UGA Symphony Orchestra, Combined Choirs close season with Mozart’s Requiem, Elgar’s “Enigma”

Hundreds of student musicians will join with faculty performers for a powerful finale to the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s 2016-2017 premier concert season in Hodgson Concert Hall on Thursday, April 20, at 8 p.m.

The UGA Symphony Orchestra (UGASO) and UGA Combined Choirs are set to perform Edward Elgar’s “Enigma Variations” and Mozart’s Requiem in D minor.

Elgar’s work opens the program, with Mark Cedel, director of the UGASO, conducting the orchestra through the fourteen variations.

The late-19th-century composition, officially titled Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36, earned its informal title from the composer himself, who teased out the existence of a mystery within the work.

“This work, commenced in a spirit of humour and continued in deep seriousness, contains sketches of the composer's friends,” Elgar wrote in a program note for a 1911 performance. “It may be understood that these personages comment or reflect on the original theme and each one attempts a solution of the Enigma, for so the theme is called.”

The “Enigma Variations” earned Elgar international renown, and their popularity has persisted: the work has been recorded over 60 times.

Following intermission, the Hodgson Singers, University Chorus and Men’s and Women’s Glee Clubs will join the UGASO as J.D. Burnett, assistant professor of music and associate director of choral activities, conducts a performance of Mozart’s Requiem.

The work—begun by Mozart in 1791, left unfinished upon his death that year and completed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr in 1792—calls for several vocal soloists. Members of the Hodgson School faculty, including associate professor of music Gregory Broughton, lecturer of voice Elizabeth Knight, and associate professor of voice Stephanie Tingler, will fill those roles.

Employed heavily in popular culture, the 14-movement Requiem is sure to be familiar to audience members, whether the mournful “Lacrimosa” or the furious “Dies Irae.” 

Tickets to the concert are $12 each or $6 with a UGA student ID and can be purchased at pac.uga.edu or the PAC box office. Those unable to attend can watch the concert live on the Hodgson School’s website: music.uga.edu/streaming.

The UGA Hugh Hodgson School of Music sponsors more than 350 performances each year. To view the performance calendar, subscribe to the weekly email concert listing, and to learn more about the School of Music, go to music.uga.edu.