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April 26th
Titans of Music
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Join Us for a Grand Finale Celebrating the Titans of Music!
Saginaw Choral Society is proud to conclude its season with a monumental tribute to the titans of classical music, Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig Van Beethoven. Mozart was not in the best state of mind when in late 1791 when he received an anonymous commission to compose a Requiem Mass. His health was deteriorating, and he believed he had been asked to write a requiem as a ‘swansong’ for himself. Mozart died at age 35, on December 5, 1791, leaving the Requiem uncompleted. Mozart’s wife asked his pupil, Franz Xavier Süssmayr, to finish the work. Süssmayer did indeed finish it, then copied the entire piece in his own hand, keeping the Requiem shrouded in mystery as to who wrote what.

Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy was intended to be the concluding work on a benefit concert he put on for himself on December 22, 1808. He wanted a brilliant finale that would showcase all the musical forces of the evening: piano solo, mixed chorus, and orchestra. Being a fine pianist as well as composer, he was the soloist at the premier, and is known to have improvised the opening piano solo of the work.

The work includes a sequence of variations on a theme that is felt to be an early version of Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” theme Beethoven used in his Ninth Symphony. Beethoven himself acknowledged the kinship of the two works saying the Fantasy was "a setting of the words of Schiller's immortal "Lied an die Freude" in the same way as my pianoforte fantasia with chorus, but on a far grander scale." Our performance will feature our own brilliant pianist, Catherine McMichael, as soloist. Said to have met only once during their lifetimes, these two giants meet again on the iconic Temple stage when we present Titans of Music in our season ending tribute to two of the greatest composers of all time!

Ticket Information:
General Admission: $30.00, $24.00, $10.00
Premier Balcony (includes hospitality): $45.00
Student Tickets: $10.00 For student tickets seated next to parents, call the Box Office at (989) 754-7469.
​Online: www.templetheatre.com.

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