Capitol Theatre stage nears capacity for WSO weekend concert

Nearly 200 musical performers took to the Capitol Theatre stage this weekend, nearing the full capacity of people allowed on stage at one time.

Under the baton of Windsor Symphony Orchestra maestro Robert Franz, the stage brimmed with more than 130 singers and 50 instrumentalists this weekend for a weekend showing of Brahms’ German Requiem.

Soprano Amelia Daigle, baritone Micah Schroeder, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra Chorus, the University of Windsor Singers and the Windsor Classic Chorale performed alongside the orchestra Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.Windsor Symphony Orchestra in Windsor, Ont., on Sunday, March 10, 2024. (Sanjay Maru/CTV News Windsor)

"We are at just about maximum capacity per the fire code for the amount of people that we can get onto the stage at the Capitol Theatre. This is one of the big ones," said Franz.

According to Franz, the last time there were this many performers on stage was 2017 when the WSO celebrated Canada's 150th anniversary.

"Our hall is the perfect jewel-box-sized hall. When that many people get on stage and sing, you actually feel the vibrations and you feel enveloped in the music. It's really quite extraordinary," he said.

Johannes Brahm's German Requiem is considered one of the greatest works of the 19th century.

"It's not meant as a requiem for the dead, like a typical requiem. It's really a requiem for the living. The idea is to honour those who have gone on before and to really deal with the grief of those who are left behind," said Franz. "Brahms had just lost his mother before he composed this piece so that was really the main inspiration for him writing this work."

The Windsor Symphony Orchestra concert series will return to the Capitol Theatre on Mar. 23 and 24 when Broadway star Ben Davis joins students from the St. Clair College Music Theatre Program to perform works from The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady and more.