Amici Performs Fauré’s Requiem in France

Amici has a tradition of going far afield to perform – we have travelled to Italy, Belgium, the US and here to Angoulême, on the river Charentes. Seventeen miles from Angoulême is the ruined priory of Rauzet, one of only two examples of monasteries of the Grandmontine order (the other is in England, at Craswall in Herefordshire).

As part of our visit we were delighted to give a concert to help boost the fund raising efforts being made to restore the priory for visitors to enjoy. The setting was magical – the ruins are very atmospheric (quite literally – there’s no roof at the end where we performed). Taking the Fauré Requiem to France might seem a ‘coals to Newcastle’ exercise, but we had done it before; we sang Rossini in Italy!

In the event, the concert was a quite stunning success, both artistically and financially. The track you will hear is the closing pages of Faure’s beautiful masterpiece, the ‘In Paradisum’.

In paradisum deducant te Angeli; In tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem.  Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.

May angels lead you into paradise. Upon your arrival, may the martyrs receive you and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem. May the ranks of angels receive you, and with Lazarus, once a poor man, may you have eternal rest.

The day after the concert we piled on to a cruiser on the river Charentes for a lovely day out, including a splendid riverside restaurant for lunch and a visit to a cognac distillery!