this weekend is closing out its best season since the pandemic with a work that earned the ensemble its first Grammy nomination.
This will be the first time since True Concord premiered s Prayers & Remembrances on Sept. 11, 2011, with the 做厙勛圖 Symphony Orchestra that it will perform it in 做厙勛圖. True Concord commissioned the oratorio, underwritten by longtime patron Dorothy Dyer Vanek, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
True Concord Voices & Orchestra performed Stephen Pauluss Prayers and Remembrances in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center on Sept. 11, 2015.
The message of the piece is most definitely relevant today, said Music Director Eric Holtan. Of course Pauluss music still speaks today. He is one of Americas greatest composers and we were fortunate to work really close with him.
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The work anchors the ensembles season finale Mozart Requiem & Prayers and Remembrances and caps a season that saw a number of sold-out performances and near sell-outs.
Our audiences are all the way back from COVID, Holtan said. Some folks have taken their time for good reason to come back to the concert hall, but we have our full audience back and were thrilled.
This weekends concert there are three performances: in Green Valley on Friday, March 28; and at Catalina Foothills High School on Saturday and Sunday, March 29-30 also looks to have packed houses. As of early this week, tickets were still available for Friday and Saturdays performances, but less than a dozen remained for Sundays matinee.
True Concord recorded Prayers and Remembrances on its Grammy-nominated 2015 album Far In the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus; Paulus, who died in 2014, was awarded a posthumous Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.
True Concord performed Prayers and Remembrances last at Lincoln Center on Sept. 11, 2015 the day the album was released. That concert also featured Mozarts Requiem, which it has performed four times in its 21 years, most recently in 2019 when Holtan had to add a fourth performance to meet audience demand.
True Concord Voices & Orchestra performed their first-ever concert at New Yorks Lincoln Center to celebrate the release of its Grammy-nominated album Far in the Heavens.
Where Prayers and Remembrances seeks to offer a message of hope and renewal in times of grief and loss, Requiem aims to console those left behind.
The Requiem is a piece of consolation for those left behind and that is precisely what Pauluss piece is, Holtan said, noting that the text for Prayers and Remembrances They are all gone, gone into the world of light and Grant the departed rest and shine light on them relates directly to the Requiem.
The perspective of the Paulus piece is from the people who are here and we are honoring them much like a traditional requiem does, Holtan said. Paulus gives assurance and comfort of eternal rest and eternal light. And theres a reason why Mozarts Requiem is so famous. It is just incredible music. Its dramatic its fiery but its completely soothing. Pauluss music is likewise. Its dramatic, but also at times contemplative.
True Concord opens this weekends concerts in Green Valleys Valley Presbyterian Church, 2800 S. Camino del Sol, at 4 p.m. Friday. They take it to Catalina Foothills High School, 4300 E. Sunrise Drive, at 7 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $23.50-$63.50 through . The concert also will be on True Concords website for $5 per viewer.
Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On Bluesky @Starburch
Cathalena E. Burch
Reporter
