Viva La Music! Captivates St. Mark's with Mozart’s 'Requiem'

The church walls ring melodiously with a medley of strings, horns and voices, teeming with energy as it builds through the ceiling rafters. A weightless, pointed baton whisks the air as it touches each section of the surrounding orchestra. Its master, Shulamit Hoffmann, conducts Viva la Musica’s! rendition of Mozart’s Requiem. 

Over the weekend, Palo Alto and Redwood City welcomed the Viva la Musica! choir and orchestra for its annual spring and winter season tour. The group, led by artistic director and president Shulamit Hoffmann, performed at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Redwood City on Saturday evening before going to in Palo Alto on late Sunday afternoon. At both gigs, the house pews filled entirely, leaving only enough room for waves of musical vibrations to fit between the crowds. 

The program included living composer Rene Ochoa’s Misa del Pueblo, crafted specifically for Viva la Musica, and Mozart’s free formed and wildly expressive Requiem. The Requiem follows a symmetrically structured style, comprised of 15 movements that intensify up to the seventh movement, the Lacrymosa (“Tearful”), the focal point of the piece. 

The signature key of the arrangement is D minor, characterized by a deep, sorrowful tone. The beauty of it, however, is rooted in its organic transition from great terror and hopelessness to complete faith and devotion, drawing a deep connection to a higher power. Mozart deftly supported these sacred overtones with the addition of the quartet of soloists in three movements: Tuba Mirum, Recordare and Benedictus.

Hoffmann’s glowing passion for the Requiem can be understood by her deliberate and thought-out decision to couple classically trained tenor, Brian Thorsett, with the rest of her motley crew. Complementing Thorsett throughout the solo verses, soprano Deirdre Lobo-D’Cunha, mezzo-soprano Wendy Morgan Hunter and baritone Jordan Eldgredge each graced the audience with their naturally prolific instruments.

“This was my first gig with the group,” Thorsett said. “I enjoy it immensely, although sometimes it’s tricky to hit Mozart’s flattering tones.”

Thorsett mentioned that the acoustics in the building gave a flowing breath to the piece but recognized that singing while standing on carpet can make it difficult to gauge the natural vibrations of the orchestra. 

Regardless, the end of Hoffmann’s interpretation of the Requiem left the audience captivated, in a lucid dreamlike state before bursting into standing ovations. She left the crowd with her own enthusiastic and impassioned emotion before stepping down from the stage to embrace her admirers. 

“I chose [the Requiem] because I’m in love with it,” Hoffmann said. “It’s complete in the range of feeling and emotion, from terror to joy, it’s an all-around appeal to pathos.”

Mark Lemaire recorded the performance for Viva La Musica and remains convicted that he “has never recorded and had so much fun.”

Viva la Musica will continue its tour in Europe, travelling through Prague and Dresden. Its next concert will be on Saturday in the Church of St. Simon and St. Jude, in Prague.