Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 4 PM

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem (new arrangement by English composer Howard Arman)
Jose Maricio Nunes Garcia: Two Psalm Settings

Maria Whitcomb, soprano
Laura Beth Couch, mezzo-soprano
Mathew McGinnis, tenor
William Farrell, baritone
With full orchestra

Pleas for mercy?  Visions of judgement?  Prayers for eternal rest? 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s beloved Requiem has long been a source of spiritual reflection, with its grand orchestration and powerful choral writing, inspiring awe in listeners.  Mozart, who died before completing this commissioned work, likely had spiritual concerns on his mind as well.  His widow Constanze, needing payment for the completed work, enlisted Mozart’s student Franz Xaver Süssmayr to finish the composition.  Süssmayr’s version remains the most widely known and performed.  Over the intervening years, other composers have also offered their own completions.

Commonwealth Chorale will present a version completed in 2024 by acclaimed British conductor and composer Howard Arman.  After more than two decades of studying Mozart’s manuscript, Arman has created a new, lighter orchestration, which he believes aligns more closely with Mozart’s compositional style than Süssmayr’s.  Arman has also reimagined the “Lacrimosa,” and incorporated a choral “Amen” suggested in Mozart’s sketches.  This new fugal “Amen” has garnered critical acclaim in performances.  Join us for a fresh perspective on Mozart’s iconic and beloved masterpiece, where the grandeur and power of the music may well inspire your own spiritual introspection.

Like Mozart, prominent Brazilian composer José Mauricio Nunes Garcia was a child prodigy and a prolific adult composer.  Strongly influenced by both European classical and Brazilian musical traditions, he conducted the first performance of Mozart’s Requiem in Brazil and composed his own requiem, along with numerous sacred works.

Like many composers with their evocative descriptions of many human emotions, the biblical psalms also inspired Nunes Garcia.  Commonwealth Chorale will perform two of his psalm settings, Laudate Pueri (Psalm 112) and Laudate Dominum (Psalm 116).  Influenced by Haydn’s The Creation, Nunes Garcia’s settings feature strong choir entrances, vivid word painting, and rich harmonies that capture the emotional intensity of the psalm texts, evoking devotion and solemnity.  Come and enjoy this introduction to his inspiring music