This year the opening and closing concerts of the 28th edition of the Festival Valentiniano – historically associated with its base in Orvieto – take place in Rome, in a new departure for the prestigious festival. The opening in Rome's Auditorium Conciliazione is Messa da Requiem – a tribute to Giuseppe Verdi on the 200th anniversary of his birth. Carlo Frajese directs the New Symphony Orchestra, the Rome symphony chorus and soloists Joo Cho, Alice M. Baker, Luciano Gangi and Armando Caforio. Among the highlights in Orvieto is a concert on 28 Sept by the violinist Francesca Dego, a rising star in the world of classical music, who performs music by Bach and Paganini. The festival closes with a concert by Italian organist Giandomenico Piermarini who performs music by Mendelssohn, Bach and Mozart on the 18th-century organ at the church of S. Ignazio. For more details see websites of Auditorium Conciliazione and Teatro Mancinelli, www.auditoriumconciliazione.it, www.teatromancinelli.com.