Coming off of a highly successful and well-attended performance of Mozart’s Requiem at Mission Santa Clara, the SJSU Concert Choir is pushing full steam ahead towards our Carnegie Hall trip. With one month to go, we have begun learning Faure’s Requiem and making further travel preparations. Unlike the bombastic and serious work by Mozart, Faure offers a shorter and serene interpretation of the Catholic mass. Originally written to be performed in an intimate church setting, the work only had seven movements and was scored for harp, timpani, strings (violas, cellos and basses with solo violin) and performed by a boys and men choir. By the time it was performed at Faure’s funeral in 1923, the work was fully orchestrated for an SATB (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) choir and added winds.  This change was made under the recommendation of Faure’s publisher Hamelle, who believed the work should be performed in large concert halls. Along with a select group of high school and college choirs, the SJSU Concert Choir under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Benson has the distinct honor of singing this work in one of the greatest large concert halls of all time: Carnegie Hall.

Thank you so much for your generous donations! We appreciate your support! Without you, we would have not made it this far. Currently, we are $2,000 away from reaching our goal. Thank you again for your encouragement of sending SJSU Concert Choir to Carnegie Hall! 

GRATITUDE!

By Dr. Jeffrey Benson

Our hearts are overflowing with joy and gratitude. Thank you to all of our amazing donors and friends for sharing in SJSU's Carnegie Hall debut! It truly was a mountaintop experience for our singers and for me personally to make music in such a historic venue. To look out into that concert hall and to see and feel our students' excitement as we began to sing Monday night was absolutely electrifying! Thank you for your incredible support and love from near and far.

View photos from the trip here!