(This story is sponsored by the Vancouver Bach Family of Choirs.)

As fall brings dimmer days and cooler weather, we have to find new ways to come together with loved ones while avoiding the rain. Year after year, the Vancouver Bach Choir connects audiences through the performance of a wide range of choral repertoire from the past to the present with passion and commitment.

The Vancouver Bach Choir, comprised of more than 500 members, has been performing compelling choral works for audiences around the world. For more than 90 years, the group has shared its unwavering passion and expertise with local and international audiences. It’s collaborated with countless world-class musicians to create original pieces and breathe new life into some of the world’s beloved symphonic choral works.

After several livestreamed performances, the Vancouver Bach Choir finally returns to in-person concerts this October with the much-anticipated fan favourite, Mozart’s Requiem in d minor. Now that arts organizations are able to safely resume in-person events, your presence and support is more valuable than ever.

The live performance of Mozart’s Requiem will take place at the Orpheum at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 23. Tickets are on sale now.

The Requiem was Mozart’s final composition, a masterpiece cloaked in mystery and filled with the somber sounds of woodwinds and brass. The work is cherished for its mesmerizing, captivating, and emotionally stirring qualities.

“Mozart’s Requiem is a work of such power and transcendent beauty,” says Leslie Dala, music director and conductor for the Vancouver Bach Choir. “Given all the events of the past 18 months, across the globe and here at home, we felt that this was the ideal piece to launch this season. We look forward to making music together in-person and to sharing this incredible masterpiece, which we hope will give consolation and renewed hope to our listeners.”

Mozart’s Requiem, a gravely solemn yet inspiring piece, was unfinished at the time of his death. It will surely set the mood for All Hallows’ Eve, just one week after the performance.

The chilling composition was written as a mass for the dead and many people believe that, given he had been seriously ill for some time, Mozart wrote the Requiem for his own funeral. While others think it’s really about the complexities of being alive.

Though there was uncertainty as to who finished the piece following his death, it’s now believed that it was finished by Franz Xaver Süssmayr, a student of Mozart’s. But we’ll give the final word on the matter to Beethoven: “If Mozart did not write the music, then the man who wrote it was a Mozart.”

Audiences can expect to hear the sounds of several local music talents alongside the Vancouver Bach Choir: members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra; Robyn Driedger-Klassen, Soprano; Katie Fernandez, Mezzo Soprano; Scott Rumble, Tenor; and Neil Craighead, Bass.

To purchase your tickets, visit vancouverbachchoir.com/tickets/. For more information, click here.