The Symphony Orchestra from the Michigan State University College of Music will share the stage with the MSU Choral Union, State Singers and University Chorale to perform Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. Composed in the 1870s, the work is a musical setting of the Catholic funeral mass featuring four soloists with full choir and orchestra ensembles, and it will be performed on the Cobb Great Hall Stage of the Wharton Center for Performing Arts on Thursday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. Click here for tickets to this event.

Verdi’s “opera in liturgical garb” reflects on the sadness and joy, simplicity and majesty, contemplation, and apocalypse with sublime melodies, dramatic contrasts, and soaring vocal parts. MSU Director of Orchestras Octavio Más-Arocas will lead the orchestral and choral arrangement of the legendary piece that is among the most frequently performed major choral works since Mozart’s Requiem. 

“Verdi's Requiem is a soulful and profoundly meaningful expression of life and death. In this powerful music, the prolific opera composer intertwines drama, beauty, terror, and redemption, shaking the most basic human emotions while also giving us hope,” Más-Arocas said. “The tender and inward-looking sections of this music make our spirit feel vulnerable with sadness and beauty, while the intensely raging moments burst into our hearts, intently pounding our soul. In a time when cruelty, tyrannical war, inequity and diseases are pulling apart the fabric of society, this music is as prominent as ever, a cry for humanity.” 

Más-Arocas commented that the profound performance reflects the depth of talent and hard work of students, faculty and community members involved with choral and orchestral programs in the MSU College of Music. Additional depth includes an incredible lineup of guest soloists: Andrew Potter, bass, and MSU College of Music alumni Katherine DeYoung, mezzo-soprano; Stephen Martin, tenor; and Anna Montgomery, soprano. 

The event will also be digitally broadcast on the MSU College of Music’s Livestream channel.

Verdi's Messa da Requiem is generously sponsored by Linn Van Dyne and Mike Knox, and Provost Teresa K. Woodruff, Ph.D. and Thomas V. O’Halloran, Ph.D. 

Reserved seating tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors (age 60 and older), and free for students with an ID or under 18. Information on this and other concerts, recitals and performances can be found on the MSU College of Music web site: www.music.msu.edu. Please note: As of March 6, the university will no longer require patrons to wear masks and show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test to attend events hosted by the College of Music. 
 

---

Press Materials

View or download the press release (PDF)
Contact Michael Sundermann, 517-353-2043, sunderm7@msu.edu 

Photography and graphic downloads

Event graphic courtesy MSU College of Music

Conductor, Octavio Mas-Arocas leads members of the MSU Symphony Orchestra. Photo by Jordan Noble.