Åpningskonsert: Fauré Requiem – Bergen kirkeautunnale 2026

The opening concert is a reflection on the festival theme LIFE. The first part points towards the main work – Gabriel Fauré's Requiem – among other things through Ole Sarvig's text: Grief strikes everyone, no one escapes; without distinction it strikes us down.

Eric Whitacre's I Thank You God with text by e. e. cummings, is a bright, majestic and expectant work. The composer describes it as a poem so beautiful and joyful that the music at times almost wrote itself.

Caroline Shaw's In manus tuas for cello is inspired by a motet by Thomas Tallis, with the text Into your hands, Lord, I commit my spirit (Psalm 31:5 and Luke 23:46).

Per Nørgård's Wie ein Kind is inspired by the art of Adolf Wölfli and Rainer Maria Rilke's spring poem, and opens up a powerful encounter with various childhood memories. The second movement in particular connects to the festival theme through the earthly and childlike, while the third movement expresses a human anxiety in the face of death.

Gabriel Fauré's Requiem conveys a bright and peaceful view of death, where the composer himself describes the work as an expression of a quiet faith in rest and redemption.

The concert is an honest, human encounter with the existential, and the belief that there is comfort and rest both in life and in death.

Programme: Eric Whitacre: Three Songs of Faith III Caroline Shaw: In manus tuas (Amalie Stalheim, cello) Per Nørgård: Wie ein Kind Gabriel Fauré: Requiem (arr. David Hill)

Performers: Edvard Grieg Kor Henning Felde Haldorsen, violin Amalie Stalheim, cello Johannes Wik, harp Sigurd Melvær Øgaard, organ Kjetil Almenning, conductor

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Welcome to Bergen kirkeautunnale – festival for church music 17–20/9 2026 L I V autunnale.no