Наш дирижёр всегда просит хор дышать глубже перед трудным местом.

Because хор here is an inanimate masculine noun, and it is the direct object of просит.

With masculine inanimate nouns in the singular, the accusative is the same as the nominative:

• nominative: хор
• accusative: хор

So in просит хор дышать, the meaning is asks the choir to breathe, and хор stays хор.

If it were a masculine animate noun, the accusative would usually look like the genitive instead.

This is a very common Russian pattern:

• просить + someone + infinitive

It means to ask someone to do something.

So:

• просит хор дышать = asks the choir to breathe
• просит меня подождать = asks me to wait
• просит детей сесть = asks the children to sit down

English often uses to + verb after ask someone, and Russian uses the infinitive in a similar way.

Глубже is the comparative form of глубоко and means more deeply.

So:

• дышать глубоко = to breathe deeply
• дышать глубже = to breathe more deeply

In this sentence, the conductor is not just saying breathe deeply, but rather breathe deeper / more deeply.

Russian comparatives are often used very naturally in places where English might say either deeper or more deeply.

Here it functions as an adverb, because it describes how the choir should breathe.

It is connected to the verb дышать:

• дышать как? — глубже

Compare:

• adjective: глубокий вдох = a deep breath
• adverb: дышать глубже = to breathe more deeply

Russian comparative forms like глубже, быстрее, тише can often work adverbially.

Because the preposition перед in the meaning before / in front of normally takes the instrumental case.

So:

• перед концертом = before the concert
• перед уроком = before the lesson
• перед трудным местом = before the difficult passage

That is why:

• трудное место becomes трудным местом

Both the adjective and noun change to the instrumental form.

Literally, yes, место means place. But in musical contexts, it can also mean a passage, spot, or section in the music.

So перед трудным местом is not about a physical location. It means:

• before a difficult passage
• before a tricky spot in the music

This is a very natural use of место in Russian.

In Russian, трудный often means difficult, especially for tasks, passages, problems, exercises, or moments that require effort or skill.

So a трудное место in music is a difficult passage.

Тяжёлый more often means:

• heavy physically
• hard in the sense of burdensome, severe, or emotionally difficult

For a difficult section in music, трудное место is the normal choice.

Всегда means always and modifies the verb phrase:

• всегда просит = always asks

Its position can change somewhat because Russian word order is flexible:

• Наш дирижёр всегда просит хор дышать глубже...
• Наш дирижёр просит хор всегда дышать глубже...

But these are not exactly identical in emphasis.

The original version most naturally means:

• Our conductor always asks the choir to breathe more deeply...

If you move всегда, it may start to sound like the choir should always breathe more deeply, which shifts the focus slightly.

Наш means our and agrees with дирижёр:

• masculine singular nominative: наш дирижёр

Russian does sometimes omit possessives when the meaning is obvious from context, but it also uses them normally when the speaker wants to identify whose person or thing is meant.

So наш дирижёр is perfectly natural and simply means our conductor.

The correct spelling is дирижёр, with ё, and the stress falls there:

• дирижёр

In many printed texts, Russian ё is often replaced by е, so you may see дирижер. But the pronunciation is still дирижёр.

For learners, it is helpful to remember the real vowel here, because it tells you both:

• the pronunciation
• the stress

Yes, that is possible, but it is a different structure.

Two common patterns are:

• просить кого-то сделать что-то
• просить, чтобы кто-то что-то сделал

So you can say:

• Наш дирижёр всегда просит хор дышать глубже...
• Наш дирижёр всегда просит, чтобы хор дышал глубже...

The first version is usually more direct and compact. The second uses a clause with чтобы and can sound a little more explicit or formal depending on context.

No, Russian word order is fairly flexible, but different orders change the focus or emphasis.

The original sentence is neutral and natural:

• Наш дирижёр всегда просит хор дышать глубже перед трудным местом.

You could rearrange parts of it, but the sentence might then emphasize something different. For example:

• Перед трудным местом наш дирижёр всегда просит хор дышать глубже.

This version puts extra attention on before the difficult passage.

So the original order is a good neutral model for learners.