Requiem
Requiem
Kantos soloists
Manchester Chamber Choir
Director Sarah Brandwood-Spencer
Conductor Ellie Slorach
Ellie Slorach, after Pérotin Piece for voices and instruments
Gabriel Fauré Cantique de Jean Racine
Mel Bonis Choral work
Maurice Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin
Gabriel Fauré Requiem
Tonight’s programme celebrates the rich cultural heritage of France.
Pérotin was a key figure from the beginnings of Western music, producing some of the earliest repertory of polyphonic (multipart) music at Notre-Dame as the cathedral itself was being built. Ellie Slorach reimagines this world with a contemporary twist.
Another talented pioneer, Mélanie Bonis, produced some three hundred inventive compositions despite the challenges of her modest background and gender.
Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin is both a homage to the Baroque composer François Couperin, and a memorial to friends who died during the First World War.
Fauré’s beautiful Cantique de Jean Racine, composed while he was a student in Paris, uses words by the 17th Century dramatist Racine. It is paired with one of the best-loved works in the choral repertory, his Requiem.
This concert is generously sponsored by Caro Brown
