Wisconsin Chamber Choir

The Wisconsin Chamber Choir presents:

Brahms Requiem with world premieres by Giles Swayne and Christian Ellenwood

Featuring soloists Tanya Kruse Ruck, Brian Leeper, and Gregory Berg; the UW-Whitewater Chamber Singers, and Sinfonia Sacra (professional orchestra)

Saturday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Luther Memorial Church

1021 West University Avenue, Madison, WI

Tickets $25 in advance ($30 at the door); students $10 ($15)

www.WisconsinChamberChoir.org

Sunday, April 19 at 3:00 p.m.

Young Auditorium

930 West Main Street, Whitewater, WI

Tickets $20.50, $18.50, $15.50; UW-Whitewater Students $10.50

http://www.uww.edu/youngauditorium

One of the most beloved and popular of all choral works, Brahms’ German Requiem is a masterpiece of musical Romanticism. Brahms began the work as a memorial to his mentor, Robert Schumann, but the death of Brahms’ own mother spurred him to complete it several years later. The score embraces a wide variety of emotions, from the lush sounds of the choir and orchestra that envelope the audience in a message of consolation, to lively fugues, worthy of Bach or Handel, that promise the hope of salvation. This music will thrill audiences as well as comfort all who have ever lost a loved one.

Sharing billing with the Brahms are two world premieres, one commissioned by each choir. The Wisconsin Chamber Choir will present Our Orphan Souls by British composer Giles Swayne on a transcendental text from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, and the UW-Whitewater Chamber Singers will present Prairie Spring by UW-Whitewater professor of music, Christian Ellenwood, a setting of the poem by American author Willa Cather.

Joining the WCC in this performance are soprano soloist Tanya Kruse Ruck, baritone Brian Leeper, and bass Gregory Berg; the UW-Whitewater Chamber Singers; and Sinfonia Sacra, the WCC’s own fully professional orchestra made up of members of the Madison Symphony, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble.

Founded in 1998, the Madison-based Wisconsin Chamber Choir has established a reputation for excellence in the performance of oratorios by Bach, Mozart, and Haydn; a cappella masterworks from various centuries; and world-premieres. Dr. Robert Gehrenbeck is the Wisconsin Chamber Choir’s Artistic Director.