EASTER is probably the most apt time to contemplate the spiritual connotations of self-sacrifice, death and resurrection. Apart from religious services, music and art can also help focus attention on these less-than-mundane issues. And a concert performed in a church only deepens this perspective.
Thus, the timing of the concert, conducted by Ladislav Kaprinay as his dissertation performance, on March 17 in the Blumentál Church (the common name of the Church of Assumption of Virgin Mary) in downtown Bratislava was ideal. The Christian Chamber Orchestra ZOE and the Technik STU choir performed Mozart’s masterpiece Requiem, with students of the Department of Voice at the Music and Dance Faculty of Bratislava’s Academy of Performing Arts as soprano, contralto, bass and tenor soloists.
With free admission and good timing – 20:10 on a Sunday evening, immediately after a mass – the church was packed. Regular church-goers mingled with music enthusiasts, students, family members – and probably also people who just wanted to stop for a while and absorb themselves in the music and atmosphere. The work performed, Mozart’s last composition – the Requiem Mass in D minor, which was preserved and finished by Franz Xaver Süssmayr in 1792, is considered one of his most impressive, and is also one of his most famous. The mass is divided into 14 parts, and alternates choir parts with solos; it is demanding for performers and very rewarding for audiences.
The impressive concert offered hope that apart from traditional Christmas and Advent concerts, including those in churches, Easter concerts might also become a habit in Slovakia.