RADFORD -- Forty-one Radford University music students, under the direction of RU conductor David Otis Castonguay, are among those performing in the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra's presentation of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem on Monday, May 5, at 8 p.m., at the Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre in Roanoke.

Led by RSO conductor David Wiley, the program features, in addition to RU, The Roanoke Symphony Chorus, Jefferson Choral Society, Liberty University Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, soprano Carter Scott, mezzo-soprano Eugenie Grunewald, tenor Drew Slatton and bassist Robert Honeysucker. John Hugo is chorus master.

Messa di Requiem, written in memory and as a tribute to poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni, was an expression of grief over the loss of Verdi's friend who was an influential spiritual and cultural leader of the Risorgimento, a mid-19th century movement in Italy that focused on reunification after being under the leadership of the Austrian government. Verdi mourned Manzoni's passing so intensely that he did not attend his funeral. He poured out his feelings in a song in a Requiem Mass, later performed in a Milanese church on the first anniversary of Manzo's death.

An open rehearsal is Sunday, May 4,  at 2 p.m. Admission to the rehearsal is $5.  A free pre-concert event with Wiley is at 6:30 p.m.

Admission costs and seating information for the May 5 performance is available at www.rso.com. To learn more, call the RU Department of Music at (540) 831-5177.