the composer wrote in a letter: “… I cannot forget this stranger, he stands before me - asking, persecuting, demanding. I keep going because work bother me less than rest. … I feel that my hour is coming; going to death; I'll meet her sooner than I could have enjoyed her talent. Life is so beautiful, it has been so promising, but what's for you won't change it. Nobody knows how many days are left, one has to devote himself to destiny. I finish because I have a mournful song waiting for me to finish. ”

Requiem consists of 12 parts. Particularly memorable are the Dies irae (Daytime Cellar) and Lacrimosa (The Sorrowful). Dies irae is extremely dramatic, active, depicting the horror of death and people's begging for mercy. “Lacrimosa is an oasis of tranquility, characterized by subtle lyricism, accumulated moans, sighing sighs between words.