The Brookline Symphony Orchestra and Metropolitan Chorale are proud to announce a three-concert collaboration to perform Johannes Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem). Conducted by Andrew Altenbach, the organizations will perform together on Saturday, March 8 at 7:30pm; Sunday, March 9 and 3:00 pm; and Saturday, March 15 at 7:30pm. The performances feature soloists David Small, baritone, and Kayla Kovacs, soprano.
The organizations have a long history of collaboration, having previously performed together in 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2024. The Brookline Symphony Orchestra is also in the middle of its 15th anniversary season.
Ein deutsches Requiem is a large-scale work for chorus, orchestra, and soprano and baritone soloists. It comprises seven movements, which together last over an hour, making this work both Brahms’s longest composition and largest ensemble work. Brahms often called this piece the ‘Human Requiem.’ The traditional Latin Requiem Mass uses a standardized text and serves as a means for mourners to pray for the departed soul, asking God for mercy so that the soul might not be condemned to Hell. Brahms’s setting has a very different purpose. He sets a variety of sacred texts that are focused on comforting the living who remain and feel the loss of the departed. Brahms had faced recent loss in his personal life when he wrote this masterpiece, and his music stretches out to touch those deep and complex feelings every human feels when they lose someone. Indeed, the music has mournful and heavy passages, but those passages are counterbalanced with ones of light, spiritual triumph, and uplifting beauty.
Baritone David Small is currently part of the voice faculty at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Mr. Small has performed over 70 different opera roles in nearly 60 operas, including Rigoletto, Tosca (Scarpia), Traviata (Germont), Boheme (Marcello), and Il barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro, which he performed well over 100 times). He has been featured as soloist with the Cincinnati May Festival Orchestra, Austin Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, and Fort Wayne Philharmonic. Mr. Small earned a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from DePauw University’s School of Music and earned an Artist Diploma in Opera and an MM in Voice Performance from the University of Cincinnati’s College- Conservatory of Music.
Soprano Kayla Kovacs is based in Boston, has her Master’s in Opera Performance, and is finishing a postgraduate degree from the Boston Conservatory studying under Dr. Rebecca Folsom. Her most recent operatic performances include Alma Winemiller in Summer and Smoke by Lee Hoiby and Helena
in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as the role of Cltyie in the world premiere of Haunted Palace by local composer, Sophie Carpenter. In addition, as a neurodivergent individual, Ms. Kovacs is an advocate for accessibility and inclusivity in classical music, striving to create more space for neurodiversity in opera and in the classical music community.
Brookline Symphony Orchestra and Metropolitan Chorale will perform Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem on Saturday, March 8, 2025, 7:30 pm; Sunday, March 9, 2025, 3:00 pm; and Saturday, March 15, 2025, 7:30 pm. All performances will take place at the new Michael Driscoll School (725 Washington St, Brookline, MA 02446). Tickets are $25 for general admission, $20 for seniors, and $10 for ages 10 and younger. The Metropolitan Chorale is pleased to participate in the Card to Culture Program by extending discounts to EBT card holders. EBT Card holders receive free tickets to our performances. This program is a collaboration between the Mass Cultural Council and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services’ Department of Transitional Assistance.
Learn more: https://www.brooklinesymphony.org/20242025-concert-season or https://metropolitanchorale.org/tickets
About Brookline Symphony Orchestra:
Created in the 1950s, the Brookline Symphony Orchestra thrived for many years, but went on hiatus in 2001. In 2010, a group of friends dedicated to bringing classical music to the community revived the organization to make it an integral part of the Brookline community and beyond. We seek to present concerts of the highest quality. Our orchestra members are talented musicians — amateur, student, and professional — who volunteer their time to create an organization of which Brookline can be proud.
About the Metropolitan Chorale:
Founded in 1979, the Metropolitan Chorale is a 100-voice auditioned chorus recognized as one of Metro Boston’s premier choral ensembles. Since 2004, the ensemble has been under the direction of Lisa Graham. The emphasis on diverse and innovative programming, combined with excellence in performance, yields a unique artistic contribution to the Boston arts community. The Chorale has been praised by The Boston Musical Intelligencer for “its fine blend, well-shaped phrasing,”, and its performance of Leoš Janáček’s 1898 cantata Amarus was highlighted by the Intelligencer in their “Critics’ Faves” for 2019. The Chorale has performed annually with the Boston Pops since 2013 for their Holiday Tour throughout New England, including shows at Symphony Hall. In a review of the Chorale’s debut appearance with the Boston Pops, Broadway World applauded the ensemble for its “outstanding vocal talent [and] exceptional charisma.”