Dutch National Opera
Ein deutsches Requiem
Dates
22 April 8:30 PM (CET)
Location
The Royal Concertgebouw, Online
Running time
1:10
Tickets
From € 12,50
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.
‘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
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.
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 Tannhäuser, Lohengrin 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.
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.