The conductor Johan de Villiers’ return to the concert stage this year includes two performances of the Verdi Requiem as the conclusion of the 2023 Endler Concert Series in Stellenbosch.
Mr De Villiers, who conducted the Stellenbosch University Choir during 1977-1984, was then in 1989 the founding conductor of the Libertas Choir, which after 33 years under his direction in November last year performed for the last time.
Under him as conductor, with an almost 100-strong group of choristers consisting mostly of former Libertas choir members, together with the celebrated opera singers Hlengiwe Makhwanazi (soprano), Minette du Toit-Pearce (mezzo-soprano), Luvo Maranti (tenor) and Conroy Scott (baritone), as well as an orchestra of 50 professional instrumentalists with concert master Petri Salonen, will fill the Endler Hall with the sounds of the Italian composer Guiseppe Verdi’s Requiem.
This large-scale work of 90 minutes is certainly among the most beloved oratorios of all time and offers both performer and audience a musical experience to cherish. Its first performance was in Milan in 1874, with Verdi himself on the podium, and coincided with the first anniversary of the Italian writer Alessandro Manzoni’s death.
This Verdi Requiem, a setting of the standard Latin text of the Catholic dead mass, was in fact dedicated to Manzoni, for whom Verdi cherished great admiration. Guiseppe Verdi, whose life spanned from 1813 to 1901, has a reputation as an opera composer extensive and grand.
The Requiem followed only three years after the ecstatic reception of his opera Aïda and is characteristically filled with lovely melodies and dramatic ups and downs.
Johan de Villiers, together with all his fellow musical artists on stage, “considers it an enormous privilege to perform this powerful oratorio specifically in Stellenbosch’s Endler Hall”.
Mr De Villiers believes that participation in it, both for audience and performer, will promise to be an exceptional musical experience.
He was also recently seen conducting the production From Mozart to Verdi: Opera highlights which was nominated for a 2023 Toyoya US Woordfees trophy for Best Performance in Classical Music (Vocal). The same winning team of soloists, among others Ms Makhwanazi, Ms du Toit-Pearce, Mr Scott, Mr Maranti as well as Salonen as concert master who took part in the performance with him, will also be seen in Requiem in November.
The performances on Saturday November 18, and Sunday November 19, will take place at 4pm, in the Endlersaal, Stellenbosch. Tickets cost R280 per person and are sold through Webtickets under the title, ‘Verdi Requiem conducted by Johan de Villiers’.
