Paris Choral Society: Rütti Requiem

About the Event

Experience classical music like never before in this astonishing performance of masterworks by Carl Rütti at Paris's remarkable Cathédrale Américaine.

Swiss composer Carl Rütti’s (b.1949) music blends English choral tradition with other genres, including jazz and the blues, in rich and colorful textures. His music combines dazzling rhythms, soaring melodies and distinctively lush harmonies, often using two keys simultaneously. Relentless, driving rhythms co‐exist with quietly shimmering soundscapes.

Of his Requiem, a 2007 commission from the celebrated Bach Choir, the composer writes that ‘no words are strong enough to express the feelings of the bereaved, nor sufficient to explain what will await us after death. Music may be the most appropriate language’.

Scored for soprano, baritone, double choir, strings, harp and organ, Rutti’s Requiem ultimately affirms life’s precious fragility – with, at the end, a solo voice fading into the distance as the soul enters heaven.