DETROIT, MI (February 21, 2006) – The Wayne State University Symphonic Chorus will perform Giuseppe Verdi’s “Messa da Requiem” in two performances with the Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 10 and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 12. The March 10 performance is being held at Detroit’s Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament and the March 12 performance is being held at Orchestra Hall, both under the direction of Charles Burke. Tickets for the March 10 concert are $10.00 and can be purchased by calling (800) 595-4849.
Tickets for the March 12 Orchestra Hall concert can be purchased by calling (313) 576-5111.

Both performances of “Messa da Requiem” will also feature the 140-voice Archdiocesan Festival Chorus. On March 10, as part of the Cathedral Cultural Series, the combined choruses and the 110 member DSO Civic Orchestra will join in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Parish of the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The March 12 Orchestra Hall performance is presented as part of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s 2005-06 Season.

The Requiem, written for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, bass and chorus and orchestra, was premiered in 1874 in memory of Verdi’s favorite author, Alessandro Manzoni. Featured soloists for the upcoming 2006 performances are Martha Sheil, soprano, Molly Fillmore, mezzo-soprano, Richard Fracker, tenor and Daniel Washington, bass.

Directed by Norah Duncan IV, the Wayne State University Symphonic Chorus, composed of the Concert Chorale and Choral Union, performs major choral/orchestral works throughout the year. The chorus regularly performs throughout the Detroit community with the Brazeal Dennard Chorale and the Archdiocesan Chorus of Detroit. Recent performances have included a “Festival of American Choral Music” with composer Morten Lauridsen, “Concert of African American Spirituals” under the direction of guest conductor Robert Harris at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, and Dave Brubeck’s “To Hope! A Celebration” with the Matt Michaels Jazz Quartet in Greektown’s Old St. Mary’s Church. The March 2006 performances of the Requiem mark the chorus’s second appearance with the Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra, having performed in the orchestra’s 2004 performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection.”