Grand Choral Opening:
War & Requiem

Voices of Ascension Chorus and Orchestra
Dennis Keene, Artistic Director and Conductor

Thursday, October 29, 2026, 7:30 pm
Church of the Ascension

Voices of Ascension opens its 2026–2027 season with a program that matches musical grandeur with profound humanistic depth. Composed amid the threat of Napoleon’s advancing armies, Mass in Time of War (Missa in tempore belli) by Joseph Haydn pulses with urgency. Its insistent timpani (also called the Paukenmesse, or “drums mass”) and bold choral writing transform the Mass into both a plea for mercy and a rallying cry for courage in the face of autocracy. Nearly a century later, Gabriel Fauré took a strikingly different path with his Requiem in D Minor. Where earlier Requiems summon fear of judgment, Fauré turns toward grace, tenderness and light.