On Thursday, September 18, at 5:00 PM, the Metropolitan Opera will put on Verdi’s Requiem in honor of the first anniversary of Luciano Pavarotti’s death on September 6, 2007. James Levine will conduct the Met’s orchestra and chorus, with Barbara Frittoli, soprano, Olga Borodina, mezzo-soprano, Marcello Giordani, tenor, and James Morris, bass, as the soloists. Tickets for the event will be free and given out in a raffle. To enter the raffle, visit the Met’s box office or, starting tomorrow, its website . The concert will also be broadcast on the Met’s Sirius satellite radio channel and on its website .
For my money, Verdi’s Dies Irae and Tuba Mirum capture the terror and majesty of the Apocalypse better than any other composer. Here’s Herbert von Karajan conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker in a performance of those movements. I imagine that Met’s performance will rise to similar heights, if not surpass them.
While I have you, can I ask you something? I’ll be quick.
Twenty-five thousand people subscribe to First Things. Why can’t that be fifty thousand? Three million people read First Things online like you are right now. Why can’t that be four million?
Let’s stop saying “can’t.” Because it can. And your year-end gift of just $50, $100, or even $250 or more will make it possible.
How much would you give to introduce just one new person to First Things? What about ten people, or even a hundred? That’s the power of your charitable support.
Make your year-end gift now using this secure link or the button below.
