This year, the Festival of Voices celebrates its 20th anniversary with what it calls its “biggest program yet”: as its centrepiece, Verdi’s Requiem will see its first Tasmanian performance in 40 years under the baton of UK  conductor David Lawrence. Other festival highlights include ensembles The Australian Voices, Germany’s Sjaella, The Hong Kong Children’s Choir and New Zealand’s Luminata Voices, and the free, family-friendly festival mainstay, The Big Sing.

Limelight Editor’s Choice

David Lawrence conducts this magnificent masterwork
Verdi’s Requiem is one of the most dramatic and operatic compositions of its kind, renowned as one of the most enthralling settings of the Catholic funeral mass. Although a mass for the dead, its emotional impact and dramatic intensity rival any night at the opera.

Often described as bleak and foreboding, the impact and sheer drama created by Verdi’s Requiem stands out as one of the best-loved choral works in concert repertoire. Audiences across the globe are familiar with the Dies Irae, which often adds strength and atmosphere in contemporary film and other media.

Premiered in 1874, Verdi’s Requiem was last performed in Hobart in 1978.

Join us to experience this compelling work conducted by UK’s David Lawrence, featuring outstanding soloists Sharon Prero, Katharine Tier, Michael Petruccelli and Christopher Richardson, together with a mighty chorus of 200 voices including members of the TSO Chorus, and Festival of Voices’ 20th Anniversary Orchestra comprising members from the Hobart Chamber Orchestra and Hobart Wind Symphony.