Hertfordshire Chorus: Brahms, Strauss and Rosenberg Hertfordshire Chorus David Temple MBE Conductor Ana Beard Fernández Soprano Ashley Riches Baritone Zoë Brookshaw Soprano (Soloist in Highland Home) London Orchestra da Camera Hertfordshire Chorus return to St Albans Cathedral to perform the much loved Ein deutches Requiem by Brahms, Richard Strauss’s sublime Four Last Songs and a short piece written by Kurt Rosenberg called Highland Home, a homage to the country he fell in love with when he was young. Tickets: £30, £20, £10, £5 No view seats will only be released when seats with views have sold out. Concessions: Children under 18 £5, Students with ID £5. Seats marked with a K are only to be booked by people accompanying the adjacent wheelchair user. Only one companion ticket is permitted per transaction. Doors will open 30 minutes before concert starts. There is an interval of 20 minutes during this performance. Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem is one of the cornerstones of the classical choral repertoire. This large-scale setting of the Requiem Mass in German begins with prayers to the dead with words translated and shaped by Brahms himself. His approach reflects his sympathies with humanism as well as the comforts that can be found in the religious texts. The piece may have been inspired by his grief at the loss of his own mother and the death of Robert Schumann. The Vier Letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs) are Strauss’s final completed works, composed in 1948 when he was 84. Inspired by poems by Joseph von Eichendorff and Hermann Hesse, they reflect the composer’s state of mind as he contemplated the end of his life. The solo soprano voice soars above the orchestra inviting the audience to share in feelings of sorrow and, finally, acceptance. American composer Kurt Rosenberg composed Highland Home after a visit to Brodick castle on the Isle of Arran. He was captivated by the beauty of the rugged landscape and this magical piece is a homage to the country he fell in love with.