Event: Verdi: Requiem
Orchestra: Boston Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Benjamin Zander
Soloists: Ailyn Pérez (soprano), Daniela Mack (mezzo-soprano), John Osborn (tenor), Maharram Huseynov (bass)
Choir: Chorus pro musica — Jamie Kirsch, choral director
Guest choral coach & artistic advisor: Donald Palumbo
Streaming: Free live transmission via the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra’s YouTube channel
Date & time: 23 February, Ben’s Guide at 1:45 PM (EST / GMT–5), Performance at 3:00 PM (EST / GMT–5)
Platform: YouTube (free)
The Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, led by its founder Benjamin Zander, offers an online performance of Verdi’s most dramatic and operatic sacred work — a piece that has long stood at the crossroads between concert ritual and theatrical intensity.
The programme begins with Ben’s Guide to the Music at 1:45 PM (EST / GMT–5), Zander’s traditional pre-concert introduction that explores the score’s structure and expressive world. The full performance follows at 3:00 PM (EST / GMT–5).
Verdi’s Requiem is an 85-minute journey through dread, hope, and human vulnerability. Although conceived as a liturgical mass, it unfolds with the dramatic immediacy of Verdi’s operas, particularly in the terrifying “Dies irae,” the contemplative “Lacrymosa,” and the whispered anguish of the “Libera me.”
The solo quartet — Ailyn Pérez, Daniela Mack, John Osborn, and Maharram Huseynov — is joined by Chorus pro musica, prepared by Jamie Kirsch, with Donald Palumbo (former chorus master of the Metropolitan Opera) serving as guest choral coach and artistic advisor.
Zander describes the work as “sacred and secular at once,” a vision of human emotion set against the words of judgment and mercy. This livestream gives global audiences the opportunity to experience the Boston Philharmonic’s interpretation in real time, without geographical limits.
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