Bellarmine University’s music department and Oratorio Society will perform the “Faure and Durufle Requiems” on Monday, April 15, at 7 p.m. at Harvey Browne Presbyterian Church.
The concert will be conducted by Timothy Glasscock, associate professor and chair of the music department, and the soloists will be Eric Brown and Paige Middleton. Organist, pianist and singer Stephen Black will also be featured.
About seven years ago, the Oratorio Society began as a faculty and staff choir, which consisted of 10 to 20 members. Glasscock decided in 2014 to expand the choir and invited community members to join. He said the choir, which now has 40 to 60 members
- including students - practices on Monday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
“What it’s all about is to give Bellarmine more of an artistic connection to the community,” Glasscock said. “We’re hoping it will continue successfully, so that we can one day move it to a larger venue.”
The Oratorio Society will perform requiems by French composers Fauré and Duruflé. Both composers were famous organists at different cathedrals in Paris. Fauré was the choirmaster at the La Madeleine Cathedral, which was Napoleon Bonaparte’s
church. Fauré and his protégé, Duruflé, were considered high romantic impressionists. Both pieces were originally performed at Notre Dame Cathedral. Glasscock said both requiems will be sung in Latin and presented in a
French romantic setting.
The concert is free and open to the public, although a $10 donation is suggested. Harvey Browne Presbyterian Church is located at 311 Browns Lane in Louisville.
“If you’re looking for a piece of music that presents wildly varying emotions from movement to movement, both requiems give you that,” Glasscock said. “You have everything from the quietest, most beautiful moments of any classical
piece, all the way up to a ranting terror and really an amazing amount of emotions.”
Article by Daniel Spitza, intern in Bellarmine's Office of Marketing and Communications.