The idea of composing a Requiem had first come to Verdi at the time of Rossini’s death, but he did not actually write what has become the most multifaceted, staggering and dramatically most powerful funeral mass in the history of music until after the death of Alessandro Manzoni. Italian conductors represent a special line in the one and a half century history of the work that breaks up the liturgic framework and is therefore more suited to being performed in a concert hall. Those Italian conductors include Carlo Montanaro who had set out in music as a violinist in the Orchestra of Maggio Musicale, the Venice festival directed by Zubin Mehta, who had discovered him as a conductor. He had also played under Muti, Giulini, Pr?tre, Ozawa and Maazel before taking up the baton ten years ago and soon becoming a much sought after guest conductor of Italian bel canto operas.