Dates

22 April 8:30 PM (CET)

Location

The Royal Concertgebouw, Online

Running time

1:10

Tickets

From € 12,50

Ein deutsches Requiem

Anthem of hope

‘Happy are the sorrowful, for they shall be comforted.’ These are the opening words of Johannes Brahms' monumental choral work Ein deutsches Requiem. A religious work for the concert hall, filled with a message of hope and consolation. With this concert, we bid farewell to Ching-Lien Wu, artistic director of the Chorus of Dutch National Opera.

Anthem of hope

With Ein deutsches Requiem, Brahms composed an unusual Requiem. The text is not sung in Latin, but in German, and deviates from traditional liturgy. Brahms saw the work as a humanist meditation on life and suffering, based on his own selection of texts from the Bible. He therefore gave his composition the subtitle Ein menschliches Requiem (A Human Requiem).

 

SOLACE FOR THE LIVING

The focus is not on mourning and death, but on comfort and hope for the living. With an unmistakable and propulsive dynamism, the work brings a wealth of sounds, colours and contrasts. From human mortality in the first movements, it moves slowly but surely towards resurrection in the last movements of the composition. In Brahms' Requiem we do not find hell and damnation, but a song of consolation, hope and peace.

 

AN INTIMATE VERSION

This concert marks the departure of Ching-Lien Wu who, as artistic director has led the Chorus in many world-class performances. She leads her forces in an intimate version of Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem for two pianos and timpani. With Romanian soprano Adela Zaharia and British baritone Huw Montague Rendall, both making their debut with Dutch National Opera, this concert boasts a first-rate line-up, not only in terms of its Chorus, but also its soloists.

 

UNIQUE COLLABORATION WITH THE CONCERTGEBOUW

In a unique collaboration, the National Opera and the Concertgebouw will join forces for the first time in presenting a live stream from the prestigious Great Hall of the Concertgebouw.

Ching-Lien Wu

‘An opera chorus - and certainly one as richly coloured as ours - can give a wonderful and distinctive interpretation to Ein deutsches requiem.’


Conductor Ching-Lien Wu

Team & Cast

Conductor

Ching-Lien Wu

Piano

Ad Broeksteeg

Klaas-Jan de Groot

Timpani

Theun van Nieuwburg

Baritone

Huw Montague Rendall

Soprano

Adela Zaharia

That you can also create something beautiful together from a distance is something the Chorus proved with this enchanting Easter hymn from Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni:

EASTER HYMN- CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA BY THE CHORUS OF DUTCH NATIONAL OPERA

Easter hymn
Ching-Lien Wu

Farewell to Ching-Lien Wu

This production marks the departure of Ching-Lien Wu as artistic director of the Dutch National Opera Chorus. Since she took up her post, the Dutch National Opera Chorus has excelled in many fantastic productions.

Leave a message for Ching-Lien Wu

Including Borodin's Prince Igor, Handel's Jephtha, Henze's Das Floß der Medusa, Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame, Verdi's La forza del destino and Nabucco, and Wagner's TannhäuserLohengrin and Parsifal. A particular highlight was 2016, when the Chorus of Dutch National Opera was voted the world's best opera chorus by fifty international opera critics in magazine Opernwelt.

Ching-Lien Wu
Chorus

Chorus of Dutch National Opera

Dutch National Opera’s success is largely due to the Chorus of the Dutch National Opera, which numbers 60 singers. The choir was named the best opera choir in the world in 2016 and is conducted by conductor Ching-Lien Wu.

For some operas a much larger choir is required; sometimes up to 90 or 100 singers. Therefore, Dutch National Opera works with a large group of great freelancers. We would like to introduce the members of our choir here.

View the biographies