Featuring

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Lawrence Renes conductor
Siobhan Stagg soprano
Roderick Williams baritone
MSO Chorus
Warren Trevelyan-Jones chorus director

Program

Elena Kats-Chernin Mythic
Sibelius Symphony No.7
Fauré Requiem

About this performance

Experience the otherworldly in this sublime program conducted by Lawrence Renes, culminating in Fauré’s divine Requiem, featuring the MSO Chorus and much-loved soloists Siobhan Stagg and Roderick Williams.

• Inspired by the mental image of entering a mythical cave, Elena Kats-Chernin’s moody, hymn-like work transports its audience to a mesmerising and fantastical domain.
• The ability of Sibelius’ Seventh Symphony to lure its listener to another dimension is remarkable. The structure of tempo changes in this seamless patchwork of a piece means that time behaves almost as an illusion. The music’s imperceptible shifting of gears results in an immersive, wonderfully-disorienting experience.
• A Requiem – a mass for the dead – might seem a strange choice for a composer who was described by his son as ‘a sceptic’. This perspective proved an asset for Fauré, who brings a vastly different message to his Requiem than his predecessors. Instead of a haunting, sombre work, Fauré’s is a profound meditation on the restful warmth waiting in paradise.

Duration: approx. 1 hour and 40 minutes including interval