Musikanten begins its 15h season of performances in Helena with the annual All Souls concerts, Thursday, November 1 and Friday, November 2. This year’s memorial concerts, with candles lighted for those church members, family and friends who have died in the past year, will feature Herbert Howell’s beloved “Requiem,” a very personal adaptation of the traditional Latin Mass for the dead. Howells wrote this music in 1936 upon the untimely death of his 9-year-old son; it was not performed or published for some 44 years.

To open the concert, Artistic Director Kerry Krebill will conduct the choir in motets by Aaron Copland, Josquin des Prez and Thomas Weelkes, and the opening movements of the Jean Richafort Requiem. The three Renaissance works were each written to commemorate the death and honor the life of an important composer/teacher, by their respective students.

After a short period of silence for meditation and prayer, cantor Gerald Schafer will chant the names of those for whom the candles are lighted, followed by the Howells Requiem. The music is performed without intermission, and the congregation is requested to depart in silence, remembering those who have gone before us.

The concerts are at 7:30 pm, Thursday at the Cathedral of St. Helena, and Friday at St. John’s Lutheran Church (across from Helena Middle School). Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $15. To have a candle lighted and name listed in the memorial program, please email the name you would like listed to musikantenmt@aol.com by October 27.