Grant Gershon, conductor
Peter Sellars, director
James F. Ingalls, lighting designer
Danielle Domingue Sumi, costume designer

A Cal Performances Co-commission

Following their widely acclaimed collaboration on Orlando di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro, Peter Sellars, Grant Gershon, and singers of the Los Angeles Master Chorale reunite in a deeply personal meditation on what it means to say goodbye during times of struggle. The luminous music of Baroque composer Heinrich Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien (Music to Accompany a Departure) serves as inspiration for a fully staged ceremony of remembrance and devotion, performed by 24 singers accompanied by organ and viol da gamba. Schütz composed the work, a profound exploration of mortality and grief, in the 1630s, during the ravages of the 30 Years’ War, and it was dedicated to the memory of one of his dearest friends. The premiere performances of this production made the Los Angeles Times’ “Best of 2022” list, which hailed it as “transcendent” and “incomparably moving”: “art that makes you sad yet grateful for every minute of life.”

Patron Sponsor: Nadine Tang