Helen Donath

War Requiem
It is not unprecedented, but the combining of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra on one stage is rare and special! Their last joint appearance was in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. This week they're together again to perform the major work of 20th-century music on war—one that comments powerfully on humanity's tendency toward conflict as well as our ongoing, urgent need for reconciliation.

Music
Britten: War Requiem with texts from the poems of Wilfred Owen (see links below)

Osmo Vänskä, conductor
James Taylor, tenor
Helen Donath, soprano
Håkan Hagegård, baritone
Minnesota Orchestra
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
Minnesota Boychoir
Minnesota Chorale
Magnum Chorum
Kantorei

Twin Cities orchestras host rare performance of "War Requiem"
The Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra will join forces for a performance of a monumental, and rarely heard work. This weekend Osmo Vanska will conduct the orchestras, and choral forces including the Minnesota Chorale, for a performance of Englishman Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem." The work, written in 1961, mixes the traditional Latin Mass for the dead with anti-war poetry by Wilfred Owen. Mary King Osterfield, 93, is a violist and teacher who lives in Moorhead. She played in the premiere of the piece in 1962. Osterfield spoke to MPR's Tom Crann. (04/07/2005)

More programs >>