If a requiem looms large among a composer's works, especially one written near the end of his or her life or in a morbid frame of mind, it inevitably becomes an unofficial, autobiographical epitaph.

In an environment of little food, no medical care, disease, infestation, and fear for their lives, professional conductor Rafael Schachter and other Jews formed a chorus, memorized Giuseppe Verdi’s ...

Rehearsing the Los Angeles Opera chorus, conductor Plácido Domingo was trying to get the hushed effect he wanted for part of the dreaded “Dies irae” (Day of Judgment) in Verdi’s Requiem, a work he ...

In the midst of a torrential April shower, I arrive at his Cambridge home and find him in his study, at the helm of his beloved surround-sound system, playing the Requiem’s “Dies Irae” movement at ...

Verdi’s Requiem, the composer’s epic, dramatic, mood-swinging treatment of an ancient Catholic funeral mass, is a significant milestone for any conductor. “It’s one of those pieces that you study and ...