Indiana University

Skip to:

  1. Search
  2. Breadcrumb Navigation
  3. Content
  4. Browse by Topic
  5. Services & Resources
  6. Additional Resources
  7. Multimedia News

Media Contacts

Alain Barker
Jacobs School of Music
abarker@indiana.edu
812-856-5719

Linda Cajigas
Jacobs School of Music
lcajigas@indiana.edu
812-856-3882

Last modified: Thursday, March 28, 2013

Celebrate Verdi's 200th birthday with free 'Requiem' performances by IU Jacobs School of Music

WHAT: Giuseppe Verdi's "Requiem"
WHEN: 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 17, and 8 p.m. Friday, April 19
WHERE: The Musical Arts Center, IU Bloomington, and the Palladium, Center for the Performing Arts, Carmel, Ind.
TICKETS: Both performances are free and open to the public. To reserve up to four free tickets per person for the Palladium performance, call 317-843-3800. No tickets are required for the Bloomington performance.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28, 2013

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music will celebrate Giuseppe Verdi's 200th birthday with a free public concert of the Italian composer's "Requiem" at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, the school's first formal appearance at the center's Palladium.

David Effron

David Effron will conduct Verdi's "Requiem" as part of a celebration of the Italian composer's 200th birthday.

Print-Quality Photo

The performance, at 8 p.m. Friday, April 19, will feature the Jacobs School's Concert Orchestra, Oratorio Chorus and four student soloists. An additional free performance will be offered on the IU Bloomington campus at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 17, at the Musical Arts Center. The Bloomington performance will be live-streamed through IUMusicLive!

Written by the agnostic composer in honor of the death of a man he admired, Italian poet Alessandro Manzoni, Verdi's "Requiem" is a musical setting of a Roman Catholic funeral Mass. It employs the text of the Mass as a dramatization of the soul's questions and feelings about dying, death and the afterlife. It can be considered an opera, though it is not staged with costumes.

"The way Verdi composes unbelievably beautiful melodies and interesting harmonies and the way he uses the text and the voices of the soloists creates, both for me and for audiences, a very emotional experience," said David Effron, chair of the Jacobs School's orchestral conducting program, who will conduct the performance. "It's also a very good piece for orchestra, chorus and soloists to learn, so it's a wonderful educational experience for our students."

The 75-member Concert Orchestra will perform with the 130-member Oratorio Chorus, which is itself a combination of the top three choral groups of the Jacobs School of Music: University Singers, University Chorale and Contemporary Vocal Ensemble.

Featured soloists for the "Requiem" performance are soprano Kelly Glyptis; mezzo soprano Erica Schoelkopf; tenor Benjamin Werley; and bass Jason Eck. Most have sung roles in earlier productions staged by IU Opera Theater, which will continue its celebration of Verdi's 200-year anniversary with a production of his opera "Falstaff" on April 5, 6, 12 and 13 at the Musical Arts Center on the Bloomington campus.

William Jon Gray, chair of the Jacobs School's choral conducting program, is serving as chorus master for the Oratorio Chorus.

The performance of the "Requiem" at the Palladium is generously supported by funds from the Indiana University Office of the President.