Requiem reimagined
The world premiere of four new works interwoven with their inspiration, Victoria's Requiem of 1605.
Saturday 12 November 2022 7.30pm
Holy Trinity Church, Bradford on Avon
Victoria’s 1605 Requiem (Mass for the Dead) represents, arguably, the pinnacle of Renaissance sacred music. Tomas Luis de Victoria began his musical life as a boy chorister in his birthplace, Avila, west of Madrid, but was sent by Philip II to Rome to prepare for the priesthood, where he prolifically wrote music for the church: the Requiem was his final piece.
Paragon Singers, one of Bath’s finest chamber choirs, perform this intensely reflective and moving music in the stunning setting of Holy Trinity church in Bradford on Avon.
Interwoven with the Requiem will be four contemporary responses by emerging composers, Richard Barnard, Sarah Dacey, James Joshua Otto, and Katharine Parton, specially commissioned by Paragon Singers.
Join us for the world premieres of these works in what will be a profound and unique evening of new and old music.
Don’t miss the free pre-concert Q&A with composer James Joshua Otto and conductor Sarah Latto at 6.30PM!
Read a review of our concert by Antony Corfe:
Following their splendid enactment of The Messiah in March, Sarah Latto and the Paragon Singers once more cast a magic spell over an audience, this time in Holy Trinity Church, Bradford on Avon. Together they fed our individual needs for finely crafted performance with an ambitious and beautifully performed programme starring four World Premières whose works she had placed within the structure of Victoria’s six-part Requiem of 1605. It was a finely conceived idea, and a daring one too. The four composers, Sarah Dacey, Katharine Parton, James Joshua Otto and Richard Barnard, had been asked by Sarah to write their individual takes on four of Victoria’s sectional writings under the same headings. These were then slotted in as adjuncts to the originals. Thus the concert title – ‘Requiem Reimagined’.
Within the programme, beautifully designed by choir member, Kate Petty, you could either follow the Latin and its translation, or give yourself over to the profoundly lovely and elegant singing. I finally submitted to the latter and to the sea of constantly shifting waves of that special sound of the Paragon Singers as they responded to Sarah’s expressive hands and deep musical perceptions. Sometimes she stroked the air with one hand while maintaining a gentle pulse with the other. At other times she punched the air with closed fist to emphasise the strength of the underlying text. There is clearly a wonderful and sensitive bond between choir and Sarah, giving the audience both the joy to watch and the joy to listen.
Antony Corfe