Requiem de Fauré [] La Tercera Orden

On November 2, the Coro de la Ópera de San Miguel will once again perform a requiem. Under the direction of Mauro Ledesma, the chorus will honor our deceased loved ones with music, the Requiem of Gabriel Fauré. The Día de los Muertos is a very important part of Mexican life and culture and almost everyone celebrates. Requiems are written to be performed with a Mass for the dead, asking that they might rest in eternal peace.

The Fauré requiem is a quiet and subtle composition. Along with the Fauré work, we will include four songs, all related to the theme of death. The music for one of the songs, “Tell Death I Am Not Here,” was written by Michael Hoppé, the well – loved local composer, whose Requiem we performed last year.

Our goal is to offer a free concert to everyone who comes to the San Francisco Church, and it will be a full house. But to be able to give a free concert to all, we need to offer a paid concert first, to raise money to pay the visiting choristers, musicians and soloists who will perform with us. The first concert will be in La Tercera Orden at 3 pm. There are 120 seats in that small side chapel. The free concert will be given in the main body of the San Francisco church at 7 pm the same day.

For the 3:00 pm concert there will be two differently priced tickets available, at 500 and 1000 pesos. Seats will be the same but for 1000 pesos, both your name as donor and the name of your deceased loved one will be printed on the program.

Tickets are on sale at Paco’s bakery/cafe Petit Four, which is located at Calle Jesús 2B. You can also ask questions, pay or donate using this email address: requiemfaure2023@gmail.com. – a PayPal account.

In 2018, the Coro de la Ópera sang the Mozart requiem in the La Parroquia. The church was packed, with no standing room left and the aisles filled with adults and children sitting on the floor. It seemed as if everyone in town wanted to hear Mozart’s sublime music. So we are confident that offering an inspiring concert, free to everyone, is important on the Día de los Muertos.

On this November 2, we will end both concerts with a rousing Oaxacan folk  song, la Martiniana, in which the lyric begs:  Don’t weep for me when I die. Instead, sing to me, and thus I will live forever.   What   better words to let us celebrate death as Mexicans do, with hope and humor and song?

(Many thanks go to Chorale San Miguel, for all of their support.)