Canticum Novum - Fauré and Forrest - Choir and Orchestra Performance

Sat Apr 18, 19:00 - Sat Apr 18, 20:30

Kruiskerk Stellenbosch

ABOUT

Canticum Novum's Concert Choir, under the baton of Yolanda Botha, will give two choir and orchestra performances in the beautiful historic Dutch Reformed churches of Kruiskerk and Moederkerk in Stellenbosch. The program includes the timeless Fauré Requiem and the African premiere of American composer, Dan Forrest's, Jubilate Deo.


Fauré's Requiem has a brilliance of balance – depth of content with refinement and grace – and includes some of the most heart wrenching and well known choir and orchestra music ever composed. Fauré's Requiem is among the most affecting musical settings of the Latin Missa pro defunctis, the Mass for the Dead, and its tone is unlike any of the compositions that may be considered its peers. He composed a hymn of solace and supplication, music to comfort mourners rather than impress upon them the enormity of death. It is a less dramatic, though in no way less moving, setting of the text, something Fauré himself recognized when he wrote of the composition: “It is gentle in character, like myself”.


The second work is a contemporary composition by celebrated American composer, Dan Forrest's. Jubilate Deo brings to life the global aspect of the traditional Psalm 100 text, "O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands," by setting it in seven different languages and drawing from a wide spectrum of musical influences. Each movement combines some characteristic of its language-group's musical culture with that of the composer's. Languages include Latin, English, Spanish, Aramaic, Hebrew, Mandarin and Zulu. This work is bound to have the audience on the edge of their seat.


Yolanda Botha is a performing musician and conductor based in Somerset-West. She is the musical director and founder of Classical Sounds, a NPO which raises funds to promote classical music, help support struggling young musicians with bursaries and is the conductor of two choirs, Canticum Novum and Helderberg Cantare, who spreads the Gospel through song.


Canticum Novum is one of the oldest performing church choirs in South Africa and celebrated their 60th anniversary in 2019. Affiliated with the Moederkerk in Stellenbosch, they have a variety of major choir and orchestra works as part of their repertoire, including the Mozart Requiem, Handel's Messiah, Vivaldi's Gloria , Handel's Dixit Dominus and many more.


These 'one-of-a-kind' performances in the Kruiskerk is bound to be an unforgettable experience.

DIRECTIONS

Canticum Novum - Fauré and Forrest - Choir and Orchestra Performance
Kruiskerk Stellenbosch
Ryneveld St, Stellenbosch Central, Stellenbosch
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