Mozart’s Requiem – dramatic, mysterious, and among the most beloved choral works ever written – will anchor the Rhode Island Civic Chorale & Orchestra’s (RICCO) November concerts. Yet, this program is more than a single masterpiece: it unfolds as a three-part journey through Mozart’s life, beginning with the youthful Solemn Vespers, moving through his operatic brilliance, and concluding with the Requiem that marked the end of his career.
“It’s like bookending Mozart’s career,” said Music Director Joshua Rohde. “The Vespers shows him still rooted in the church, experimenting with choral fugues and solo writing. Then we hear the brilliance of his opera years, when he was an absolute star. And finally, the Requiem – the dramatic and unfinished work that closes his life.”
The Solemn Vespers, written when Mozart was just 24, brims with youthful energy and invention. Its most famous soprano aria, Laudate Dominum, glows with lyric beauty, foreshadowing the emotional reach of his later works.
“You sit down expecting Mozart, but by the end of the night it will blow your mind,” Rohde noted. “The journey from the Vespers to the Requiem is one of discovery.”
The evening closes with the Requiem. Left unfinished at Mozart’s death in 1791, it is filled with intensity and theatrical surprise.
“I think it’s one of the most exciting and dramatic pieces in the repertoire,” Rohde said. “Every page is filled with suspense, with surprises that make your heart race. I envy the person who hears it for the very first time.”
Together, the Solemn Vespers, opera arias, and Requiem present a panoramic portrait of Mozart: the young church composer, the operatic celebrity, and the master returning to sacred music at life’s end.
The concerts take place Saturday, November 8, at 7:00 p.m. at Grace Episcopal Church in Providence, and Sunday, November 9, at 3:00 p.m. at Saint John Vianney Church in Cumberland.
Tickets will be available via the RICCO website (https://www.ricco.org) – and our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/RICivicChoraleOrchestra/). Audiences who join will experience these masterworks not in isolation, but as a once-in-a-season journey through Mozart’s life and genius.
