For those who came directly from church services to the final concert of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra season Sunday afternoon, it must have seemed as if Heaven itself was conspiring to extend the message of the day right into the Maine Center for the Arts. This was hardcore profundity, rich and frightening and driving.

But you need not have been a churchgoer to experience something neighboring a religious experience during the presentation of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, that giant sacred admonition all dressed up in Italian opera clothes. The work, written with an eye toward liturgy and patriotism, is a dramatic and exalting variation on the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead.

Verdi’s beloved Requiem happens to be one of Maestro Xiao-Lu Li’s favorite works, so much so that Sunday’s concert isn’t the only place he has thoughtfully programmed it. Last week, Li said – without a trace of morbidity – that it is written into his will for this work to be played at his own funeral. Respectable, even ornate, planning on his part.

As was Sunday’s concert. Not only does the Requiem fit the religious holidays of the month but it also delivers manna to those who hunger for Verdi.

Lest we rush too quickly toward the dizzying effect of hearing the human voice en masse sing of terror and catastrophe, it’s worth pointing out that the BSO itself conveyed much of the day’s poignancy, with vital theatrics offered by brass, percussion and bassoon players.

Joining forces with the musicians and Li, more than 150 singers that make up the determined University of Maine Singers (prepared by Dennis Cox) and UM Oratorio Society (prepared by Ludlow Hallman) showed refinement, unity and strength. Without being frenetic, they delivered the booming Dies irae with glory and then nestled behind the four guest soloists, whose own deft contributions led the audience through what is surely one of the most golden depictions of hellfire and brimstone ever written.

If there were moments when the soloists were overtaken by the larger components of this work, they were fleeting. And largely that’s because, in addition to assuring that the orchestra and the chorus stood up straight and sparkled, Li made admirable choices in featuring the emphatic talents of mezzo soprano Judith Engel, tenor Steven Harrison, baritone Zheng Zhou and soprano Jane Ohmes.

The blending of their parts was superb, and it seems only decent to say that each of their voices had such a friendly and inviting quality that if you had never heard operatic singers or religious music before Sunday, the concert would have left you yearning for more. It did anyway. In particular, Ohmes’ Libera Me at the very end was so full and lovely and memorable that if Judgment Day falls short of Verdi’s Requiem, it will be a grave disappointment.