The Cleveland Orchestra

The latest stories from www.wqxr.org · Sep 11, 2026

An encore broadcast of this concert will play on September 11, 2026 at 9pm EDT. This concert was originally recorded on January 20, 2025. Program notes courtesy of Carnegie Hall. Verdi’s Requiem is a 90-minute journey of operatic intensity, heart-stopping musical grandeur, and existential human drama. It’s not often that Verdi was criticized as “too operatic”—but when his Requiem first emerged, critics found its relentless, emotionally heightened energy to be of questionable taste for an ostensibly sacred work. These same traits make for a thrilling concert experience, highlighting a…