The theme of the concert is “Death and Heaven.” In addition to the Jenkins Requiem, the chorus will perform four spirituals arranged by William Dawson about preparing to go to heaven or imagining what it will be like.
The decision to perform the Jenkins Requiem was made shortly after the catastrophic earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster hit Japan on March 11, 2011. The Jenkins work melds the traditional western Requiem text (a funeral service) with Japanese haiku on the subject of death. It will be performed as a memorial to those who lost their lives in that disaster.
Karl Jenkins is a Welsh composer who began his musical career as an oboist, then attended the Royal Academy of Music in London. For much of his early career, he was known as a jazz-rock musician. He then became a successful composer of music for television advertisements. His Requiem was composed in 2005.
The haiku movements are sung in Japanese by a women’s chorus and are accompanied by the shakuhachi, an ancient Japanese bamboo flute.
Virtuoso shakuhachi player Ralph Samuelson of New York City will be the featured soloist. Samuelson was trained in the classical tradition of the Kinko School under the tutelage of the late Living National Treasure Goro Yamaguchi, as well as by Shudo Yamato and Kodo Araki V. He began shakuhachi studies in 1969.
The Requiem is scored for chorus, female soloists, shakuhachi, two French horns, timpani, percussion, harp and strings.
The Bowdoin Chorus is composed of students, alumni, faculty, staff and Brunswick area community members. The Mozart Mentors Orchestra is in its second season. It is made up of Maine string teachers and their top students, ranging in age from 10 to 18, who play alongside them.
For more information, call 725-3347, visit www.bowdoin.edu/music or email aantolin@bowdoin.edu.
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