POCATELLO — The Idaho State-Civic Symphony is proud to perform its final concert of the “Creative Courage” season, “Brahms Requiem.”

The live performance, conducted by Dr. Nell Flanders and featuring the Idaho State University Concert Choir and Camerata Singers, directed by Dr. Jeffrey Francom, and the ISU Treble Choir, directed by Dr. Geoffrey Friedley, will take place on April 24 at 7:30 pm in the Joseph C. and Cheryl H. Jensen Grand Concert Hall at the Stephens Performing Arts Center.

This performance features soloist Simon Barrad (baritone) and Cara Gabrielson (soprano) performing in the third and fifth movements. To end the season, this choral and symphonic masterwork explores the complicated emotions surrounding grief and remembrance.

“Brahms Requiem” allows the opportunity for audiences to celebrate life, with all its triumphs and sorrows. Johannes Brahms composed this work in the throes of grief, following the death of his friend and mentor, Robert Schumann, and his mother, Christiane Brahms. In 1854, Schumann attempted suicide in the waters of the Rhine River during a severe episode of syphilis-induced mental illness. He was sent to an asylum where he spent the remainder of his life isolated from his loved ones, including his beloved wife Clara. In 1865, Brahms’s beloved mother suffered a stroke and died shortly thereafter. Although the composer was en route to her bedside, she passed away before his arrival. While working through his grief, Brahms created something that encapsulates the complicated emotions of remembrance with triumphant horns, lonesome soloists and gentle violinists.

This is the final concert of the Idaho State-Civic Symphony’s “Creative Courage” season, which allows space to contemplate the ephemeral nature of life. To start the piece, Brahms wrote the evocative lines, “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” In a break from Requiem tradition, “Brahms Requiem” offers comfort to the mourners, instead of absolution for sinners. The story of those left behind inspired the emotional center of this piece. He ends with the full choir singing a final goodbye to his mother: “as one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you.” After having written the full masterwork and contemplating his own sorrows for years, Brahms believed the piece should reflect its universal nature with a different name: “A Human Requiem.”

Current season ticket holders may renew their subscriptions for the 2026-27 season starting April 24 at the “Brahms Requiem” concert or by contacting the Stephens Performing Arts Center Box Office. Season tickets for new subscribers will be available in June.

ISU students are invited to enjoy free snacks provided by the Bank of Commerce at 7 p.m. in the lobby by presenting their student ID at the welcome table.

Tickets are available through the Stephens Performing Arts Center Box Office, online at isu.edu/tickets, or by calling 208-282-3595. Ticket prices range from $9 to $47. ISU students and Shoshone-Bannock Tribe members receive free admission with a valid ID presented at the Box Office. For more information about concerts, tickets and supporting the Symphony, visit iscsymphony.org.