Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Messa da Requiem

The Met Opera's concert performance of Verdi's Requiem was an emotional tribute to Dmitri Hvorostovsky. 

A vividly dramatic take on Verdi's Requiem by Opera Australia allows chorus and orchestra to shine under Renato Palumbo, and reminds us why the work has been called “opera in church clothing”.

Christian Spuck’s new ballet Messa da Requiem in Zurich, is a breathtakingly powerful achievement. But its profound impact is spurred by more than dance alone.

Verdi’s masterpiece dazzled a packed Festival Hall on Thursday night. 

Music-making in the concentration camp at Theresienstadt/Terezín continues to fascinate, baffle and inspire us.

Gianandrea Noseda leads a fiery account of Verdi's “opera in ecclesiastical garb” to open the LSO's new season.

In the penultimate concert of the 2016 Proms, Marin Alsop drew together some impressive forces for Verdi's Requiem, led by the remarkable soprano Tamara Wilson.

In celebration of the Atlanta Symphony's long-term music director Robert Shaw, the orchestra, its celebrated chorus and four effective soloists, presented an aggressive and often loud Verdi Requiem, conducted by Robert Spano.  

Sir Mark Elder conducts the Hallé in a fine account of Verdi's Requiem at the Bridgewater Hall

A seamless combination of State Opera of South Australia and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra have created a Verdi Requiem the equal of which it would be hard to find.

We find Donald Runnicles and his BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra on fine form for a dramatic Verdi Requiem, packed with magical sound pictures and lashings of all-important terror. 

An all-Dutch Verdi Requiem with soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek makes a heartfelt case for music as an antidote to war.

A thrilling evening at Poole’s Lighthouse with the BSO and Chorus plus a quartet of superb soloists, conducted by Kirill Karabits in an unforgettable performance of Verdi’s Requiem. 

Soprano Amber Wagner debuts with a flair that reminds us that Verdi's Requiem has dramatic roots.

New York Philharmonic under its music director Alan Gilbert delivered an impressive performance of Verdi's famous Requiem, with an excellent ensemble of soloists and chorus.

Teatro Regio in Turin paid its first seasonal tribute to Giuseppe Verdi with an engaging execution of the Messa da Reqiuem.

Hans von Bülow taunted that Verdi’s Requiem was just another of his operas “in ecclesiastical garb’”. It’s difficult to disagree when dispatched with as much operatic fervour as Antonio Pappano mustered here. 

Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin invokes an unattainable glimpse of heaven in a uniquely crafted Verdi Requiem. 

Riccardo Muti conducts Verdi's Requiem in Madrid and forever changes the lives of the audience that witnessed in astonishment.

The Latin Requiem traverses a series of emotional responses to death, ranging from astonishment and dread to humility and gratitude. Verdi’s Messa da requiem contains all of these ingredients but in different proportions to many other well-known settings. Written by an agnostic, it is more earthly than spiritual in outlook, and fear and trembling predominate.

The greatest bass drum part ever written, the thundering Wrath of God, shook War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco Friday night in a thrilling performance of Verdi’s Requiem. Embracing the vivid extremes of Verdi’s great work, conductor Nicola Luisotti marshaled the wonderfully unruly forces of the largest ensemble ever assembled on the venue’s stage.

We celebrate this year the bicentennials of two of the most influential composers of the 19th century. Yet celebrations in Amsterdam have been rather one-sided so far.

Apart from the precious Quattro pezzi sacri, Verdi wrote very little sacred music until this Requiem, probably due to his agnosticism. When Alessandro Manzoni, one of the most important and admired Italian literary figures, died on the 22nd of May 1873, Verdi felt that something in the Italian cultural world had come to an end.

“The most beautiful sound an audience can make,” Dudamel told the expectant masses, “is silence.” They chuckled knowingly. Dudamel’s request was borne out of the obvious production being made of Tuesday night’s performance. The giant boom and manned onstage cameras indicated that the performance was indeed being filmed.

The Verbier Festival Orchestra is the centrepiece of the festival from which it takes its name. Hundreds of young players hoping to start a professional orchestral career audition each year for the chance to work with big-name conductors, the likes of which this year include Charles Dutoit, Valery Gergiev, Gábor Takács-Nagy, and, for this concert, Gianandrea Noseda.

No surprise to find a Verdi programme at the Proms in his bicentenary year, but what was unusual was the focus on sacred music, given his antipathy towards the church as demonstrated in his more prolific output, his operas.

On Thursday, a polar storm swept up New Zealand doing major damage to Wellington and, in the process, trapped the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra there as they prepared to fly to Auckland.

Every once in a while, I hear a concert that grips me from the first note and doesn’t let go until the very last. Daniele Gatti and the Philharmonia’s performance of Verdi’s Requiem at the Royal Festival Hall was such a concert.There are some caveats to make: I’m not catholic, I’m not very religious and I’m not particularly steeped in the tradition of liturgical music.

If you were to measure the potency of this afternoon’s concert of Verdi’s Requiem by the sheer number of grown men weeping at the end, I’d say it was an unparalleled success. In fact, after that grandiose musical testament, operatic in scope, the applause was nearly endless and every soul in the hall rose to stand.

Faith and glamour have bookended this year’s Salzburg Festival, a move met with incredulity in certain quarters and yet one not entirely alien to Austrian customs, if one looks to the 20 or so most glittering events of the Viennese ball season, which is promptly curtailed by Ash Wednesday (still observed by much of the population here with high Catholic asceticism).

The Cleveland Orchestra closed its 2011/12 season on Thursday and Saturday, May 31 and June 2, with stirring performances of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem, with the orchestra’s Director of Choruses Robert Porco conducting the orchestra, the precisely-trained Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, and an unusually well-matched quartet of soloists.

A place of worship was the stage; stained glass windows cast light on a choir that massed over a hundred and sixty members, and the Truro Symphony Orchestra, led by Martin Palmer and heralded by soprano Claire Seaton, mezzo Susanna Spicer, tenor Anthony Mee, and bass Edward Price wrought tragedy and triumph out of a magnificent performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Messa da Requiem at Truro Cathedral.

The Proms Choral Sundays series moved from last week’s dramatic opening (Havergal Brian’s Gothic Symphony) to the more familiar but no less spectacular territory of Verdi’s Requiem. Since 1956, this has been a Proms regular, with 16 previous performances, including a run of five in the eight years from 1956 to 1963.

When death takes away everyone you ever loved, acting cool and staying amiable might not be the easiest things to do. You start having thoughts you never dared think before. You start questioning the unquestionable. Chances are you will turn into an agnostic. Giuseppe Verdi did.

Dramatismo, juegos sonoros orquestales, contrastes súbitos y un amplio desarrollo vocal tanto de los solistas como del coro fueron las fórmulas del éxito obtenido por David Afkham al frente de la Orquesta y Coro Nacional de España en una emotiva noche en el Festival de Granada.

Rara vez se aprecia un cuarteto solista tan compenetrado en el que los valores individuales están siempre dirigidos a favorecer la música en su conjunto, y en el que no sobresale uno sobre los otros por la amplitud de su timbre o de su gestualidad.

Vlan ! Poum ! Vlan ! Poum ! Difficile de juger d’une œuvre telle que le Requiem de Verdi, si apte à imposer, si naturellement rythmée dans son déroulement. Car l’enjeu véritable, bien que latent, est celui de l’urgence partagée...

Premier grand rendez-vous lyrique de la saison 2016-2107, le Requiem de Verdi a tonné dans l’Auditorium de Lyon ce jeudi 24 septembre. Entre la transparence de la lumière divine et la foudre du jugement dernier, chœurs, solistes et instrumentistes ont épuisé toute la palette sonore à leur disposition.

Requiem bien peu vibrant aux Chorégies d'Orange. La Messe des morts de Verdi paralysée entre une image omniprésente et une qualité musicale insuffisante. 

Slobodeniouk construyó con unos mimbres extraordinarios un magnífico e inolvidable Réquiem, no tanto por su grandiosidad como por su capacidad de hacernos sentir todo tipo de emociones a flor de piel.

Italienischer Komponist, tschechisches Orchester und deutscher Chor. Verdis Messa da Requiem in der Münchner Philharmonie ist an diesem Abend ein europäisches Projekt. 

Una propuesta participativa y multitudinaria para una interpretación con más espectáculo que emoción.

Dans le Requiem de Verdi, Violeta Urmana provoque une émotion durable sur les auditeurs parmi un plateau de solistes déséquilibré.