More music stands than usual lined the stage of Legend’s theatre on the night of Tuesday, Oct. 22. When practice started, choir students as well as unfamiliar people carrying instruments filed into the room, adjusting the stands and setting pieces of music up, ready to begin.
The Cantores choir has teamed up with the Parker Symphony Orchestra to perform a piece that is widely considered to be one of the hardest for a choir to perform, “The Verdi Requiem”. The difficulty and length of the piece has meant extra weekend and evening rehearsals for the 103 Cantores members.
Composed in 1874 by Giuseppe Verde, along with many other Italian composers in the honor of fellow composer Alessandro Manzoni, the Requiem was written for four soloists, a choir, and an orchestra.
“The music is really challenging, but that’s what makes it fun to perform,” senior Payton Ziegler said. “Also, the orchestra is very talented.”
Director Kurt Stroman has brought in the big guns for this concert. The four soloists who perform in Legend’s version of the Requiem, two women and two men, are professional opera singers, and the orchestra playing alongside Cantores is Parker’s very own symphony orchestra.
“Performing with the orchestra lets us experience music in a new and different way,” junior Jacqie Rino said.
The Requiem is typically a 85-90 minute concert, and consists of seven parts: the Requiem, the Sequence (Dies Irae), the Offertorio, the Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Lux aeterna, and Libera me.
“People wonder why we would want to do something like this. It’s the same reason why a runner would want to run a marathon. Other people don’t understand it, but when that’s what you love to do, it makes sense that you would want to challenge yourself to that level,” junior Jenny Bell said.
The concert is set for Nov. 1 at the Parker PACE Center at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $20-25 depending on seating area.