Concert - Johannes Brahms։ “German Requiem” | NCOA

After a 30-year hiatus, Johannes Brahms’s German Requiem will once again be performed in Yerevan. On April 20 at 7:00 PM, at the Komitas Chamber Music Hall, the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia and the Hover State Chamber Choir, under the baton of conductor Yaroslav Bychkov, will present Johannes Brahms’ celebrated work A German Requiem. The Yerevan audience will have a rare opportunity to experience one of the pinnacles of 19th-century sacred choral music. Composed between 1865 and 1868, and deeply influenced by the deaths of the composer’s mother and his close friend and mentor Robert Schumann, A German Requiem is considered one of Brahms’ most profound and humanistic works. The complete version, in seven movements, was first performed in Leipzig in 1869. A distinctive feature of the work is that, unlike traditional Requiems, it is set not to the Latin Mass, but to selected texts from Martin Luther’s German Bible. This large-scale composition (approximately 65–80 minutes) reflects Brahms’ deep meditation on the transience of life, grief, and solace. The composer himself remarked that he would gladly have replaced the word “German” with “Human,” emphasizing the universal message of the work. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Performers National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia Artistic Director and Principal Conductor: Vag Papian Hover State Chamber Choir Choirmaster: Sona Hovhannisyan Conductor: Yaroslav Bychkov (Founder and Artistic Director of Terra Incognita Orchestra) Soloists: Ashot Ghantarchyan: baritone Nvard Hovhannisyan: soprano -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johannes Brahms: A German Requiem, Op. 45 ·       Selig sind, die da Leid tragen (Blessed are they that mourn) ·       Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras (For all flesh is as grass) ·       Herr, lehre doch mich (Lord, teach me) ·       Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen (How lovely are Thy dwellings) ·       Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit (You now have sorrow) ·       Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt (For here we have no continuing city) ·       Selig sind die Toten (Blessed are the dead) Organizer: SNCO “National Centre of Chamber Music”