Verdi's Requiem | Newbury and Billingshurst Choral Societies

In an exciting venture Newbury Choral Society is renewing its collaboration with Billingshurst Choral Society and the London Ulysses Orchestra, under the baton of Cathal Garvey, to present the much-loved Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi. This monumental work, first performed in 1874, requires two choirs and four soloists, and has become a staple of choral societies world-wide despite being relatively seldom performed for some half century after its premiere. The challenges and rewards of undertaking Verdi’s Requiem make this an eagerly anticipated performance for both choirs.

Verdi’s involvement in a planned collaboration to compose a requiem mass for Rossini led to his first concept of Libera Me, the revised version of which provides the powerful and memorable final movement of the Requiem. Once this project was abandoned, Verdi eventually decided to write a mass for the great Italian poet and humanist, Alessandro Manzoni, whom Verdi had met and admired. The requiem is a very Italianate and highly operatic setting of the Catholic funeral mass, first performed in Milan on the first anniversary of Manzoni’s death, with Verdi himself conducting.

In another departure, Basingstoke’s The Anvil has been chosen as the venue for the concert to accommodate the orchestra and close to 200 singers — a first for us. We hope our supporters will be happy to make the short journey to hear what promises to be a great evening of music-making in a stunning acoustic which will enhance the experience for both audience and performers.