Crude as a gut punch, tender as a kiss, Verdi's Requiem translates the medieval Latin mass for the dead into the vivid and visceral idiom of Italian opera, bringing divine scripture to the streets, and vice versa.

Opening the program is a set of three choral works by Gordon Getty, a longtime friend of the San Francisco Symphony and one of SF’s most celebrated composers.

// Sept. 19–21 at Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave. (Civic Center); tickets are available at sfsymphony.org.