Tarleton choirs, Cross Timbers Civic Chorale join for Brahms’ ‘Requiem’

Open to the public, general admission is $5. Tickets will be available at the Fine Arts Center Box Office one hour prior to the performance.

The concert will feature several faculty performers, including Dr. Iwao Asakura, baritone; Steve Chambers, piano; Dr. Benjamin Charles, timpani; and Dr. Heather Hawk, soprano. Dr. Troy Robertson, director of choirs at Tarleton, will conduct.

“Saturday’s performance is likely the Stephenville, Texas, premier of the work, as it’s new to the choral music library and the Cross Timbers Civic Chorale. The choirs have spent weeks in preparation,” Robertson said. “I’m very proud of the way our community members and Tarleton students have stepped up, both inside and outside of rehearsal, to ready this music. I can’t wait. It’s undoubtedly one of the greatest pieces of music ever written.”

Johannes Brahms composed the requiem between 1865 and 1868, almost certainly in the wake of his mother’s death. As with those of Mozart and Verdi, Brahms’ requiem is a sacred piece that stands on its own in concert.

Brahms opted to use Luther’s German Bible texts, which he selected himself, rather than the standard Latin texts found in many other requiems by other composers.

Not only is the work a testament to Brahms’ sense of meticulous, creative craftsmanship—which is reflected, for example, in the first movement’s lack of violins—but it is also a testament to the notion that the living need comfort in the midst of the death.

The German Requiem has seven movements, and generally runs just over an hour in performance.

About the Cross Timbers Civic Chorale
The Cross Timbers Civic Chorale, an ensemble of community singers from Stephenville and surrounding communities, was formed in 1980 by then Tarleton Director of Choirs Herb Teat for a performance to celebrate the opening of the Clyde Wells Fine Arts Center. Tarleton’s Dr. Charles Rives conducted the Cross Timbers Civic Chorale from 1983 until his retirement in 2012.

In addition to annual concerts the first Saturday of December since 1980, the CTCC has joined Tarleton State University choirs in about a dozen additional major concerts over the years. The chorale has made four highly acclaimed concert tours: England and France in 1998, Italy in 2001, Hawaii in 2004 and Ireland in 2012.

Dr. Troy Robertson became Tarleton’s director of choirs in 2012, continuing the tradition of musical excellence with master concerts in the fall and spring semesters.

For a complete list of upcoming events sponsored by Tarleton’s Department of Fine Arts, visit www.tarleton.edu/finearts/documents/eventscalendar.pdf.