SOPRANO Anna Prosser and tenor Robert Anthony Gardiner will sing with York Musical Society for the first time in March 28’s performance of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem in York Minster.
This luminous work will be complemented by Michael Haydn’s Requiem in C minor. “You might think that having two requiems in one concert isn’t an imaginative programming choice,” says conductor David Pipe.
“Even in rehearsals, though, it’s fascinating to hear how these two works, using much of the same liturgical text but separated by over 100 years, are so very different in style and musical content. This is an unusual opportunity to savour the contrasting responses of two fine composers.”
Fauré’s Requiem, first performed in 1890, uses a shortened version of the funeral mass and is serene, peaceful and full of haunting melodies. Michael Haydn is the lesser-known younger brother of Josef Haydn. “His less frequently performed but exquisite Requiem (1772) is said to have inspired Mozart’s own final work,” says Pipe, York Musical Society’s principal conductorsince April 2012.
Anna Prosser, a choral scholar and vocal coach at Leeds Cathedral, and Robert Anthony Gardiner, who lives in Leeds, will be joined on solo duty by mezzo-soprano Kate Symonds-Joy and bass Alex Ashworth.
Both have sung previously with York Musical Society, Symonds-Joy performing Verdi’s Requiem in November 2014 and Bach’s St Matthew Passion in March 2018; Ashworth, the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah in May 2015 and in Bach’s St Matthew Passion in March 2018.
Both sing with Solomon’s Knot Collective, who performed at last summer’s Ryedale Festival and enjoyed a sold-out performance at last December’s York Early Music Christmas Festival at the National Centre for Early Music, York.
Tickets for this 7.30pm concert are on sale at York Minster box office, on 01904 557256, at yorkminster.org or on the door. Prices are £25/£20 in the nave; £12 in the side aisles; £6, age 13 to 17; under-12s, free, but a ticket is required and they must be accompanied by an adult.