The Shed Offers New Interpretations of Giuseppe Verdi's Orchestral and Choral Masterpiece

To culminate its opening season, The Shed will present deeply inspired interpretations of Giuseppe Verdi's Messa da Requiem: a symphonic and choral concert led by a prodigious young maestro and a meditative new masterwork by an avant-garde film legend.

The Shed is bringing conductor Teodor Currentzis and the 106-member orchestra and 80-member chorus musicAeterna from Perm, Russia, to New York for their highly anticipated North American debut in an exclusive engagement of four performances in The McCourt, November 19 - 24. Accompanying each concert is a new cinematic artwork by the late filmmaker Jonas Mekas, who passed away in January 2019 at the age of 96.

"Teodor Currentzis and his carefully selected musicians and chorus have a rare and precious ability to profoundly awaken the music they make and bring it to life in the presence of others," said Alex Poots, Artistic Director and CEO of The Shed. "For this unique series of performances, the emotional depth of Verdi's Requiem-themes that resonate with the crises of our time-will be counterpointed by Jonas Mekas's cinematic lament for the natural world."

As a tribute to New York City's beloved auteur who inspired innumerable filmmakers, artists, and writers, The Shed also will screen Jonas Mekas's new work independently in its Level 4 Gallery from November 1 - 10. Edited by Mekas's longtime collaborator Elle Burchill, the 83-minute film is an interplay of moving images shot by the artist and text from the Roman Catholic missal. This version of the film is set to a 2011 recording of musicAeterna performing Messa da Requiem, with Currentzis conducting.

"As early as 1968, Jonas Mekas had ideas about the potential for transforming film by staging screenings not in theaters or auditoriums, but in other locations, where viewers could decide for themselves how long they would devote to watching any given work. Mekas, who described himself as a seeker of happiness and a man with no home, gave the art form a new home," said Hans Ulrich Obrist, The Shed's Senior Program Advisor. "While he has traveled and exhibited throughout the world, he was forever inspired by New York City, where The Shed will share one of his last films in celebration of a life of vision and generosity."

Verdi's Messa da Requiem highlights the composer's gifts for symphonic and choral writing and the use of melody and rhythm to dramatic effect. Written for four soloists, double choir, and orchestra, the piece debuted at the Church of San Marco in Milan in 1874 on the first anniversary of the death of Alessandro Manzoni, to whom Verdi dedicated his funeral mass. More recently, the Requiem has been transcribed and performed in different ways, from piano solos to fully staged operas. Notably, prisoners at the Terezín concentration camp in the Czech Republic gave several concert performances of Messa da Requiem in 1943 and 1944, and commemorative events still continue as memorials.

With musicAeterna, Teodor Currentzis regularly tours Europe with performances at the Berlin Philharmonic, Philharmonie de Paris, Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, La Scala Milan, and the Madrid Auditorio. The group has a long-standing relationship with Klarafestival (Brussels), Lucerne Festival (Switzerland), Musicfest Bremen (Germany), and Salzburg Festspiele (Austria). So far in 2019, Currentzis and the musicAeterna choir, in collaboration with the Freiburg Baroque orchestra, have premiered Mozart's Idomeneo in Salzburg (their second collaboration with Peter Sellars). With the musicAeterna orchestra and choir in 2019, Currentzis has also presented Verdi's Requiem in Russia and in Europe (Paris, Vienna, Geneva, Aix-en-Provence, Athens, Cologne, and Hamburg); as part of Klarafestival (Brussels) and the Easter Festival (Lucerne); and at the Church of San Marco , where the work originally premiered. Audiences 145 years after the Requiem's premiere were stirred by the performance of one of Verdi's most prominent works in an authentic setting, interpreted by a composer who is famous for his unique vision of classical music. The event was televised on Mezzo, Medici, and Takt1.

Performances of Requiem by musicAeterna in The McCourt at The Shed are Tuesday, November 19 at 7 pm; Thursday, November 21 at 7:30 pm; Saturday, November 23 at 7:30 pm; and Sunday, November 24, at 3 pm. Additional screenings of the Requiem film by Jonas Mekas in The Shed's Level 4 Gallery are daily Friday, November 1 through Sunday, November 10 (except Monday, November 4).

Concert tickets begin at $30; film screening tickets are $10. Tickets are available at theshed.org. Tickets to screenings of Mekas's Requiem film include admission to Agnes Denes: Absolutes and Intermediates, a retrospective at The Shed that spans Denes's 50-year career as a pioneer in conceptual, environmental, and ecological art.

The lead sponsor of Requiem is M&T Bank, Founding Bank of The Shed. The creation of new work at The Shed is generously supported by the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Commissioning Fund and the Shed Commissioners. Major support for live productions at The Shed is provided by the Charina Endowment Fund. Jonas Mekas's cinematic artwork for Requiem is co-commissioned by The Shed and Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.

Photo: Michael Vahrenwald. Stylist: Ariel Dearie