Duruflé Requiem

Spend a romantic Valentine’s Day weekend with San Francisco or Carmel as your destination, and include in your special plans an intimate concert by the San Francisco Bach Choir’s acclaimed chamber ensemble, Concentus. The 24-voice ensemble, which specializes in reviving many notable works from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, will present a program exploring some of the same early music sensibilities to be found in the choral works of early 20th century masters. Performances will be presented in both cities on consecutive days over the weekend.

The concert’s centerpiece, Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem, is built upon the composer’s haunting harmonization of Gregorian chant and will feature director David Babbitt in the work’s virtuosic organ part. Also on the program are Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, based on text by English poet Christopher Smart, and the intimate and poetic songs of Samuel Barber and Claude Debussy.