Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

PCC and Pacific University Choirs join forces to perform Brahms’ “Requiem Mass”

Photos and story by Alfredo V. Moreno

One of classical music’s most popular and personal works, the German Requiem Mass op. 45, by Johannes Brahms, will be performed twice in February. The Portland Community College Rock Creek Campus Chamber Choir and the Pacific University Choirs will perform, accompanied by full orchestra with guest soloists baritone Richard Zeller and soprano Anne McKee Reed.

Scott Tuomi from Pacific University will conduct the Feb. 14 performance at Pacific’s Taylor Meade Performing Arts Center (2043 College Way in Forest Grove) and Samuel Barbara, PCC’s director of choral and vocal studies, will conduct the Feb. 15 performance at Village Church in Beaverton (330 SW Murray Blvd). Both shows begin at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $15 general admission, $10 students and seniors (high school/college students with valid ID). The concert is free for PCC and Pacific students, faculty, and staff.

At the time Brahms wrote his Requiem, the traditional text for the Roman Catholic requiem mass, or mass for the dead, contained text filled with images of the horrors of the last judgement. Brahms preferred text from Martin Luther’s vernacular version of the Bible, which sought to comfort those still living. The young Brahms had already experienced a great personal loss when his close friend and mentor, Robert Schumann, died in 1856. He finally completed the Mass in 1868, three years after the death of his mother.

The mass was controversial at the time because the text does not mention Christ or references to the Last Judgement. Regardless, his Requiem Mass became one of the most important works of Brahms’ career and established him as a major composer of his time. The piece is one of the most beloved in the entire classical repertoire.

For more information about the concerts, call (971) 722-7867 or visit pcc.edu/musicrc.