Join Velvet Einstein on Thursday, October 19th @ 5PM when he sits down with renowned theater, opera, and festival director, Peter Sellars, before the Cal Performances Bay Area premier of Los Angeles Master Chorale – Music to Accompany a Departure at Zellerbach Hall on October 28th.
Together they will discuss bringing Heinrich Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien (“Music to Accompany a Departure”) to a modern stage, drawing parallels between the 1630s and the present day, and the need for a ceremony to say goodbye for the millions that departed alone during the pandemic.
Following their widely acclaimed collaboration on Orlando di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro, Peter Sellars, Grant Gershon, and singers of the Los Angeles Master Chorale reunite in a deeply personal meditation on what it means to say goodbye during times of struggle. The luminous music of Baroque composer Heinrich Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien (Music to Accompany a Departure) serves as inspiration for a fully staged ceremony of remembrance and devotion, performed by 24 singers accompanied by organ and viol da gamba.
Schütz composed this profound exploration of mortality and grief in the 1630s, during the ravages of the 30 Years’ War, and it was dedicated to the memory of one of his dearest friends. The premiere performances of this production made the Los Angeles Times’ “Best of 2022” list, which hailed the artists’ work as “transcendent” and “incomparably moving”: “art that makes you sad yet grateful for every minute of life.”
