New Recording: Verdi’s Requiem

The Cleveland Orchestra announces the release of a new recording of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem on August 21, 2026 featuring Asmik Grigorian as the soprano soloist under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst. 

Recorded live at the Severance Music Center during performances in January 2026, the album features Ms. Grigorian alongside mezzo-soprano Deniz Uzun, tenor Joshua Guerrero, bass Tareq Nazmi, The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, and the The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst. Produced by seven-time Grammy Award-winning producer Elaine Martone, the recording captures one of the repertoire’s most profound and dramatic choral masterpieces. 

Grigorian’s performance in the live concerts received widespread critical acclaim. Reviewing the performances, Kevin McLaughlin for Cleveland Classical described her soprano as “agile, colorful, and appropriately shaded by melancholy rather than brilliance,” adding that she “was superb throughout, but her Libera me was sublime”. The review praised her remarkable ability to sustain the beauty of her voice across a two-octave range while expressing “shifting states of serenity, fury, and reverence.” 

Ahead of the full album release on August 21, the first single will be available on all major streaming platforms from July 31.