On Saturday, October 5, the Accademia Filarmonica di Verona closed its series of concerts La Città al Concerto, with the Requiem KV626 by W.A. Mozart conducted by the rising Italian Maestro Leonardo Benini.

Mozart’s masterpiece featured the Orchestra da Camera di Parma, Coro Lirico Città di Piazzola sul Brenta and the soloists Barbara Massaro (soprano), Luigi Morassi (tenor), William Hernandez (bass) and our Elisa Bonazzi (mezzosoprano).

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We share with you the wonderful review published on October 7th on L'Arena, by the musicologist Elena Biggi Parodi:

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“Leonardo Benini is to be praised today for his ability to hold together a cog in which the voices of the soloists and the chorus of male and female voices interlock perfectly. [...] Benini immediately impressed on the 'Adagio' of the Introitus, a tempo that was fast without overburdening it, he had the ability to sustain the fast tempo of the Dies irae, and he also enriched the pieces that follow the Lacrimosa with his phrasing and dynamics [...]. Above all, his ability to combine the beautiful tragic breath with contrapuntal clarity, not only in the entrances, but also in the conduction of the instruments and voices: the Benedictus was magnificent, with a magnificent change of tempo for the Hosanna, and the crescendo on the word 'sempiterna' that closed the Agnus Dei was heavenly.“