photo by: Contributed

The Lawrence Civic Choir performs in December 2024.

The Lawrence Civic Choir has been delighting ears and lifting hearts for half a century and, in celebration of that milestone, will perform a “requiem for humanity” Saturday at the Lied Center.

The Lawrence Civic Choir (LCC) will be performing “Brahms’ German Requiem” along with a new piece, “Every Heart and Harmony,” by Kansas City composer Geoff Wilcken, said LCC Artistic Director Steven Eubank. The choir will be joined by the the Shawnee Choral Society and the Lawrence Community Orchestra.

“Brahms’ Requiem, it’s often called the German Requiem because Johannes Brahms wrote it in German, but Brahms actually thought of it as the requiem for humanity. In a letter to one of his editors, he said that it should be sung in the language of the people singing it,” Eubank said.

The 70-minute piece, to be sung in English Saturday, begins with the Lutheran Bible’s translation of the Beatitudes, which are Jesus’ teachings from the Sermon on the Mount — think “Blessed are the poor.” The piece is not a typical choral requiem, which are generally written for the dead, Eubank said; instead, the piece is for those who are still living but may be in mourning.

“It’s a lush piece of music with amazingly beautiful orchestration, and the Lawrence orchestra is just fabulous,” Eubank said.

photo by: Contributed

Steven Eubank directs the The Lawrence Civic Choir in December 2024.

The concert marks the end of the Lawrence Civic Choir’s 50-year anniversary celebration. The Shawnee Choral Society is also celebrating a milestone at half that, 25 years, Eubank said.

The choir got its start in 1975, and since then many faces, young and old, have come and gone. The COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on its membership, but it now features more than 80 singers, with nearly half of them having joined in the past year.

In total the combined choirs will have approximately 170 singers.

“Lawrence is a community that loves to sing. We have a multigenerational group. Our youngest is 18, and our oldest is 90, and we have a lot of folks in the middle,” said Eubank, who has been with the choir since 2002.

The group doesn’t have a strict audition process, which may surprise some.

“Lawrence’s Civic Choir is like a great kept secret. It’s non-audition. It’s there for anyone. It’s kind of like self-auditioning, actually, because the level of music that we do is challenging,” Eubank said.

The overall theme of Saturday’s performance will be unity and peace among people, Eubank said. Complementing the Brahms, Wilcken’s piece, “Every Heart and Harmony,” will focus on the relationships within a choir and the unity that flows from working as one, Eubank said.

“It’s an amazing piece of music that talks about how they join together and the synergy of everyone working together to create harmony. And wouldn’t it be nice if we had harmony in every group that met together? If they worked for harmony instead of working for discord, I think the world would be a much better place,” Eubank said.

Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. performance can be purchased for $25 from the Lied Center.

“I invite everyone to come and sing,” Eubank said.

photo by: Contributed

The Lawrence Civic Choir performs in December 2024.