What about the music?
An inside look with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Verdi’s Requiem
February 19. 2027 | 7:30PM | NSU’s Wilder Center, Norfolk – Get Tickets
February 20, 2027 | 7:30PM | CNU’s Ferguson Center for the Arts, Newport News – Get Tickets
February 21, 2027 | 2:30PM | Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, Virginia Beach – Get Tickets
Eric Jacobsen, conductor
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus
Giuseppe Verdi: Messa da Requiem
By Stella Feliberti
The Performers
conductor
Eric Jacobsen
Already well-established as one of classical music’s most exciting and innovative young conductors, Eric Jacobsen combines fresh interpretations of the traditional canon with cutting-edge collaborations across musical genres. Hailed by the New York Times as “an interpretive dynamo,” Eric, as both a conductor and a cellist, has built a reputation for engaging audiences with innovative and collaborative programming.
Eric joined the Virginia Symphony Orchestra as Music Director in 2021, being named the twelfth music director in the orchestra’s 100+ year history. Current and recent projects include recording projects of Dvorak and Coleridge-Taylor with Gil Shaham and Rhapsody in Blue (on banjo!) with Bela Fleck.
Eric is entering his tenth season as Music Director of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, as he continues to pioneer the orchestra’s programming and community engagement in new and exciting directions. The 24-25 season looks forward to concerts including An Evening with Jamie Bernstein and the World Premiere of Gabe Kahane’s clarinet concerto for Anthony McGill.
Eric is also artistic director and co-founder of The Knights, the uniquely adventurous NYC-based chamber orchestra. The ensemble, founded with his brother, violinist Colin Jacobsen, grew out of late-night music reading parties with friends, good food and drink, and conversation. Current endeavors include a multi-year Rhapsody project as well as a residency at Carnegie Hall. Under Jacobsen’s baton, The Knights have developed an extensive recording collection, including albums with longtime collaborators Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, Aaron Diehl, Gabe Kahane, and Anna Clyne.
Eric’s musical life started from a very young age surrounded by a musical family, where he discovered his love of pulling a bow across a string as a cellist. He and his brother founded the string quartet Brooklyn Rider and also performed regularly with Yo-Yo Ma as a member of Silk Road, touring around the world. This collaborative spirit and sense of music is something that Eric strives to bring to every concert and project.
A frequent guest conductor, Eric has established continuing relationships with the Colorado Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Oregon Bach Festival, and the Dresden Musikfestspiele. Upcoming engagements also include concerts with Classical Tahoe and Grant Park Music Festival, and special performances with Yo-Yo Ma and the Atlanta Symphony and Utah Symphony.
Eric brings joy, storytelling, and a touch of humor to what he describes as “musical conversations” that delight audiences around the world, including those who do not traditionally attend classical music concerts. Jacobsen is married to Grammy-Winner singer-songwriter Aoife O’Donovan and together they have a daughter.
Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus
The 2026-2027 season marks the 37th anniversary of the Virginia Symphony Chorus, and its thirtieth under the direction of Chorusmaster Robert Shoup. In addition to regular appearances with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the chorus has performed outside Hampton Roads to remarkable acclaim. Under the baton of Mr. Shoup, the Chorus has traveled to sold-out houses as far afield as Prague, Vienna, Berlin, Leipzig, Munich, Salzburg and closer to home at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The Chorus has appeared twice at the Breckenridge Music Festival in Colorado, was an integral part of the 400th anniversary of Jamestown Celebration, and in 2010 was the featured chorus of the critically-acclaimed Virginia Arts Festival performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass. In 2012, the Chorus was a key participant with the Virginia Arts Festival presentation of Mahler’s 8th Symphony. In May of 2013, a commendable performance of Stravinsky’s Les Noces was presented and recorded in Norfolk. More recent performances include Attention!, a delightful retrospective with mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile and presentations of John Adams’ Harmonium and Gabriel Kahane’s La Croix.
The Creators
Guiseppe Verdi
Fast Facts:
- Giuseppe Verdi was born in 1813 near Busseto, Italy, beginning his musical studies on organ and spinet. He became his church’s official paid organist at age 8.
- At age 20, Verdi went to Milan to continue his studies. Here, he was exposed to opera performances and concerts, inspiring his focus on operatic compositions.
- Verdi married the daughter of his music teacher, Margherita, in 1836. Though she gave birth to two children, both died in infancy while Verdi worked on his first opera. Shortly after, Margherita also died at age 26. These deaths devastated Verdi, leading to his vow to never compose again. However, he eventually returned to composition, premiering his highly successful opera, Nabucco.
- After the success of Nabucco, Verdi went to write 25 more operas including Macbeth, Rigoletto, Il travatore, and La traviata. His later operas branched out into French Grand Opera, including works like Don Carlos and Aida. His last masterpieces were both Shakespearean masterpieces of Otello and Falstaff.
- Though contemporaries, Verdi and German opera composer Richard Wagner resented each other. Verdi once described Wagner as this: “He invariably chooses, unnecessarily, the untrodden path, attempting to fly where a rational person would walk with better results.”
The Pieces
Verdi
Messa da Requiem
Listen to Verdi’s Requiem by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony:
- Verdi’s Messa da Requiem was written between 1868-1874. It is a musical setting of the Catholic funeral mass or Requiem for four vocal soloists, double choir, and orchestra.
- Verdi was first asked to write the work in 1868 after the passing of the great Italian composer Gioachino Rossini. The work originally was supposed to have the most prominent Italian composers of the time contribute a movement but the plan fell through. It wasn’t until 1873 that Verdi revived the work when novelist-poet Alessandro Manzoni passed away. By 1874, the work was complete to commemorate the anniversary of Manzoni’s death.
- The Requiem, though based on religious content, is considered too operatic and is usually performed only in concert settings. Musicologist David Rosen calls the work, “The most frequently performed major choral work composed after Mozart’s Requiem.”
- Throughout the Requiem, there are various prayers and themes emphasizing themes of death and resurrection. The work opens with an Introit, or opening, starting with muted strings while the choir murmurs the prayer for eternal rest. Following is the Kyrie, or prayer calling for mercy, with a soloist singing an exalted theme over a chromatically descending bass. Next is the Dies Irae, evoking images of the Last Judgment with thundering chords, wailing chants, and rapid rhythmic figures. The Offertory follows with the quartet of soloists. The Sanctus after this is a complex eight-part fugue for the double chorus to announce Him who comes in the name of the Lord. After is the Agnus Dei, or lamb of God, for soprano and mezzo-soprano in calm counterpoint with three flutes. Next is the Lux Aeterna or eternal light, depicting images of shimmering light with tremolo strings and hopeful responses from the winds. Finally, the work closes with Libera me, where the soprano soloist interacts with the ensemble calling for mercy and resurrection as prayer for both the living and the dead.
Glossary
Requiem
A musical setting of the Catholic Mass for the Dead. It is performed as part of a funeral or memorial service or concert piece.