A performance of Verdi’s Requiem on April 27 marks the final performance of the 40th anniversary season of the San Luis Obispo Master Chorale, a season full of community outreach and celebration.
The Requiem is a work that requires a full, powerful orchestra, excellent singers, exceptional soloists, and a dynamic conductor. Four soloists—soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and bass—will join the Master Chorale on stage to bring life to the masterpiece’s robust rhythms, majestic melodies, and considerable contrasts.
The concert, in Harold Miossi Hall at the Performing Arts Center SLO, is the culmination of a year-long outreach and performance effort. A “Beyond the Notes” presentation by Gregory W. Harwood, “Verdi on Tour! (Italy, Germany, England, France)” precedes the performance at 1:15 p.m. in the PAC Pavilion.
Harwood will give an additional “Beyond the Notes” presentation, “Two for One: An Opera in Church Clothing,” the day before, on April 26, at the Indian Hill Clubhouse at San Luis Bay Estates.
The season featured two other concerts at the Performing Arts Center SLO conducted by music director and founder Thomas Davies, as well as free educational community presentations.
Last November, Chorale members joined together to help raise funds to send the Paso Robles High School Choir to Carnegie Hall in New York City. The Master Chorale Board of Directors matched the funds, resulting in a donation of more than $8,000. On March 1 of this year, the Master Chorale honored Davies and accompanist Susan Azaret Davies at a special celebration at the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Luis Obispo.
The San Luis Obispo Master Chorale is an auditioned ensemble that specializes in the performance of large masterworks for choir and orchestra. Members of the ensemble come from throughout San Luis Obispo County. Thomas Davies, music director and conductor, has led the performances since the fall of 1984.