GewandhausChor & Spielvereinigung Sued: Requiem in Jazz

About the Event

Leipzig sounds particularly impressive when classical tradition and improvised soundscapes come together.

A requiem that swings? It sounds like a contradiction, but that’s the secret of Nils Lindberg’s music. Raised in a family of folk musicians in Sweden, he discovered jazz as a teenager before studying composition in Stockholm. From this blend of folk music, jazz, and classical craftsmanship emerged a unique musical language that made him one of Sweden’s most frequently performed choral composers. His 1993 Requiem for choir, two sopranos, baritone, and big band is among his most significant works and is still regularly performed in Europe and the U.S. today. Lindberg conceived the idea during a Christmas vacation in Spain, inspired by his uncle’s Requiem and the New Orleans tradition of the “jazz funeral,” in which mourning and music have always gone hand in hand. At the Gewandhaus, the Gewandhaus Choir and the Spielvereinigung Sued big band will come together under the direction of Gregor Meyer.