Around 500 students joined the professional singers, musicians, and conductor of the Omaha Symphony in performing on Sunday afternoon. Students from OPS, Lincoln, Papillion LaVista, and surrounding communities have been practicing for months to sing the choral masterpiece "Requiem" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
T Adam Goos, general manager of the Omaha Symphony explained that the piece was commissioned as a funeral mass, and is the last piece Mozart ever wrote. It was left unfinished at his death and completed by another composer. The Requiem is sung in Latin, and includes all the sections of a traditional mass, such as the Kyrie and Dies irae.
The concert is part of the Omaha Symphony's Choral Collaboration, now in its 20th year. Conductor Ernest Richardson works closely with the students at their schools to help with their performance.
Students and teachers alike were enchanted with the piece.
"There's a type of magic that Mozart managed to capture that not many other composers ever have," said Faith Lavoie, a senior at Lincoln Southwest.
"I'm in love with classical music, and so doing something that's Mozart-related, it connects to my heart," said Kyle Cunningham from Omaha South High School.
"It's exceptional literature, and for us and, I think a lot of the other schools, it sets us up for the rest of the year, because we learn so much music in such a short amount of time. It gets the guys into a mode where they're sight-reading everything much more quickly and singing at a more professional level," said Rob Chesire, Director of Music Ministry at Creighton Prep.
