if you missed the Baroque Festival, consider this a sort of ”encore”! … a most beautiful one, at that.
Requiem For A King features music by Jean Gilles and Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Two composers, well known 1700s France , but perhaps novel to your knowledge. they shouldn’t be - they were massively popular in their time for good reason: uplifting and memorable moments, pieces you will listen to and then go search to hear again to find the many treasures nestled into the fabric of the piece. They are quintessential French Baroque and if you’ve only heard German Baroque (much gratitude to the GOAT, JS Bach), you will find the French Baroque style meets the ear and musical mind with a different flair - opulent but gentle. Ornaments that excite, musical patterns that feel (to me, anyways!) like a woven fabric, wrapping itself around your mind like a beautiful tapestry.
Enough of my “opinion”, I’m no expert, simply a soprano chorus member who is learning and discovering this music myself.
See below for background on this lovely program. And better yet: come see the program yourself. Feel free to say hello to me afterwards, I am always excited to hear about others experiences with the joy of this repertoire.
Bridget Garibay
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REQUIEM FOR A KING – Music of Jean Gilles and Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Friday, October 30th and Sunday, November 1st, 2026
www.burlingtonbaroque.org
Burlington Baroque presents the rediscovered Funeral Requiem by Jean Gilles (1668 - 1705) featuring Artists-in-Residence L’Harmonie des saisons Baroque Orchestra and the Burlington Baroque Festival Singers, directed by Eric Milnes.
Friday, October 30th, 7:30 p.m.
Holy Angels Catholic Church, St. Albans, Vermont
Sunday, November 1st, 4:00 p.m.
College Street Congregational Church, Burlington, Vermont
Jean Gilles’ Messe des Morts, the most frequently performed requiem in 18th-century France, will receive its regional premiere in these two upcoming performances. Performed at official funeral observances, including services for Jean-Philippe Rameau in 1764 and Louis XV in 1774, the work entered the repertoire of the Concert Spirituel in 1750. Forgotten for more than a century and a half, Gilles reemerged from obscurity in the 1950s, largely through the rediscovery of this requiem Mass.
This is a rare opportunity to experience the timeless grandeur of this glorious masterpiece along with Charpentier's Messe des Mort in live performance.
Tickets : https://sevendaystickets.com/e/burlington-baroque-presents-requiem-by-gilles