Sunday, April 14, at 3:00pm

Kinderhook Reformed Church
21 Broad Street, Kinderhook, NY 12106

Brahms Requiem

Ein deutsches Requiem

David Smith, Artistic Director

Broad Street Chorale

Broad Street Orchestra

• Heather Green, soprano
• Richard Byrne, baritone
• David Smith, conductor

Contribution $20. Handicapped accessible

At 3:00pm on Sunday, April 14 the orchestral and choral forces of Concerts in the Village (CITV) perform together once again, in one of the most moving works in all of music literature, the great Requiem (Ein deutsches Requiem) of Johannes Brahms.

Unlike nearly every other requiem, this well-known masterpiece is very much a celebration of life rather than a liturgically-based memorial to the dead. Once heard, the beauty of Brahms’ writing cannot easily be forgotten.

With this performance CITV welcomes soprano Heather Green and baritone Richard Byrne in their regional concert debuts. Over 80 singers and instrumentalists will be performing. CITV Artistic Director David Smith conducts.

Internationally acclaimed soprano Heather Green has been heralded for her recent portrayals of Richard Strauss’s Salome in California and New York City. Other well-received operatic roles include Senta in Der fliegende Holländer and Sieglinde in Die Walküre. She has also performed in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West, and as Lady MacBeth in Verdi’s MacBeth. In addition to her operatic roles, Ms. Green enjoys collaborating with contemporary composers, having performed the world or New York premieres of works by Gene Pritsker, Luis Andrei Cobo, Patricia Burgess, Yoav Gal, and Thomas Carlo Bo. Ms. Green has been a selected emerging artist with Saint Petersburg Opera, FL and is a two-time recipient of the Mellon Grant for Creative Research.

Baritone Richard Byrne has performed with many of the world’s most prestigious opera companies and orchestras. As an apprentice at Wolf Trap Opera, he captured the ear of Beverly Sills and was invited by her to perform at New York City Opera in 1988. Over the course of seventeen subsequent seasons there, he sang 423 performances of 27 different roles. Mr. Byrne was also privileged to sing for seven seasons at the Metropolitan Opera, as well as with the opera companies of Washington, Houston, Dallas, Minneapolis, New Orleans, and other major cities. He has also sung with major orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Sir Georg Solti. At the age of 18, Mr. Byrne sang Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem in his very first performance with an orchestra. He moved to the village of Kinderhook three years ago.

“How fortunate we are,” says CITV Artistic Director David Smith, “to have such a committed chorus, orchestra and soloists for the Requiem of Brahms. I know few works which combine warmth and drama in such a perfectly balanced way. This will be an experience equally special for all who will be performing and all who will be listening.”