The Mastersingers of Wilmington present their next concert on November 21.
For this performance, the ensemble moved its usual December concert back to late November, a time more in keeping with the concert’s theme - “Media Vita,” Latin for “in the midst of life.”
“The full phrase that those two words come from is “media vita in morte sumus,” which means “in the midst of life we are in death,” says Emily Ballentine Erb, artistic director of Market Street Music and conductor of the Mastersingers of Wilmington.
Anchored around the famous "Requiem" by Gabriel Faure, the performance presents music that explores life and death, light and dark, and joy and sadness.
“November is a sort of common time to perform a requiem,” Erb says. The light in the day is getting darker and we're starting to reflect on life and death, and that's what inspired the whole theme of this concert, not just for the requiem.”
The other works on the concert also explore those same dichotomies with music by Greyston Ives, Kerensa Briggs, Herbert Howells, and John Taverner.
The Mastersingers of Wilmington present "Media Vita" on Saturday, November 21, 2026 at 3:00 pm at First & Central Presbyterian Church in Wilmington.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
