Orchestra, Chorus to Perform Verdi Requiem Nov. 1

Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem, composed to honor Italian novelist Alessandra Manzoni - whom Verdi called "a saint" - will be presented by the Illinois State University Symphony Orchestra, Concert Choir and Civic Chorale at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, in the Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall.  Karyl Carlson, director of Choral Activities, will be the conductor.

Tickets are $6 for the general public, $5 for faculty and staff and $4 for students and senior citizens.  Tickets are available at the CPA box office, which is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays or by phone at (309) 438-2535.  The concert is part of the School of Music's Gold Series.

Soloists in the Requiem will be soprano Michelle Vought, mezzo-soprano Debra Austin and baritone John Koch, all of the ISU School of Music, and guest tenor Tod Kowallis of Chicago.

Verdi decided to compose a Requiem after learning of the death in 1873 of Manzoni, a writer and humanist the composer had admired for many years and whom he had met five years earlier.  Verdi considered Manzoni's death, and the death of composer Gioachino Rossini in 1868 as the end of Italian glory.  The Requiem includes a revised version of Verdi's "Libera me," or deliver me, which he originally had contributed to an ill-fated Requiem written by 13 composers after Rossini's death.  That Requiem performancein 1869 was canceled and the piece did not have its premiere until nearly 120 years later.

In 1874, on the first anniversary of Manzoni's death, Verdi's "Messa da Requiem" premiered in Milan's Church of San Marco, conducted by Verdi with a 140-voice chorus, a 100-piece orchestra and four soloists.   Three performances followed, at La Scala in Milan, and additional performances on a European tour in Paris, London, and Vienna.