The Proms, advertised as “The World’s Greatest Classical Music Festival” (and who shall say nay?), opens with that most Michelangelesque of compositions, the Verdi Requiem. Seating 5,272, the Royal Albert Hall makes a suitably Apocalyptic setting, with God-given opportunities for cosmic antiphonal effects at the sounding of the Last Trumpet. Sakari Oramo leads the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, reinforced by the Crouch End Festival Chorus. The quartet of soloists is diverse. The Black soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha is the latest in a continuing line of thrilling operatic talent from South Africa. The mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston, whose sample clips include Lennon & McCartney’s “Blackbird,” hails from Liverpool. Still in his 20s, the somber yet intense British-Italian tenor Freddie De Tommaso (dad from Puglia, mom from Tunbridge Wells) has the world rooting for him. The bass is Kihwan Sim, testing his charisma these days not only in operas of Mozart, Rossini, and Verdi, but also as the toreador Escamillo, in Carmen. —Matthew Gurewitsch