Bi-Co Chorale to Take on Verdi Requiem

The 150-voice Haverford-Bryn Mawr College Chorale, under the direction of Associate Professor of Music Thomas Lloyd, will perform Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem with orchestra on Friday, April 21, at 8 p.m. in Roberts Hall, Marshall Auditorium, on the Haverford College campus. The concert is open to the public without charge.

The Verdi Requiem begins with the words "Libera me," which open the liturgy for the burial service, but were not included in Mozart's or Berlioz's earlier requiems. In Verdi's hands, the words, which can be translated as "deliver," "save," "free" or "liberate" me, are transformed from a religious utterance into a call for national unity and identity.

"Coming out of a tradition where political rule was most often quite transient, Verdi saw culture as the primary element of national identity, coming from an authentic, enduring tradition that must be defended at all costs," says Lloyd in the evening's program notes. "The greatest musical distinction of Verdi's Requiem is his use of the operatic solo voice in alternation with the chorus to carry the emotional and dramatic weight of the work.

"This will be the second time this work has been performed by the Bi-Co Chorale (the first was in 2001)," says Lloyd. "It will be special in that we will be joined by several alums coming to honor the memory of William Heartt Reese, director of music ensembles at Haverford from 1947 to1975, who passed away on March 22 at age 95. Truman Bullard, HC '60, and director of choral activities at Dickinson College from 1965-2000, will present a brief dedication at the beginning of the concert before joining the choir himself."

Featured soloists for the concert all have connections to Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts. Soprano Rebecca Whitlow and mezzo-soprano Suzanne DuPlantis are both AVA alumnae with active performing careers who also teach private lessons to Bryn Mawr and Haverford students. Tenor Bryan Hymel and bass-baritone Jesus Ibarra are both current students at the elite preprofessional training program who are already exciting audiences with their commanding young voices.

The Bi-College Chorale is made up of Haverford and Bryn Mawr students, faculty, staff, and community members. The 56-piece orchestra will be drawn primarily from students at Bryn Mawr, Haverford, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the Esther Boyer College of Music at Temple University.

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