Fauré’s Requiem to be performed at FPC this Sunday at 9 a.m.

[PR First Parish Church of Stow & Acton]

This Sunday,  First Parish Church of Stow & Acton (FPC) will host a special performance of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem at its 9 a.m. service. The Requiem will not be performed at the 11 a.m. service. 

The FPC Choir will be joined by singers from Unitarian Universalists of Wellesley Hills for a multi-church music program performance of Gabriel Fauré's iconic and peaceful Requiem. They will be accompanied by FPC organist Sanghee Kim and a professional chamber orchestra. The performance will be led by Mike Pfitzer, FPC's current director of music, and Suzie Cartreine, UU Wellesley Hills's director of music. Ms. Cartreine previously served as FPC's director of music.

Fauré's Requiem is less heavy and solemn than most requiems - more of a lullaby than a dirge. While the Requiem's texts are based in Christianity, Fauré was known as a composer who was a religious skeptic, and said of the Requiem, "Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest." The service will feature short reflections on different views within Unitarianism about what happens after we die. 

There will be an 11 a.m. service, which will include a full sermon on the question of what happens after death from the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Landrum. Please be aware that the 11 a.m. service will not feature a performance of Fauré's Requiem and will be a traditional service.

FPC warmly welcomes gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Child care is provided for children 3 and under; older children are welcome to attend religious education classes. FPC’s facilities are wheelchair accessible. For more information, call 978-897-8149 or visit www.fpc-stow-acton.org. The church is located at 353 Great Rd., at the corner of routes 117 and 62, in Stow.