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U.S. Premiere of Vladimír Godár’s Querela pacis

Jul. 01, 2015

U.S. Premiere of Vladimír Godár’s <em>Querela pacis</em>

On July 30, Warren Friesen leads the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra in the U.S. premiere of two movements from Vladimír Godár’s haunting oratorio, Querela pacis. Soprano Emily Van Evera, who has been hailed for her performances of the work and was featured in its commercial recording on Pavian Records, joins the orchestra as soloist. 

The oratorio (subtitled 'The Complaint of Peace') is scored for soloists, SATB choir and chamber orchestra. The work explores pacifist themes and sets several Psalms, excerpts from the Requiem Mass, and some philosophical writings together with poetry by Alfred Tennyson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Querela pacis was first performed in Utrecht in 2009 as part of the Europa Cantat Festival, and later performed in its revised version in 2010 at the Pohoda Festival in Slovakia. Rob Cowan of BBC Radio 3 has said of Godár’s music "it's as if Monteverdi, Janácek and Górecki have settled on a universal language," and his ECM Records release "Mater" gained him countless admirers worldwide.

Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra’s performance takes place at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN in a program also featuring works by Kenji Bunch, Germaine Tailleferre and selections from Charles Ives’s Celestial Country. 

For more information on the performance, visit lakesuperiorchamberorchestra.org.

Details on Vladimír Godár can be found at fabermusic.com.

Vladimír Godár
Querela pacis (2010)
The Complaint of Peace (Hommage à Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus)
an oratorio for soprano, alto and bass soloists, SATB chorus and chamber orchestra
text (Latin, Eng, Sumerian) by Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus; Johann Amos Comenius; The Lament for Urim; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; Psalms 101 & 50; Requiem mass; Alfred Tennyson
fl.ob(ca or oboe da caccia in F)-perc-hpsd(org).hp-str
75’

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