Orlando Sings presents thought-provoking 'The Road West' as part of Choral Festival

Reena Esmail's 'Malhaar: A Requiem for Water' addresses the rising panic over worsening drought.

By Jessica Bryce Young on Tue, Apr 30, 2024 at 6:18 pm

Photo by Michael Cairns

Orlando Sings presents 'The Road West' as part of Choral Festival

Local choral group Orlando Sings, under the artistic direction of Dr. Andrew Minear, doesn’t shy away from thought-provoking material.

Composer Reena Esmail grew up in Los Angeles and is currently based there; she has said she “yearned for a way to process the rising panic” while witnessing the worsening California drought; her “Malhaar: A Requiem for Water” is the result. If a requiem is a mass for the dead, then titling a composition “A Requiem for Water” is a bit of a gut-punch, but in Hindustani music, a malhaar is a group of ragas calling for rain.

This concert weaves together Esmail’s malhaar/requiem with Gabriel Fauré’s gorgeous “Requiem, Op. 48” to create an opportunity for transcendence — exquisite sound, complicated truth.

8 p.m. Friday, May 3, First United Methodist Church Orlando.

Location Details

First United Methodist Church Orlando

142 E. Jackson St., Orlando Winter Park Area

407-849-6080

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Jessica Bryce Young

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Jessica Bryce Young has been working with Orlando Weekly since 2003, serving as copy editor, dining editor and arts editor before becoming editor in chief in 2016.

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