Opera Southwest / Albuquerque – USA

Brahms – Requiem en Español

At the National Hispanic Cultural Center Journal Theater

Soloists

Brian James Myer (Before Night Falls, Llantos 1492)
Laura León (Before Night Falls, Zorro, Frida)

Conductor

Enrico Fagone (OSW and NMSC debut)

Brahms did not set a Latin mass. He called his great work Ein deutsches Requiem—A German Requiem – but wrote to a colleague that he would have preferred to call it “A Human Requiem.”

His intention was clear: this is music for the living, not the dead. Not bound to any single dogma, Brahms bypassed conventional liturgy to weave together scripture that speaks to sorrow, love, and release. Just three years after its premiere, the work was performed in English with the composer’s support.
In that spirit of openness and consolation, we present the Requiem in Spanish.