Thanks to Lella's blog for this item from an online Italian news journal whose name 5W, is based on the famous 5 essentials of a news story - who, what, when, where, why.
Mozart's Requiem to be performed
for Benedict XVI in CG tomorrow
9/6/10
PADUA - The Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, under conductor Claudio Desderi, the Coro Accademia della Voce di Torino and four soloists will perform Mozart's Requiem (K 626) for the Holy Father at Castel Gandolfo tomorrow.
The event is under the auspices of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which is offering it as a homage to Benedict XVI on the first five years of his Pontificate.
In its 45 years of existence, the Orchestra has played all over Europe, but will be playing for a Pope for the first time.
The soloists will be Chiara Giudice, soprano; Silvia Regazzo, mezzo-soprano; Francesco Marsiglia, tenor; and Maurizio Franceschetti, bass.
"The invitation to play for the Holy Father is a profound honor," says Filippo Juvarra, artistic director of the OPV, "and we are particularly happy to pay homage to him with the music of Mozart. Not only is he the Pope's favorite composer, but he has also been central to the life of our orchestra since the years when we were under the musical direction of Peter Maag. Performing yet another time with a great conductor like Claudio Desderi, who has led the OPV in other Mozart concerts before, makes the occasion even more special."
After the concert, the Pope will have a special audience for a delegation from the city of Padua and representatives of various musical associations who are part of the project.
[Written in 1791, the Requiem, or Mass in D Minor, was Mozart's last composition, but he died before completing it. Franz Xavier Sussmayr, who had worked with him, completed the work as it has been known since then. But since the 1970s, some contemporary composers, dissatisfied with the 'Sussmayr completion', have attempted their own versions of 'completing' Mozart's unfinished work.
