The Milwaukee Symphony Chorus has had a busy and ambitious season, celebrating 50 years of singing the world\u2019s greatest choral masterworks with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Its historic 2025-26 season comes to a close with Beethoven\u2019s \u201cMissa Solemnis\u201d later this month.<\/p>\n
That piece alone represents an enormous undertaking, but the season also included several other iconic works: Handel\u2019s \u201cMessiah,\u201d J.S. Bach\u2019s \u201cSt. Matthew Passion\u201d and the \u201cOde to Joy\u201d from Beethoven\u2019s Symphony No. 9.<\/p>\n
To cap things off, the MSO is releasing a live recording of \u201cEin deutsches Requiem\u201d (\u201cA German Requiem\u201d) by Johannes Brahms. It was performed at the Bradley Symphony Center in April 2025 and features soprano Sonya Headlam and bass-baritone Dashon Burton, with outgoing Music Director Ken-David Masur at the podium.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Understanding Wisconsin, Together.<\/h2>\n
WPR\u2019s \u201cWisconsin Today\u201d newsletter keeps you connected to the state you love without feeling overwhelmed. No paywall. No agenda. No corporate filter.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n The lynchpin of this recording \u2014 and of all the choral works presented this season \u2014 is Cheryl Frazes Hill, who is just wrapping up her ninth year as director of the chorus. She was very kind to join me for a Zoom interview in the midst of an incredibly busy time. (Never mind rehearsals and performances in both Milwaukee and Chicago, her daughter is getting married in a couple of months!)<\/p>\n https:\/\/youtu.be\/SoIEv54xSPo<\/a><\/p>\n When I asked about how she prepared for such a mammoth season, Frazes Hill expressed gratitude to her mentor Margaret Hillis, the founder of the Chicago Symphony Chorus.<\/p>\n Frazes Hill authored the biography \u201cMargaret Hillis: Unsung Pioneer<\/a>\u201d about her mentor and friend. Frazes Hill describes Hillis as \u201ca conductor, chorus director, airplane pilot, educator, activist, mentor and advocate who blazed a trail upon which many continue to tread.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe was a very regimented and very disciplined conductor, and it all begins with score study \u2014 what are the challenges going to be in each piece?\u201d she said. \u201cI then create a chart, working from the performance state backwards. And that chart has every movement of the piece, and it has every rehearsal date and how I\u2019m going to break those dates down.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then it\u2019s a layering process, so of course notes and rhythms are addressed in the early stages,\u201d she continued. \u201cBut then we build in the text. And as we move into the expressive qualities \u2014 the volume, the style, the inflection, and what have you \u2014 each layer gives [the singers] an opportunity to revisit the things that we\u2019ve already worked with, but at the same time you\u2019re adding complexity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like a chess game, and it\u2019s a little bit improvisatory,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n In this new recording of the Brahms German Requiem, all that disciplined rehearsal and skilled artistry comes to fruition beautifully. It\u2019s a rich, comforting, deeply expressive rendering of some of Brahms\u2019s most personal music.<\/p>\n He had experienced some difficult losses: his dear friend and mentor Robert Schumann fell apart slowly. His death left Brahms grieving for years. Brahms started on the requiem then but set it aside. It was the sudden death of his beloved mother that provided the impetus for its completion.<\/p>\n When Brahms put together the texts for his requiem, he didn\u2019t utilize the standard Latin mass, but rather selected excerpts from Martin Luther\u2019s German-language Bible. Not once is Christ or resurrection mentioned. Brahms later mentioned to a friend that the work could just as easily be titled \u201cA Human Requiem.\u201d<\/p>\n The overarching raison d\u2019\u00eatre of the work is to provide consolation for the living. <\/p>\n \u201cHe sets up so many of the movements by explaining how vulnerable we are,\u201d Frazes Hill said. \u201c\u2018We are all like grass that withereth,\u2019 and yet at the end of each of those movements, there\u2019s always that turning point. Brahms is clearly leading us to the place of comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a beautiful work full of warmth and radiance. It may sound less challenging than the big Beethoven pieces the chorus has worked on, but according to Frazes Hill, \u201cWhen people listen to a good performance of Brahms\u2019s Requiem, they don\u2019t really understand how difficult it is.\u201d It\u2019s demanding musically, and there\u2019s also a lot of vocal and physical stamina required to get through the work in top form.<\/p>\n And the singers must give of themselves emotionally.<\/p>\n \u201cI always tell the singers the audience will not feel anything that you don\u2019t, and it\u2019s not necessarily about belief,\u201d Frazes Hill said. \u201cIt\u2019s really about how you connect to the message and try to convey it through your own voice, so that we are doing justice to the performance, to the composition.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur bass soloist [Dashon Burton] at the end of one of the performances just completely broke down in tears during the bows. I can say that there was a similar emotional release after our \u2018St. Matthew Passion,\u2019 and I have a feeling we will have the same after [\u2018Missa Solemnis\u2019],\u201d Frazes Hill said. <\/p>\n \u201cEin deutsches Requiem\u201d is quietly powerful, full of reassurance and comfort. It\u2019s beautifully interpreted and executed by the orchestra, soloists and chorus. A sonic gift that soothes body and soul. It\u2019s available on the MSO\u2019s own label via all the major streaming platforms on June 5<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Black](\"https:\/\/www.mso.org\/app\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Ken-David_Masur.jpg\")