Concert recommendation: Verdi's Requiem at the Auditorium – An Evening of Breath and Silence

Concert recommendation: Verdi's Requiem at the Auditorium – An Evening of Breath and Silence

On Thursday, 26 March 2026, 8:00 p.m., Verdi's Requiem fills the Auditorium de Palma. For context on the venue's season programming, see At the Auditori de Palma: Wagner, Colomer and Bruckner — an evening of edges and expanses. The Orquestra Simfònica Illes Balears under the direction of Pablo Mielgo meets four soloists – Mira Alkhovik, Silvia Tro Santafé, Antoni Lliteres and Simón Orfila – and the choir of the Universitat de les Illes Balears, conducted by Núria Cunillera. This is not background music for the evening; this is an event you should come to, experience and take home with you.

Those who spend time in Palma know the small pre-signs: the cool March wind from the bay, the back-and-forth of buses on Passeig Mallorca, the clatter of cups in the cafés around the auditorium. Such details make the evening real. Arrive a little earlier, have an espresso in the foyer, listen to the murmur of people seeking the same thing as you – an evening that is more than a concert title on a program.

Verdi's Requiem is a work with many faces. It can upheave like a storm, it can console like the first light after a long night. In Palma's acoustically clear hall these contrasts have room: the massive choral passages, the dramatic drum strokes, but also the slender, vulnerable solo passages in which a voice stands all alone. The interplay of orchestra, choir and soloists decides here between goosebumps or merely good spirits; earlier coverage of the orchestra's percussion highlights appears in Concert tip: Timpani storm and orchestral pride at the Auditori.

The fact that the UIB provides a strong choir is important for the island. Here academic work, local singers and a professional orchestra come together. This creates both quality and proximity: not just a tourist performance, but a context of performance in which island society itself resonates. For music lovers from Manacor there is also the opportunity to experience the Requiem in their town – the production does not only go to Palma; for more on the season and related programs see Concert Preview: Wagner, Colomer and Bruckner — an Evening Between Force and Nuance.

Practical: The concert starts at 8:00 p.m.; allow time for travel and parking. The auditorium is well signposted, tickets are on sale through the venue's usual outlets. If you come by car, you will often find free spaces in side streets; if you come by bus or bicycle, you can avoid unpleasant surprises at the parking meter.

What does this evening give Mallorca? More than a program item in the cultural calendar: it shows that large classical formats are not outsiders on the island. They belong to the cultural fabric, from students to regulars in the foyer. An evening like this connects: people who otherwise walk different paths sit next to each other and share a common experience – loud, quiet, intimate.

A small tip at the end: the foyer smells of stage light and sometimes of the last bottle of red wine. If you stay after the concert, you often hear the quietest conversations – comparisons, impressions, a relieved laugh. The music has then faded, but the effect remains. That's what a good concert evening does: it changes the walk home.

Short info: Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi. Orquestra Simfònica Illes Balears. Conductor: Pablo Mielgo. Soloists: Mira Alkhovik, Silvia Tro Santafé, Antoni Lliteres, Simón Orfila. Choir: Cor de la UIB, conductor Núria Cunillera. Date: 26 March 2026, 8:00 p.m. Venue: Auditorium de Palma. Tickets are available via the auditorium's box office and for performances in Manacor via the local theatre box offices.

If you want to engage in something that holds the breath and lets it go again, then this evening is a recommendation from us – without pathos, but with a clear invitation: go, listen, reflect.