The Hillsdale College Chapel Choir will perform selections from Michael Haydn’s “Requiem” and other pieces from its repertoire in a concert Feb. 4 at 2:30 p.m. in the Christ Chapel. 

The Choir will perform alongside a Baroque horn ensemble from Eastman School of Music in New York. Visiting professor of Music Michael Ruhling will direct both for the “Requiem.” 

Chapel Choir originally planned to perform the “Requiem” last semester, according to junior Esdras Blackwell. After the group visited Washington, D.C., they decided to postpone the piece to focus on their Christmas Lessons and Carols performance.  

Blackwell said he was disappointed at first, but is glad the choir had time to perfect the piece. 

“I would rather it be good, and I trust Dr. McDonnell’s judgment,” Blackwell said.

Junior Elizabeth Patrick, a soprano in Chapel Choir, is one of several choir members to have a solo in the “Requiem.” 

“It’s probably one of the favorite pieces that I’ve heard from our Chapel Choir repertoire,” Patrick said.

Michael Haydn, a composer esteemed by Mozart, wrote the “Requiem” in 1771, the same year his young daughter died. Set in C minor and performed in Latin, the piece is built upon its fugues, when two or more voices sing a theme at staggered intervals.

“There are these cool little tensions and releases,” Blackwell said. “I think if people listen to how the voices are lining up and what that’s creating, it’s really powerful.”

Blackwell described the process of rehearsing the piece as one of many moving parts. 

“It’s equally intense for each part,” Blackwell said. “No one has a weak part. Everyone has to know what they’re doing.”

Rather than dividing into parts and learning the piece separately, Blackwell said, the choir has been rehearsing as a whole. 

“It’s very polyphonic,” Blackwell said. “Each voice has substance, and you can tell when one is weak. It’s hard, because it’s not like normal choir stuff when you can make up notes.”

Patrick said he hopes the concert will attract a variety of students. 

“Classical music doesn’t have to be your thing,” Patrick said. “Give it a shot, and find the melodies and intricacies of it.”

Blackwell encouraged students to support their peers in Chapel Choir. 

“If you have friends in the Chapel Choir, you should go,” Blackwell said. “You may as well go now, while you have time to afford it.”

Blackwell emphasized the accessibility of free high-caliber musical performances to Hillsdale students. 

“This is four years of school in which I’m going to have access to things I might not have this ease of access to ever again,” Blackwell said. “At the very least, you have to take every opportunity to try to appreciate something, even if it’s not your thing.”