On June 15 at 7 pm, Giuseppe Verdi’s sacred masterpiece Messa da Requiem will be performed in small Estonian town Tõrva by almost 200 musicians. This great event will take place in cooperation with London Royal Opera Jette Parker Young Artists Programme which brings to South-Estonia such soloists like soprano Anush Hovhannisyan (Armenia), tenor Ji-Min Park (South-Korea) and bass Krzysztof Szumanski (Poland). The mezzo part will be sung by Estonian Monika-Evelin Liiv, who participated in Jette Parker Young Artists Programme in 2007 to 2009.Among the great joint choir formed by Estonian National Male Choir and female voices of chamber choirs Voces Musicales, Collegium Musicale and Mixed Choir of Estonia Society will be Estonian National Symphony Orchestra under the guidance of Risto Joost.
The open-air concert is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Estonian beloved conductor Eri Klas who passed away on 2016. Verdi’s Requiem was one of his favorite piece which he conducted several times during his lifetime.
Also, Messa da Requiem itself celebrates its 150th anniversary – the first performance took place at the San Marco church in Milan on 22 May 1874. Verdi himself conducted, and the four soloists were Teresa Stolz (soprano), Maria Waldmann (mezzo-soprano), Giuseppe Capponi (tenor) and Ormondo Maini (bass). It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist whom Verdi admired. Estonian premiere in Tallinn was held in 1895 under the guidance of Konstantin Türnpu.