CCPA faculty and students to perform Yizkor Requiem on Feb. 2 at Harris Theatre with special guest Cantor Alberto Mizrahi

Roosevelt University and Harris Theater for Music and Dance will present American composer Thomas Beveridge’s Yizkor Requiem, a dramatic choral piece combining sacred Jewish and Christian traditions, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2 at Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph, Chicago.

The concert is free and open to the public. There will also be a free pre-concert conversation between Henry Fogel, dean of Roosevelt’s Chicago College of Performing Arts (CCPA), and the composer of Yizkor Requiem, Thomas Beveridge, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Renowned cantor and tenor Alberto Mizrahi, one of the world’s leading interpreters of Jewish music who has thrilled audiences all over the world with his stunning repertoire in nine languages, will perform the Yizkor Requiem, which features sacred English, Hebrew and Latin texts.  He is accompanied in the performance by leading soprano Jonita Lattimore and mezzo-soprano Cynthia Clarey. Both women are international opera stars and are members of the voice faculty at CCPA.

Combining Jewish prayers and meditations with Catholicism’s Requiem Mass, the Yizkor Requiem: A Quest for Spiritual Roots was written by American composer Thomas Beveridge in memory of his parents. The world premiere of the work was presented in Washington, D.C. in 1994, with Beveridge conducting.
 
The Harris Theater performance will be led by guest conductor Leslie Dunner, former lead conductor of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and a guest conductor with major orchestras around the world, including the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco and Seattle Symphony orchestras, the Symphony Orchestra of Madrid and the Warsaw Sinfonia.

Approximately 150 students from Roosevelt’s CCPA Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will participate in the 10-movement Yizkor Requiem, which has never been performed  live in its entirety on a stage in Chicago.
 
“I first heard Yizkor Requiem on a recording that featured Alberto Mizrahi, and I fell in love with the work on a purely musical level and also for the statement it makes about the collaboration between different faiths and traditions,” said CCPA Dean Henry Fogel. “I think it makes an extraordinary impact as a moving piece of music, and it fits perfectly with the underlying philosophies and beliefs of Roosevelt University.”

In addition, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major will be performed by award-winning Roosevelt University violinist David Lakirovich, a top international prize winner who is currently studying with renowned violinist and CCPA faculty member Vadim Gluzman.

For more information, call CCPA’s music conservatory performance activities office at 312-341-2238.