The final concert of our 2023-2024 season will feature Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem - an ethereal setting of the text for the funeral mass from the catholic liturgy. The flexibility of the music and the florid nature of the piece, which was driven by Duruflé’s love of chant, is embedded in every aspect of his music.

Almost in outright defiance of the traditional catholic funeral mass and settings by other composers, Duruflé chose to focus on the consoling portions of the Requiem - the notion of finding peace and light in the midst of suffering runs throughout his selected texts and his setting of them.

Additional pieces by Duruflé from his settings of various motets will complement the Requiem. We also welcome music by guest artists: The Virginia Wesleyan University Camerata will join us for the Saturday afternoon concert and perform some of Gabriel Fauré’s Motets, and the recipients of the Virginia Choral Society Annual Scholarship will perform with us on Sunday