Events

For all its title suggests, A German Requiem is more balm than dirge, a work offering comfort and faith in the power of love. Instead of the traditional Latin, Brahms selected texts from the German Lutheran Bible (hence the title) that emphasize hope and healing, and he didn’t tie the piece to any particular nationality or religion. Doing the vocal honors are the American Festival Chorus, soprano Christina Pier, and baritone Benjamin Appl.

The soloists from Brahms’s German Requiem offer a recital of lieder (German songs) supported by the Festival’s Principal Keyboard Peter Henderson. Christina Pier’s selections include works by Franz Schubert and Clara Schumann. Benjamin Appl will sing Schumann’s Dichterliebe (A Poet’s Love), a cycle of 16 short—sometimes only three lines—songs based on poems about love. It starts out happily enough, with visions of flowers and birds, but ends with the poet contemplating drowning his sorrows, his love, and his dreams in a coffin in the sea.

Prokofiev’s third piano concerto is the most performed of the five he wrote, and you’ll quickly understand why. He somehow manages to blend insanely quick and percussive piano-playing with lyrical melodies and exquisite harmonies. Pianist Alexander Malofeev, who won the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition at age 12, is the perfect soloist to bring this sparkling piece to life. The program opens with selections from Prokofiev’s beloved Romeo and Juliet.