Honeck Conducts Mozart Requiem

Mozart’s Requiem was his great send-off to the world — a work of plaintive, yet darkly radiant beauty, left unfinished on his deathbed in 1791. In Mozart’s hands, the ancient mass for the dead becomes an expression of hope and transcendence.

In this dramatic and immersive performance, Manfred Honeck leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in the completed portions of Mozart’s Requiem, envisioned as it may have been heard at the composer’s own funeral. Interwoven with Gregorian chant and additional choral selections by Mozart, this Requiem captures “the awe, the majesty and the fright this mass is supposed to inspire” (Bachtrack). Works by Beethoven and Haydn open the program.