Maurice Durufle's Requiem at the 2008 Masterworks Concert
KC CHORALE

News Herald Photo by Lester Murray Ryan Kelly conducts a rehearsal with the Kilgore College Chorale today in preparation for their concert in Longview. The Chorale will be joined by the East Texas Community Chorus and conducted by Kelly.

Kilgore College will present its 2008 Masterworks Concert on April 29 at First United Methodist Church in Longview.

The Kilgore College Chorale and the East Texas Community Chorus will perform with a festival orchestra of East Texas area symphony players.

The performance will feature Maurice Duruflé's Requiem, arguably the most beautiful and well respected Requiem of the twentieth century. Also to be performed are choral anthems by famous composers John Rutter, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Mack Wilberg.

Singers and instrumentalists performing will number over one hundred fifteen persons, and come from areas including Tyler, Big Sandy, Nacogdoches, and Shreveport, as well as many from Longview and Kilgore. Ryan Kelly, director of choral activities at Kilgore College, will conduct the concert. "I am particularly excited about this year's masterworks performance because of the opportunity to perform a magnificent work such as the Duruflé Requiem," says Kelly. "It is a work that takes skilled musicians to perform, and we have just those people in our ensembles this year."

Maurice Duruflé, who was born in France in 1902 and died in 1986, composed a significantly limited number of compositions, but works that are highly regarded by musicians and audiences alike.

"As a composer, he was a perfectionist, always revising and polishing his works before and even after their public pre- miere," remarks Kelly. "Because of this, they are finely crafted works of art. The Requiem is absolutely breathtaking." Duruflé's Requiem was composed in 1947 and exists in three unique variations. While the choral parts are the same in each variation, the accompaniment has three versions- one for organ alone, one for full orchestra, and one for organ and a reduced orchestration of strings, trumpets, timpani, and harp. The April 29 concert will present the version for reduced orchestra and organ. Accomplished organist and former East Texas resident Keith Weber will be the guest organist for the concert.

First United Methodist Church in Longview is located at 400 N. Fredonia. The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call Tricia Hanisee at 903-983- 8118.