Inside Rensselaer, March 19, 2010: Campus Community To Perform Mozart Requiem Mass



	John Minasian and Donald Pendagast ’07 are helping to plan the performance.

Campus Community To Perform
Mozart Requiem Mass

Across the campus, music and art enthusiasts responded to the call to participate in a campus performance of the Requiem Mass in D minor, a work composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in 1791, during the last year of the composer’s life.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to engage the entire campus, and bring together students, faculty, and staff who are involved or have been with various vocal groups, instrumental groups, and even those who sing for fun.”

More than 100 members of the campus community will serve as part of the chorus. Students, faculty, and staff, along with an orchestra conducted by John Minasian, vice president and dean of Rensselaer’s Hartford campus, will take center stage on Saturday, April 10, in the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) Concert Hall, beginning at 8 p.m.

“After discussions with Dr. Jackson and the Cabinet, it was clear that EMPAC deserved a major festive performance featuring the musical expertise of our students, faculty, staff, and alumni,” said Minasian. “We hope that this performance will be the beginning of a rich tradition that brings the Rensselaer community together for fun, laughter, and most importantly, pride in supporting exceptional performance.”

Minasian came to Rensselaer from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he served as dean of corporate education. His corporate experience in information technology, marketing, and executive management “may not seem like the logical path” to a varied and acclaimed set of accomplishments in music, he says. Minasian notes his background as artistic director of the New England Chorale for nearly 30 years, where he has performed such works as the Verdi Requiem, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and the Gounod St. Cecilia’s Mass. Also, he is past minister of music of the First Congregational Church in Holliston, Mass. Minasian says he is noted for his interpretation of Mozart and views EMPAC as a great means “to showcase the very best at Rensselaer.”

In addition to Minasian, Donald Pendagast ’07, who serves as program manager in the marketing and business development office at the Hartford campus, and Brian Keating ’10, a senior majoring in industrial and management engineering, are involved in planning the campus performance.

“No doubt, there is a lot of interest in music and the arts at RPI,” said Pendagast, who also plans to lend his voice to the chorus. “This is a wonderful opportunity to engage the entire campus, and bring together students, faculty, and staff who are involved or have been with various vocal groups, instrumental groups, and even those who sing for fun.”

In addition to the chorus, Pendagast noted that an orchestra comprised of 30 professional instrumentalists from the Boston, central Massachusetts, and New York City areas will accompany the chorus and professional vocal soloists.

The Requiem was Mozart’s last composition and is known as one of his most popular and respected works, although the question of how much of the music Mozart managed to complete before his death and how much was later composed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr or others is still debated, according to historians.

The Requiem was commissioned by an Austrian nobleman, Count Walsegg. After Count Walsegg’s wife died, he wanted to have two special memorials in her honor. One was a sculpture; the other was the Requiem, which was to be played annually on the anniversary of his wife’s death. The Requiem was finally performed in a memorial for the count’s wife on December 14, 1793.

Admission to the performance will cost $15.

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Inside Rensselaer, Strategic Communications and External Relations
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