Fauré’s Requiem:
Solace and Sustenance

A PDF version of this programme, including the sung texts, can be viewed here:

Johann Sebastian Bach
Singet dem Herrn 17’

Isabella Leonarda
Magnificat 10’

Johann Sebastian Bach
Komm, Jesu, komm 9’

INTERVAL: 20 minutes

Reena Esmail
when the violin 3’

Gabriel Fauré
Requiem 35’

BBC Singers
Stephen Farr organ
Sofi Jeannin conductor

Presented by Martin Handley

This concert is being recorded by BBC Radio 3 for live broadcast in Radio 3 in Concert. It will be available for 30 days afterwards via BBC Sounds, where you can also find podcasts and music mixes.

Biographies

Sofi Jeannin conductor

Swedish-born Sofi Jeannin studied conducting and singing at the Stockholm Royal College of Music, the Nice Conservatoire and then at the Royal College of Music, London. She is currently Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers and Music Director of the Maîtrise de Radio France, having previously been Music Director of the Choeur de Radio France.

She has worked with leading conductors, including Gustavo Dudamel, Bernard Haitink, Christoph Eschenbach and Valery Gergiev, collaborating with orchestras such as the Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Los Angeles Philharmonic.

During her time with the Maîtrise she has commissioned many new works from composers such as John Adams, Peter Eötvös, Thierry Escaich and Kaija Saariaho, as well as conducting regularly for broadcasts on France Musique and for performances at the St Denis Festival.

Recent performance highlights with the BBC Singers include world premieres by Shiva Feshareki and Nico Muhly at the 2021 BBC Proms; a collaboration with the Academy of Ancient Music and South Asian dance company Akademi exploring the dances of Rameau with classical and contemporary Indian dance; and Poulenc’s Figure humaine with jazz interpolations from BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Misha Mullov-Abbado.

As a guest conductor, recent and future engagements include concerts with the Hallé, New Japan and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestras, Norrköping and Singapore Symphony orchestras and Auckland Philharmonia.

She is committed to education and has worked with the chorus and orchestra of Kinshasa, Congo, and, since 2017, has been involved in El Sistema Greece. She regularly gives workshops and masterclasses around the world

Stephen Farrorgan

Stephen Farr has an established reputation as one of the leading organ recitalists of his generation. 

As a soloist, he has played throughout Europe, in North and South America and in Australia, and has appeared in the UK at venues including the Royal Albert Hall (where he gave the premiere of Judith Bingham’s The Everlasting Crown in a solo recital for the 2011 BBC Proms season, and appeared with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo as a concerto soloist in the 2015 season); the Royal Festival Hall; Symphony Hall, Birmingham; Westminster Cathedral; St Paul’s Cathedral; King’s College, Cambridge; and Westminster Abbey. 

He gave the Scottish premiere of James MacMillan’s organ concerto A Scotch Bestiary at the 2019 Edinburgh International Festival. Other ensemble work has included engagements with the City of Birmingham and Bournemouth Symphony orchestras, Berlin Philharmonic and Philharmonia. 

In 2017 he was appointed Chief Examiner of the Royal College of Organists. He also has an established reputation as a continuo player, working regularly with ensembles including the English Concert, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music and Dunedin Consort. 

He was Organ Scholar of Clare College, Cambridge, from 1984 to 1987, where he holds an MPhil in Musicology. Farr also holds a PhD from the University of Surrey. He combines his freelance activities with the post of Director of Music at All Saints, Margaret Street in London.

Recent and forthcoming recordings include Bach’s Clavier-Übung Book 3, Orgel-Büchlein and Chorale Partitas (part of a projected recording of the complete organ works), the complete organ works of Kenneth Leighton and James MacMillan, music from the 17th-century English repertoire and works by Judith Bingham.