Central City Chorus, directed by Bryan Zaros, is delighted to announce its third concert of the 2022-2023 Season “Mirrors of Inspiration: Music of Michael Haydn and W.A. Mozart,” featuring the Requiem in C Minor by Johann Michael Haydn and the Vesperae solennes de Dominica of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The music of Johann Michael Haydn (1737-1806) is rarely heard by audiences today. Certainly, when one thinks of Haydn, one first thinks of Haydn’s older brother Joseph, the “Father of the Symphony.” Yet in his day Johann Michael Haydn was considered among the finest composers of his time and regarded as superior in the art of liturgical music by his older brother. The Requiem in C Minor is one of Michael Haydn’s most captivating works; profoundly powerful, solemn, and somber in spirit. Composed during a time of personal loss, the requiem has all the dramatic vigor of another closely related requiem, W.A. Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor—a requiem composed twenty years after Haydn with many ¬¬similarities. Mozart was fifteen years old when, alongside his father Leopold, he played violin in the orchestra at the premier of Haydn’s Requiem in Salzburg. The young Mozart admired the older composer’s work and Michael Haydn’s influence was very strong. In many ways the two composers became reflections of one another—mirrors of inspiration.

The Vesperae solennes de Dominica of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) is one of the final pieces the young composer wrote in his boyhood home of Salzburg and it is the lesser known of the two vespers settings he composed— audiences will be more familiar with his Vesperae solennes de confessore composed the following year. The “de Dominica” vespers is a brilliant show-piece of Mozart’s mastery of a variety of styles, from stile antico to opera. The work is inspired by a whole range of musical creativity and high artistic style. Like Haydn’s Requiem in C Minor, the Vesperae solennes de Dominica is seldom performed.

Join us on May 21st for an exciting performance of these rarely performed masterpieces. The performance will feature Central City Chorus, soloists, and orchestra.

West 87th Street between Broadway & West End Map
917--57-2-4264