Verdi’s Requiem

The Gothenburg Symphony brings out the biggest drum in a requiem for our time. This “opera in church dress” requires great expressions with choir and soloists. Giuseppe Verdi could set tumult, fury and regret like no one else. Hotly requested Andrés Orozco-Estrada conducts.

Opera composer Verdi had all the tools to create an extremely effective requiem with a max. He had already written many successful operas with such good melodies that they were played and sung by street musicians and ordinary people. This made him a wealthy man. From producing a new opera every six to nine months, he took a sixteen-year hiatus from composing, with the exception of the Requiem, his personal interpretation of the Catholic mass. 

The piece is performed more often in concert halls than in churches. No one has set the words “Deliver me”, “Wrath of God” and “Fearful King” to music more clearly. You may also recognize the music from the films Django Unchained, Mad Max: Fury Road and Armageddon.

Colombian conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada is one of today’s most sought-after conductors and has previously performed Verdi’s Requiem at the BBC Proms. Andrés Orozco-Estrada last visited the Gothenburg Symphony in 2019.