Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Conductor Giordano Bellincampi
Soprano Erika Grimaldi
Mezzo-soprano Olesya Petrova
Tenor Gustavo Porta
Bass Petri Lindroos
With
New Zealand Opera Chorus
Members of Voices New Zealand
The Graduate Choir NZ
Chorus Director Karen Grylls
Verdi Requiem
‘Opera in ecclesiastical dress’, sniffed one of Verdi’s contemporaries, completely missing the point. A better assessment from a Verdi biographer: the Requiem is ‘his genius at its most concentrated’.
Having composed 26 operas, once liberated from the requirements of plot and character, Verdi poured into the Requiem everything he knew about music.
Judgement Day, with trumpets calling across the void, was never more terrifying. And the sacred liturgy is clothed in unforgettable melodies.
Verdi’s Requiem calls for a quartet of exceptional soloists, a massive chorus of singers and an orchestra capable of overpowering grandeur.
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