Did you know that the acclaimed Canadian composer Healey Willan’s nickname was "squealy" villain? I guess one can look quite ominous while playing the pipe organ.
But Kingston’s own F.R.C. Clarke didn’t see him as a villain. The former student of Willan wrote his biography and also completed one of his unfinished works – his Requiem.
It was 23 years ago on March 27 that the Kingston Symphony and the Kingston Choral Society premiered this work. Some say that Willan abandoned composing it because it was unsingable – the choral arrangements in eight parts were just too difficult. But the Kingston Choral Society has sung it once and will sing it again, exactly 23 years later, on Sunday, March 27, 2011.
This will be a celebration of the late F.R.C. Clarke and a celebration of music. Not only will we perform the Requiem in its entirety, with help from soloists Jennie Such, Soprano, Janice Coles, Mezzo Soprano, Tim Stiff, Tenor and Bruce Kelly, Baritone, but the program also features Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture and Elgar’s Serenade for Strings.
This afternoon concert will be lead by guest conductor Brian Jackson, former music director of the Kingston Symphony who conducted the premiere of Willan’s Requiem.
It will be a wonderful afternoon of music. I'm really looking forward to this concert and to hearing the orchestra and choir perform from a seat in the hall rather than standing on the podium.
Click here to hear the podcast.
Click here to read about Requiem in the latest edition of Follow the Music Online, the Kingston Symphony’s quarterly newsletter.
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