Northwest Sacred Music Chorale Fall concert is Nov. 17, 7 p.m. and Nov. 18, 3 p.m.

It will feature the NWSMC performing the major work "Requiem" by French composer Gabriel Faure'.

This special presentation will include powerful baritone solos, featuring guest baritone Randel Wagner, a pure soprano solo featuring Madison Mataban, and a chamber orchestra.

Faure began sketches for the Requiem in 1887. Unlike many composers, he was not drawn to compose a Requiem because of the death of a loved one, though his mother passed away during early stages of composition and his father died two years before.

By the time of the first performance, on Jan. 16, 1888, there were five movements: an Introit and Kyrie, the Sanctus, Pie Jesu, Agnus Dei and In Paradisum.

To perform the work, Faure called for a mixed choir with divided tenors and basses, a soprano soloist, an orchestra of low strings (violas, cellos and double basses), harp, timpani and organ, with a violin solo in the Sanctus. He added an Offertoire in 1889, and added a setting of the Libera Me that he had written for baritone and organ some 12 years earlier.

As a choirmaster and organist, Faure constantly sought to create a new kind of church music. He wanted something different than the operatic bel canto style which was popular in Paris at the time, and different than the outsized, large-scale Germanic Romantic style which dominated the rest of Europe. Along the way, he helped to establish a distinctive French style which set the stage for the development of the Impressionist style of Debussy and Ravel.

In addition, the Fall Concert program will also feature classical hymn arrangements by Ralph Vaughn Williams, "For All the Saints" and a rousing spiritual, Moses Hogan's, "Elijah Rock," plus other numbers to lift your soul.

Tickets are $15, $12 for seniors and students. Info: www.nwsmc.org