VERDI'S REQUIEM  at the PALACE HALL on April 15, 2027

"Messa da REQUIEM" by Giuseppe Verdi, one of the most  impressive sacred creations in the history of music, will be staged  during Lent, on April 15, 2027, at the Palace Hall. The monumental masterpiece will transport the audience into a unique sonic universe, where the drama of Verdi's operas blends with the depth of spiritual reflection and the fierceness of the incessant struggle between good and evil.

From the delicacy of the first chords to the overwhelming outbursts in the famous "Dies Irae," Verdi's Requiem is an emotional journey of rare intensity. Conceived for four soloists, choir, and a large orchestra, Messa da Requiem impresses with its richness of sonic colors and the expressive force that has made it famous on the world's greatest stages.

Details are provided by the tenor Ştefan von Korch, the coordinator of the Musical Extravaganza season, of which the performance is an integral part: “ In this music, fear and hope, doubt and faith, human fragility and the aspiration towards eternity meet. Each page of the score speaks of the great questions of existence, through a musical language of extraordinary richness and expressiveness.”

The REQUIEM is the work in which Verdi, already famous in his time for operas such as “Aida”, “Rigoletto”, and “La Traviata”, gives a new dimension to his creative force: the composition of almost theatrical dramatic intensity is considered by many specialists to be “an opera in religious guise”.

The choral-orchestral sequence „Dies Irae”, which evokes the Last Judgment through sonic tumult and dramatic contrasts, alongside the tenor aria „Ingemisco,” the duet „Agnus Dei” and the final sequence  „Libera me” are considered the most spectacular and explosive pages in sacred music.

The „Messa da REQUIEM” on April 15, 2027, is the second complete work presented in the Musical Extravaganza season, after Carmina Burana scheduled for February 21, 2027, also at Sala Palatului.

About Messa da REQUIEM

Composed in memory of the Italian writer Alessandro Manzoni, whom Verdi esteemed, the Requiem follows the traditional Latin text of the liturgy for the dead and is conceived as a solemn funeral service. It was first performed in 1874 in the San Marco church in Milan and became one of the most resonant creations in the vocal-symphonic repertoire. Unlike other requiems that emphasize the serenity of faith, Verdi's work often expresses human fear, hope, suffering, and anxiety in the face of death, giving the work a profoundly human dimension.

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About  ** Ştefan von Korch – Tenor, host soloist Musical Extravaganza  **

Ştefan von Korch, applauded for his tenor line in Carmina Burana as well as for his roles in "I Puritani," "The Barber of Seville," "Rigoletto," "The Elixir of Love," or "Falstaff," delights the audience monthly as a host soloist and artistic coordinator of the Musical Extravaganza season, a pioneering cultural project carried out in the capital, with extensions on the stages in Brașov, Pitești, Sibiu, Craiova, and Târgu Mureș. 

 With a dynamic presence in national cultural life and beyond, Ştefan von Korch has already been present since the beginning of the year on the stage of the National Theatre in Bucharest, at the Brașov Philharmonic, Sibiu, Târgu Mureș, Arad, and on the stage of the Iași National Opera in "The Merry Widow 2.0," directed by Andrei Șerban.

In 2025, he was the only Romanian soloist in the highly traditional concerts "Los Tres Tenores," in Central America, alongside soloists from Spain and Honduras, he debuted at the Romanian Athenaeum in "Concert at the Imperial Court," he opened the Arad Philharmonic season with "Carmina Burana," his "signature" work, in which he also started the year on the stage of the Transilvania State Philharmonic.

It is the unmistakable voice for the tenor line in Carmina Burana – a passage at the limit of the male voice's capabilities, which he navigates with overflowing ease. Thanks to his interpretation of this work, he has been invited to over 40 performances of Carmina Burana, in Philharmonic and cultural institutions in the country, as well as abroad. In 2024, he had the honor of opening the Palermo Classica Festival with this work, with an acclaimed appearance in the press from the peninsula and Romania alike.

 His name is also associated with over 15 performances at the National Opera in Bucharest, where over time he was invited in "The Barber of Seville," "The Elixir of Love," and "Falstaff," as well as the national premiere of the opera "I Puritani" by Vincenzo Bellini, one of the highest parts written for the male voice.

 He concluded the year 2024 with notable appearances at the Ion Dacian National Theater of Operetta and Musical, at the Palace Hall, and at the Philharmonic Orchestras of Târgu-Mureș and Timișoara. 

 In 2023, he was the only Romanian soloist in the China Tour 2023, alongside the Reino de Aragon Orchestra from Spain.

 He delighted the public with his voice in 3 national premieres: “I Puritani” and “La Sonnambula,” both by Vicenzo Bellini, the vocal-symphonic work “Messa di Gloria” by Rossini, as well as in the European premiere “Traiano in Dacia.”

 Over time, he performed roles specific to his voice in the very well-known operas: “Rigoletto”, “The Barber of Seville”, “The Elixir of Love”, “Don Pasquale”, on the stages of the Opera Houses in Bucharest, Cluj, and Iași, and is a constant presence on the stages of national philharmonics, Mozart's “Requiem”, Bach's “Christmas Oratorio”, and Mendelssohn's “Lobgesang”.

Internationally, he has performed at the Metropolitan Concert Hall Tokyo, Zhuhai Opera House, Nanjing Poly Grand Theatre and Chongqing Grand Theatre, Opera Kaiserslautern Germany, Auditorium of Zaragoza, Steri Palace of Palermo, Teatro Verdi Padua Italy, Concert Hall of the Zurich University of Music, National Theatre Bratislava.

About the season Musical Extravaganza

The concerts are meant to offer the public the joy of meeting representative names of the lyrical scene, in a more intimate setting, which offers a different perspective on the artistic act compared to that on the imposing opera stage, but also to bring the classical genre closer to audiences of all ages. Spectators are invited to admire their favorite soloists in a select atmosphere, complemented by a warm accompaniment, which highlights the performers in a warm and personal light.

The first two seasons of Musical Extravaganza, conducted under the artistic guidance of tenor Ştefan von Korch, included over 20 successful concerts, in which they delighted the audience, along with the host soloist: sopranos Oana Maria Şerban, Cristina Maria Oltean, Daniela Bucşan, tenors George Vîrban, Mihai Urzicana, Andrei Mihalcea, baritones Adrian Mărcan, Lucian Petrean and Fang Shuang, pianist Alexandru Burcă, accordionist Emy Drăgoi, pianist Bogdana Cocîrlea, and the Orchestra of the National Operetta and Musical Theatre Ion Dacian – in its salon formation and the Orchestra of the Pitești Philharmonic – the most avant-garde in the country.