Choral singer duets on Mozart Requiem with talking koala toy, and a masterpiece is born

19 March 2021, 14:15 | Updated: 19 March 2021, 14:18

Choral singer duets with talking koala toy
Choral singer duets with talking koala toy. Picture: Jelonislaw/YouTube

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

‘Confutatis’, but there’s a talking koala toy on the tenor line.

That threatening opening in the male voices. The infernal terror in the Latin text. The great crashes of the bass drum. And then, out of nowhere, a divine soprano line, soaring over the top of everything.

‘Confutatis’, the penultimate movement of Mozart’s Requiem, is a work of striking contrasts.

And to this guy, it seemed like the perfect musical choice for his antipodean duet partner, which he met during a choir tour to Australia.

While in Sydney, the man, who sings in Denmark’s Herning Boys choir, decided to have a potter around a souvenir shop.

There, he happened upon a fluffy koala toy that repeats everything you say to it. And it turns out, it enjoyed a bit of Mozart.

Read more: Classical pianist adds extended harmony to ‘deranged yelling cat’ >

Mozart Confutatis koala version

As the singer calls out the first ‘Confutatis’, the koala immediately repeats him while shaking uncontrollably.

But then, all things end in joyous tears as the singer sings a little of the soprano line (‘Voca, voca me…’) to his fluffy duet partner.

*cue indecipherable Latin screams*

The pinnacle of call-and-response has truly been reached.