DUBAI SINGERS & ORCHESTRA TO PERFORM MOZART’S REQUIEM

Dubai Singers & Orchestra will present Requiem, the glorious but mysterious choral masterpiece by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, at Dubai College Auditorium on Sunday 19 March at 7pm.

Conducted by Musical Director Jennie Lee-Foster, some 60 singers will perform the 12-movement Requiem Mass in D minor, accompanied by a 38-piece orchestra.

Requiem will feature professional soloists – Soprano Amelia Whiteman, Tenor Paul Bester, Baritone Howard Wong and Mezzo-soprano Katie Walton Orchard.

The concert will open with a performance by the orchestra of two immensely popular works - Mozart’s Overture to the Marriage of Figaro and Schubert’s Symphony No.8 (The Unfinished).

Mozart received an anonymous commission, delivered by a stranger in black, to compose a Requiem Mass in 1791. He believed this to be an omen and that he was composing it for his own death. He died as he was writing the seventh movement, Lacrimosa, half-way through.

Mozart’s wife desperately needed the money from this commission, so the work was finally completed by Mozart’s student, Franz Süssmayr, who used substantial parts of the orchestration begun by others, and repeated Mozart’s own music from the opening movement. The score subsequently disappeared for nearly 50 years, to be rediscovered only in 1839.

Dubai Singers Chairperson, Carolyn Belsey Morton, said: “Mozart’s Requiem is one of the most popular choral works of all time and I’m sure Dubai’s music-lovers will welcome our interpretation of this beautiful and emotional work.

“The Dubai Singers has been performing for more than 50 years and we have a very sophisticated and skilled group of vocalists, who will have the support of an impressive orchestra for this performance, led by our Musical Director and Conductor, Jennie Lee-Foster.”

Tickets, from AED100 to 150, are available now on PlatinumList.

For more information and to arrange interviews contact:

Frances Barton- dubaisingers@gmail.com; 050 650 3900

About Dubai Singers & Orchestra

Dubai & Sharjah Singers was launched in 1968 when a small group first met in a villa, after which it grew to be the major choir in Dubai, performing well-known pieces in the classical and popular music repertoire, including operettas, mostly by Gilbert & Sullivan.

Originally presenting concerts in the British Council auditorium, and now in various venues in Dubai, they are accompanied by an orchestra made up of locally based professional musicians.

Now known as Dubai Singers & Orchestra, the group performs concerts three times a year, as well as a traditional Christmas Carol concert at Christ Church Jebel Ali. Dubai Singers is a community choir, aiming to attract singers of all abilities, and it enjoys a loyal following of music-lovers from across the emirates.