Memorial evenings for the Heavenly Hundred heroes

Let us recall that this mournful funeral mass was set to a canonical Latin text. Due to his terminal illness, Mozart was unable to finish Requiem. The maestro’s manuscript ends with the eighth bar of Lacrymosa, which he wrote down on December 4, 1791 just before dying on December 5. At the request of his wife Constance Mozart, Requiem was completed by his student and family friend Franz Xaver Sussmayr and another friend of the composer Joseph von Eybler. The first performance of the work took place on the estate of Count Franz von Walsegg, who commissioned it, in the suburbs of Vienna on December 14, 1793...

This dramatic musical poem speaks of the human suffering and unfailing faith in the future. The work is full of humanity, sad lyricism, and tragic pathos!

Mozart’s Requiem is a top achievement of academic music. This is one of the most famous funeral masses to be ever composed.

On February 19, the National Opera will host a memorial evening for the Heavenly Hundred heroes. Requiem will be performed by the Symphony Orchestra and Choir of the opera, directed by conductor Maestro Mykola Diadiura and choirmaster Bohdan Plish, with soloists Tetiana Hanina (soprano), Anzhelina Shvachka (mezzo-soprano), Valentyn Dytiuk (tenor), and Serhii Mahera (bass).

Meanwhile, on February 20, the day which became a bloody mark on our contemporary history in 2014, when security forces shot dead many participants of the Revolution of Dignity, the Philharmonic Society will host another production of Mozart’s legendary Requiem, performed this time by the Liatoshynsky Ensemble of Classical Music (the National House of Organ and Chamber Music of Ukraine), which is led by Valentyna Ikonnyk-Zakharchenko, with soloists Ivanna Plish (soprano), Valeria Mudra (mezzo-soprano), Oleksandr Chuvpylo (tenor), Taras Berezhanskyi (bass), and Bohdan Plish acting as the conductor.