KINGSTON – The Wyoming Seminary Civic Orchestra will join with four professional opera singers, the Choral Society of Northeast Pennsylvania and the Marywood University Campus Choir to present two performances of the magnificent Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi on Saturday, April 30 and Sunday, May 1.
The Saturday performance will be given at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 30 at the Sette LaVerghetta Center for Performing Arts at Marywood University, and at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 1 at the Wyoming Seminary Kirby Center for Creative Arts, 260 N. Sprague Avenue, Kingston. Both concerts are free and open to the public.
The performance also will feature professional soloists Sarah Gardner, soprano; Raehann Bryce-Davis, mezzo-soprano; Andrew Lundsford, tenor; and David Leigh, bass. Dr. Alan Baker is director of the Choral Society, while Dr. Rick Hoffenberg is director of the Marywood University Campus Choir and the Civic Orchestra.
This extraordinary work, sometimes called Verdi’s greatest opera, has not been performed in this area for almost 30 years. It is one of the most dramatic and gripping pieces in the entire choral repertoire. The Requiem was first performed in 1874 at the Church of St. Mark in Milan, Italy to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of the celebrated Italian poet Alessandro Manzoni. Verdi conducted the first performance himself, and “posterity has recognized it as one of the most magnificent choral works ever composed, a transcendent tribute to the greatness of both Manzoni and Verdi,” according to Hoffenberg.
This performance is part of the 2015-16 Wyoming Seminary Performing Arts Series. For more information please call 570-270-2192.