PSU Music: Requiem For The Living

Join us for Requiem for the Living by Dan Forrest with PSU Chamber Singers and University Chorale

​Thursday 4/21 PSU Silver Center, Plymouth 7 pm
Friday 4/22 Inter-Lakes High School, Meredith 7 pm

Masks Optional

Thursday tickets available online or at Silver Center Box Office
​$10 General Admission; $15 for Row N (just above main aisle)
Friday tickets available at Inter-Lakes High School at the door

We are thrilled to collaborate this spring on Dan Forrest’s incredible masterwork, Requiem for the Living. The messages of faith, grief, and unity are perhaps more important now than they ever have been before. “A Requiem, at its core, is a prayer for rest- traditionally, for the deceased. The five movements of Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living, (2013), however, form a narrative just as much for the living, and their own struggle with pain and sorrow, as for the dead. The opening movement sets the traditional Introit and Kyrie texts- pleas for rest and mercy- using ever-increasing elaborations on a simple three-note descending motive. The second movement, instead of the traditional Dies Irae, sets Scriptural texts that speak of the turmoil and sorrow which face humanity, while yet invoking musical and textual allusions to the Dies Irae. This movement juxtaposes aggressive rhythmic gestures with long, floating melodic lines, including quotes of the Kyrie from the first movement. The Agnus Dei is performed next (a departure from the usual liturgical order) as a plea for deliverance and peace; the Sanctus, following it, becomes a response to this redemption. The Sanctus offers three different glimpses of the “heavens and earth, full of Thy glory”, all of which develop the same musical motive: an ethereal opening section inspired by images of space from the Hubble Space Telescope, a stirring middle section inspired by images of our own planet as viewed from the International Space Station, and a closing section which brings the listener down to Earth, where cities teem with the energy of humanity. The Lux Aeterna which then closes the work portrays light, peace, and rest- for both the deceased and the living.” We are so grateful to be able to be making music in person again, and to provide the opportunity to show the value of lifelong musicianship through this collaboration. We hope that you leave a little more healed than when you entered.

Founded in 1974, the Pemigewasset Choral Society — aka “Pemi Choral” — is a community chorus based in Plymouth, New Hampshire. The wide range of repertoire the Chorus performs includes classical and contemporary works as well as folk songs, spirituals and music from stage and screen. The Chorus requires no auditions; the only membership requirements are a love of singing, the ability to sing on key, and a commitment to attend weekly rehearsals. The Chorus presents two concert programs each year, one during the December holiday season and the other in early May. Every other year, usually in the spring, it performs one choral masterwork with orchestra. Our director Will Gunn — a choral singer himself — is a conductor who has a special devotion to building a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts. While the individual contributions to a choral ensemble are each significant, the resulting choral sound is more than just those combined voices. Please check us out, and join us for our 49th season! We look forward to singing with you.