PhotoWhen Verdi’s Requiem has been presented at the Metropolitan Opera, it has often been in commemoration. The company’s first performance of the work, in February 1901, honored the death of Verdi himself, a month earlier. President Kennedy (in 1964); Francis Robinson, a longtime Met official (1981); and Luciano Pavarotti (2008) were all mourned with the Requiem. PhotoNow dedicated to Mr. Hvorostovsky’s memory, Verdi’s Requiem was enlisted, once again, to do its sad duty. Advertisement Continue reading the main storyIf those first minutes were more memorable and riveting than the full performance that followed, it might have been because of Mr. Levine.

Source: New York Times November 26, 2017 18:22 UTC