Our season begins on Nov. 7 and 8 with Ein Deutches Requiem by Johannes Brahms, one of the most beloved and revered works of all choral music. Rather than a formal religious service for the dead, Brahms chose a variety of texts to comfort the bereaved. It is a work of great beauty and comfort. Other selections on the program will use the same sacred texts that Brahms chose for his Requiem in settings by a variety of composers.

Performed in Brahms’ own piano four-hands version, the Requiem will feature guest pianist William Koehler and NCS’ resident accompanist William Buhr. If you have only heard the Requiem with the more common orchestral accompaniment, check out the MP3 clips below (from our performance of this work at the McAninch Arts Center in 2000) to hear how the piano version allows the choral parts to shine.

This concert will be performed at both St. Petronille Church in Glen Ellyn on November 7th and St. Francis Xavier Church in La Grange on November 8th. Tickets for these concerts cost $22 for adults or $20 for students and seniors, and can be purchased at the concert venue using cash or check only (we can only accept credit cards on the door at McAninch Arts Center concerts).

William Koehler

William Koehler has taught piano at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb since 1985. A recipient of a 2001 Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award from NIU, he was named a Presidential Teaching Professor in 2005. He has recorded for Cedille Records, Canti Classics, and Centaur Records as a collaborative pianist, and has performed with the Vermeer, Arianna, and Prague string quartets and the Craftsbury Chamber Players. Since 1991, he has been pianist for the Midsummer’s Music chamber ensemble in Door County, Wisconsin.

His competition awards include first prizes in the 1984 San Antonio International Keyboard Competition and the 1989 New Orleans International Piano Competition. From 1988 to 1990, Mr. Koehler was an Affiliate Artists Xerox Pianist. Koehler is a past president of the Waubonsee Valley chapter of the Illinois State Music Teachers Association and is the pianist for DeKalb’s First United Methodist Church.