Trine Choir part of 90 voices in Fort Wayne performance

FORT WAYNE (03/22/2019) — The Trine University Choir will join three other choirs in a special performance at the First Wayne Street United Methodist Church, 300 E. Wayne St., Fort Wayne, on Sunday March 31.

The concert, beginning at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 31, will feature four choirs comprising nearly 90 singers. The FWSUMC Sanctuary and Chamber Choirs, the Trine University Choir and the Purdue Fort Wayne University Singers will unite in the Fort Wayne premiere of the masterpiece Requiem for the Living by distinguished American composer Dan Forrest.

They will be accompanied by a professional 17-piece orchestra of musicians from the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.

The concert will be led by Geoffrey North, D.Mus., director of music at First Wayne Street United Methodist Church. North is also the choral director at Trine University and an associate faculty member at Purdue Fort Wayne.

A requiem is traditionally a Roman Catholic Mass for the deceased, and has been a favorite set of Latin texts for composers to set to music. Many great composers have written requiems: Mozart, Verdi and Faure's requiems are all justifiably famous. At its core, a requiem is a prayer for peace for the departed. Forrest takes that concept and turns it around, writing about his Requiem for the Living, "the five movements form a narrative for the living, and their own struggles with pain and sorrow."

The first half of the concert will feature each choir individually, performing short works, with one mass number to end the half. The concert should last about two hours, including a 20-minute intermission.

The concert, the first of its kind for the FWSUMC music program, is provided free of charge, thanks to the generous support of the AIMA (Adventures in Musical Arts) sponsors.

For more information, contact North at (260) 422-4681 or geoffrey.north@gmail.com.