VERDI REQUIEM: 40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF THE COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS
PERFORMED BY YOUR COLORADO SYMPHONY
ALEXANDER SHELLEY, conductor
COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS, DUAIN WOLFE, director
RAQUEL GONZÁLEZ , soprano
KELLEY O’CONNOR, mezzo
JOHN MATTHEW MYERS, tenor
RYAN MCKINNY, bass-baritone
Friday, October 18, 2024 at 7:30pm
Saturday, October 19, 2024 at 7:30pm
Sunday, October 20, 2024 at 1:00pm
Boettcher Concert Hall
VERDI Messa da Requiem
I. Requiem and Kyrie
II. Sequence (Dies Irae)
III. Offertorio (Domine Jesu)
IV. Sanctus
V. Agnus Dei
VI. Lux aeterna
VII. Libera me
CONCERT RUN TIME IS APPROXIMATELY 1 HOUR AND 24 MINUTES. WITH NO INTERMISSION.
FIRST TIME TO THE SYMPHONY? SEE PAGE 37 OF THIS PROGRAM FOR FAQ’S TO MAKE YOUR EXPERIENCE GREAT!
Friday’s concert is sponsored by the divine Family saturday’s concert is sponsored by pax8 sunday’s concert is sponsored by Gary moore and Jane costain
PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY
CLASSICS BIOGRAPHIES
ALEXANDER SHELLEY, conductor
‘A natural communicator, both on and off the podium’ (The Daily Telegraph), Alexander Shelley performs across six continents with the world’s finest orchestras and soloists.
With a conducting technique described as ‘immaculate’ (Yorkshire Post) and with a ‘precision, distinction and beauty of gesture not seen since Lorin Maazel’ (Le Devoir), Alexander is known for the clarity and integrity of his interpretations and for the creativity and vision of his programming. To date he has spearheaded over 40 major world premieres, highly praised cycles of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms symphonies, operas, ballets and innovative multimedia productions.
Since 2015 he has served as both Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra as Principal Associate Conductor of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In April 2023 he was in addition appointed Artistic and Music Director of Artis-Naples in Florisa, USA, providing artistic leadership for Naples Philharmonic as well as for the entire multidisciplinary arts organization. The 24/25 season is Alexander’s inaugural season in this position.
Additional highlights of the 24/25 season include performances with the Seattle Symphony, Chicago Civic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic and the National Symphony of Ireland. Shelley is a regular guest with some of the finest orchestras of Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Australasia, including Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Helsinki, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Malaysian, Oslo, Rotterdam and Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestras and the Sao Paulo, Houston, Seattle, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Montreal, Toronto, Munich, Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney and New Zealand symphony orchestras.
In September 2015, Shelley succeeded Pinchas Zukerman as Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, as the youngest in its history. The ensemble has since been praised as ‘an orchestra transformed … hungry, bold, and unleashed’ (Ottawa Citizen) and his programming credited for turning the orchestra ‘almost overnight … into one of the more audacious orchestras in North America.’ (Maclean’s Magazine). Together they have undertaken major tours of Canada, Europe and to Carnegie Hall, where they premiered Philip Glass’s 13th symphony.
They have commissioned ground-breaking projects such as ‘Life Reflected’ and ‘Encount3rs’, released multiple JUNO award-nominated albums and, most recently, responded to the pandemic and social justice issues of the era with ‘NACOLive’ and ‘UnDisrupted’ series. This season they complete a major Schumann – Brahms – Schumann recording cycle and perform multiple world premieres.
In August 2017 Alexander concluded his eight-year tenure as Chief Conductor of the Nürnberg Symphoniker, a period that was hailed by the press and audience alike as a golden era for the orchestra.
Alexander’s operatic engagements have included The Merry Widow and Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet (Royal Danish Opera); La Bohème (Opera Lyra/National Arts Centre), Louis Riel (Canadian Opera Company/ National Arts Centre), lolanta (Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen),
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Così fan Tutte (Opéra National de Montpellier), The Marriage of Figaro (Opera North), Tosca (Innsbruck) and both Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovani in simi-staged productions at the NAC.
Winner of the ECHO prize and the Deutsche Gruderpreis, Alexander was in April 2023 conferred with the Cross of the Federal Order of Merit by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in recognition of his services to music and culture.
Through his work as a Founder and Artistic Director of the Schumann Camerata and their pioneering “440hz” series in Dusseldorf, as founding Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen’s ‘Zukunftslabor’ and through his regular tours leading Germany’s National Youth Orchestra, inspiring future generations of classical musicians and listeners has always been central to Alexander’s work.
He regularly gives informed and passionate pre- and post-concert talks on his programmes, as well as numerous interviews and podcasts on the role of classical music in society. In Nuremberg alone he over the course of nine years hosted more than half a million people at the annual Klassik Open Air concerts – Europe’s largest classical music event.
Born in London in October 1979 to celebrated concert pianists, Alexander studied cello and conducting in Germany and first gained widespread attention when he was unanimously awarded first prize at the 2005 Leeds Conductors’ Competition, with the press describing him as “the most exciting and gifted young conductor to have taken this highly prestigious award.”
DUAIN WOLFE, founder and director, Colorado Symphony Chorus
Three-time Grammy winner for Best Choral Performance, Best Classical Recording, and Best Opera Performance, Duain Wolfe is Founder and Director of the Colorado Symphony Chorus. He was the 2023 recipient of the Colorado Symphony’s Margarett Phipps Award. This year ends Wolfe’s 40th season with the Colorado Symphony Chorus. The Chorus has been featured at the Aspen Music Festival for nearly three decades. Wolfe recently retired as Director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus after 28 years. He has collaborated with Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, and Sir George Solti on numerous recordings including Wagner’s Die Meistersinger, which won the 1998 GRAMMY® for Best Opera Recording. Wolfe’s extensive musical accomplishments have resulted in numerous awards, including the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Denver, the Bonfils Stanton Award in the Arts and Humanities, the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline, and the Michael Korn Award for the Development of the Professional Choral Art. Wolfe is Founder of the Colorado Children’s Chorale, from which he retired in 1999 after 25 years. For 20 years, Wolfe also worked with the Central City Opera Festival as chorus director and conductor, founding and directing the company’s young artist residence program, as well as its education and outreach programs. Wolfe’s other accomplishments include directing and preparing choruses for Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, the Bravo! Vail Festival, the Berkshire Choral Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Grand Teton Music Festival. He has worked with Pinchas Zuckerman and Alexander Shelley as Chorus Director for the Canadian National Arts Centre Orchestra for the past 20 years.
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COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS
The Colorado Symphony’s 2024/25 Season marks the 41st year of the Colorado Symphony Chorus. Founded in 1984 by Duain Wolfe, our chorus has earned a reputation as one of the finest symphonic choruses in the United States. This outstanding chorus of volunteers joins the Colorado Symphony for numerous performances each year, to repeated critical acclaim.
Under the direction of Chorus Director Duain Wolfe, Associate Chorus Directors Mary Louise Burke and Taylor Martin, and conducted by Colorado Symphony’s Peter Oundjian and guest conductors from around the world, the Chorus performs the great Masterworks, as well as pops concerts, movies, and special projects.
Additionally, the Chorus has been featured annually at the Bravo!Vail Music Festival, performing with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra or Dallas Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of notable conductors Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jaap van Zweden, Alan Gilbert, Fabio Luisi, Hans Graf, as well as 25 years with the Aspen Music Festival.
In 2009, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Chorus, Duain Wolfe conducted the chorus on a 3-country, 2-week concert tour of Europe, presenting the Verdi REQUIEM in Budapest, Vienna, Litomysl, and Prague; in 2016 the chorus returned to Europe for concerts in Paris, Strasbourg, and Munich. In the summer of 2022, the Chorus toured Austria, performing to great acclaim in Vienna, Graz and Salzburg.
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COLORADO SYMPHONY CHORUS
Duain Wolfe, Founding Director and Conductor
Mary Louise Burke, Principal Associate Director and Conductor
Taylor Martin, Associate Director and Conductor
Jared Joseph, Assistant Conductor
Hsiao-Ling Lin and ShaoChun Tsai, pianists
David Rosen, Chorus Manager
Barbara Porter, Associate Manager
Eric Israelson, Chorus Manager Emeritus
SOPRANO
Anderson, Meredith
Andrews, Lottie
Ascani, Lori
Atchison, René
Benbow, Mahli
Bettis, Brianna
Blum, Jude Brown, Susan Burns, Jeremy
Burr, Emily
Causey, Denelda
Coberly, Sarah
Coberly, Ruth Collins, Suzanne Collums, Angie
Cote, Kerry
Dakkouri, Claudia
Damore, Julia Day, April
Dobreff, Mary Eck, Emily Emerich, Kate
Ewert, Gracie
Fultz, Lisa
Gaskill, Andria
Gile, Jenifer
Gill, Lori
Graber, Susan
Grace, Maura
Headrick, Alaina
Hedrick-Collins, Elizabeth
Hittle, Erin
Hupp, Angela Jones, Kaitlyn
Kennedy, Lauren Kermgard, Lindsey
Lang, Leanne
Look, Cathy
Machusko, Rebecca
Maupin, Anne
McAleb, Shannon
Montigne, Erin
Moraskie, Wendy
O'Nan, Jean
Peterson, Jodie
Pflug, Kim
Porter, Barbara
Ropa, Lori
Roth, Sarah
Sladovnik, Roberta
Stegink, Nicole
Tate, Judy
Timme, Syd
Von Roedern, Susan
Walker, Marcia
Wall, Alison
Wuertz, Karen
Young, Cara
Zisler, Joan
ALTO
Arthur, Liz
Berganza, Brenda Boyle Thayer, Mary
Braud-Kern, Charlotte
Chatfield, Cass
Conrad, Jayne
Cox, Martha
Darone, Janie
Davies, Debbie
Deck, Barbara
Dutcher, Valerie
Friedman, Anna
Gayley, Sharon
Golden, Daniela
Groom, Gabriella
Guittar, Pat
Haxton, Sheri
Hoopes, Kaia
Hoskins, Hansi
Isaac, Olivia
Jackson, Brandy
Janasko, Ellen
Kaminske, Christine
Kim, Annette
Kolstad, Annie
LeBaron, Andrea
Levy, Juliet
London, Carole
Long, Tinsley
Maltzahn, Joanna
McWaters, Susan
Nordenholz, Kristen
Nyholm, Christine
Parsons, Jill
Pringle, Jennifer
Rae, Donneve
Rehme, Leanne
Rudolph, Kathi
Scarselli, Elizabeth
Schnell, Wendy
Stevenson, Melanie
Thaler, Deanna
Tiggelaar, Clara
Trubetskoy, Kim
Virtue, Pat Wandel, Benita
York, Beth
TENOR
Angel, Kevan
Babcock, Gary
Bowman, Ryan Carlson, Jim
Davies, Dusty
Dietrich, Nicholas
Dinkel, Jack
Fueher, Roger
Gale, John
Gordon Jr., Frank Guittar, Forrest
Hodel, David Hosea, Will Ibrahim, Sami Jordan, Curt Kolm, Ken
Lund-Brown, Sean Milligan, Tom
Moraskie, Richard Muesing, Garvis Nicholas, Tim Rangel, Miguel Richardson, Tyler Rosen, David Ruth, Ronald
Seamans, Andrew Shaw, Kyle Sims, Jerry Stohlmann, P.J. Thompson, Hannis Waller, Ryan Witherspoon, Max Zimmerman, Kenneth
BASS
Adams, John Carlton, Grant Friedlander, Bob Griffin, Tim
Grossman, Chris Hammerberg, Nic Hesse, Doug
Highbaugh, David Hume, Donald
Hunt, Leonard Israelson, Eric
Jackson, Terry Jirak, Tom Jones, John Joseph, Jared Kersten-Gray, Matthew McDaniel, Jakson Mehta, Nalin Molberg, Matthew Morrison, Greg Nuccio, Eugene Phillips, John Pilcher, Ben Potter, Tom Pullen, Jacob
Quarles, Ken Richards, Joshua Scoville, Adam Skillings, Russ Smedberg, Matthew Somo, Riley Steele, Matt
Struthers, David Swanson, Wil West, Mike
Whittington, Marc Wu, Lu Zax, Jeffrey
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RAQUEL GONZÁLEZ, soprano
Hailed as a “true artist” (Opera News), Soprano Raquel González is a winner of the prestigious Sphinx Organization’s Medal of Excellence Award. 23/24 season highlights include debuts with Houston Grand Opera for the title role in Madama Butterfly, Austin Opera for Carmen (Micaëla), and Berkshire Opera Festival for Faust (Marguerite), and a return to the roster of The Metropolitan Opera for the company premiere of Catan’s Florencia en el Amazonas. Additional performances include a return to the New York Festival of Song for a concert of Latin music.
Last season Raquel made house debuts at Inland Opera Northwest in La traviata (Violetta) and Sarasota Opera in Madama Butterfly (Cio-Cio-San) in addition to joining the roster of The Metropolitan Opera for La bohème. On the concert stage, she debuted with the St. Louis Symphony and Music Director Stéphane Denève singing “Vissi d’arte” from Tosca and the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park for the Verdi Requiem.
Last season Raquel debuted with Opera San Antonio in Don Giovanni (DonnaAnna) and Virginia Opera in La bohème (Mimì), and returned to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for Harvey Milk (Dianne Feinstein). Additional appearances included Queen City Opera in a concert of scenes from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Iolanta, New York Festival of Song for Buenos Aires, Then and Now, and a solo recital at the University of Lynchburg.
Recently engagements include a role/house debut at Chicago Opera Theater in RimskyKorsakov’s Kashchej the Immortal (Princess) conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya. Additionally, Raquel returned to Lyric Opera of Kansas City for La bohème (Mimì), joined the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago for Madama Butterfly, made her role/house debut at New Orleans Opera in Turandot (Liù), and returned to WNO for a role debut in Silent Night (AnnaSørensen). She debuted at North Carolina Opera in Carmen (Micaëla), Atlanta Opera to reprise the Zvulun production of Eugene Onegin (Tatyana), Opera Tampa in La bohème (Mimì), Opera on the James in La traviata (Violetta), and Central City Opera in Madama Butterfly (Cio-Cio-San).
Raquel made her hometown debut with Lyric Opera of Kansas City in a new production of Eugene Onegin (Tatyana) directed by Tomer Zvulun, performed with the National Symphony Orchestra in Bernstein’s Songfest, and returned to WNO for The Little Prince (Water). She sang her first Verdi Requiem with the West Virginia Symphony and Syracuse Symphoria. Ms. González debuted with Syracuse Opera in Eugene Oneginin 2016–2017and returned the following season for La traviata. She sang her first Iolanta at Queen City Opera in Cincinnati and Carmen with the Washington Chorus at the Kennedy Center.
Ms. González debuted at The Glimmerglass Festival in their production of The Magic Flute (First Lady) before returning as a guest artist for La bohème. Ms. González recently completed three seasons as a Young Artist with the Washington National Opera where she appeared in Madama Butterfly (Cio-Cio-San), Le nozze di Figaro (Contessa Almaviva), Don Giovanni (Donna Anna), Carmen (Micaëla), and La bohème (Mimì). Additional assignments as a Young Artist at WNO included Hansel and Gretel (Sandman) and Dialogues of the Carmelites (Blanche cover). She also debuted with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra in Otello (Desdemona).
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KELLEY O’CONNOR, mezzo
The Grammy® Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor is one of the most compelling vocal artists of her generation. She is known for a commanding intensity on stage, a velvet vocal tone, and the ability to create sheer magic in her interpretations. O’Connor performs and inhabits a broad selection of repertoire, from Beethoven, Mahler and Brahms to Dessner, Corigliano and Adams; she is sought after by many of today’s most accomplished composers. She performs with leading orchestras and conductors around the world, with preeminent artists in recitals and chamber music, and with highly acclaimed opera companies in the U.S. and abroad.
In the 2024–2025 season, Kelley O’Connor premieres an extended version of Thomas Adès’s America (A Prophecy), first in her debut with the Gewandhaus Orchester under Andris Nelsons, and later with The Cleveland Orchestra and The Hallé, both conducted by the composer. Other highlights of the season include Verdi’s Requiem with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and appearances with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under Stéphane Denève and the New Jersey Symphony, under Xian Zhang. O’Connor makes her debut with the Seattle Opera, as Anna in a concert version of Berlioz’s Les Troyens. Shealso gives a recital at Chamber Music Detroit with Robert Spano, which will be recorded for future release; the program features Spano’s Sonnets to Orpheus alongside works by Debussy, Crumb, and Grieg.
Recently, O’Connor has performed Mahler’s Second Symphony with the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra and his Third Symphony with the San Francisco Symphony; John Adams’s El Niño with the Houston Symphony; and a gala performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the New York Philharmonic to celebrate the opening of the newly renovated David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.
Sought after by many of the most heralded composers of the modern day, Kelley O’Connor has recently premiered works by John Corigliano, Kareem Roustom, Joby Talbot, and Bryce Dessner. John Adams wrote the title role of The Gospel According to the Other Mary for O’Connor and she has performed the work, both in concert and in the Peter Sellars fully staged production, under the batons of John Adams, Gustavo Dudamel, Grant Gershon, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Simon Rattle, and David Robertson. She continues to be the eminent living interpreter of Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs, having performed this moving set of songs with orchestras around the world. She also created the role of Federico García Lorca in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, for which she has received unanimous critical acclaim.
Operatic highlights include the title role of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia presented by Boston Lyric Opera in a new production by Broadway theater director Sarna Lapine, Carmen with Los Angeles Opera, Donizetti’s Anna Bolena at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Madama Butterfly in a new production by Lillian Groag at the Boston Lyric Opera and at the Cincinnati Opera, Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict at Opera Boston, Falstaff with the Santa Fe Opera, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Canadian Opera Company.
For her debut with the Atlanta Symphony in Ainadamar, Kelley O’Connor joined Robert Spano for performances and a Grammy® Award-winning Deutsche Grammophon recording. Her recording catalogue also includes Mahler’s Third Symphony with Jaap van Zweden and the
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Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Lieberson’s Neruda Songs and Michael Kurth’s Everything Lasts Forever with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony, Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra.
JOHN MATTHEW MYERS, tenor
John Matthew Myers has garnered acclaim for his “lovely, warm tenor of considerable promise” (Opera News), “insightful and beautifully nuanced performances” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram), and “remarkable emotional depth and range” (Opera Magazine) in recent collaborations with companies such as the New York Philharmonic, Verbier Festival, Santa Fe Opera and LA Opera. Myers made his surprise Los Angeles Philharmonic debut in 2017 as Mao in John Adams’s Nixon in China conducted by the composer. In 2023, he reprised the role with the Opera National de Paris under Gustavo Dudamel, “handling Mao’s tessitura with seeming ease and limning a convincing portrayal both imposing and humorous” (Classical Voice North America).
Highlights of Myers’ 2023-2024 season include the New York Philharmonic at David Geffen Hall under Maestro Fabio Biondi, debuts with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck and the Rhode Island Philharmonic with Patrick Dupré Quigley singing Handel’s Messiah, performing the roles of Der Tenor/Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos at Teatro La Fenice, Froh in Das Rheingold with the LA Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, and tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Santa Barbara and Oregon Symphonies. He debuts at Teatro alla Scala singing Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings conducted by Vakhtang Kakhidze with Cameristi della Scala.
Recently, Myers has covered roles for the Metropolitan Opera in productions of Britten’s Peter Grimes, Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Wagner’s Die Meistersinger, Tchaikovsky’s Queens of Spades and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. The 2021-2022 season included singing an Offstage Voice in the Metropolitan Opera’s premiere of Brett Dean’s Hamlet
Myers made his New York Philharmonic debut in the 2018-2019 season in the world premiere of David Lang’s fully staged opera, prisoner of the state. Directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer, prisoner of the state was released as an album on Decca Gold in June 2020. His debut solo album Desiderium with pianist Myra Huang was released on AVIE Records in 2022.
Highlights of Myers’ extensive opera repertoire include Pollione in Norma (LA Opera), Cavaradossi in Tosca (Arizona Opera), Don Jose in Carmen (Music Academy of the West), Cassio in Otello (Portland Summer Fest), Flavio in Bellini’s Norma (Teatro Regio di Parma), Trin in La Fanciulla del West (Santa Fe Opera), Valerio in Mercadante’s Virginia (Wexford Festival Opera), Der Kaiser in Die Frau Ohne Schatten (San Francisco Opera), Aufide in Rossini’s Moïse et Pharaon (Collegiate Chorale/Carnegie Hall), Steve Wozniak in the workshop of Mason Bates’s The (R) evolution of Steve Jobs (Santa Fe Opera), and Junior/Charlie in Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain (Santa Fe Opera). As a Resident Artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts, Myers sang Duca di Mantua in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Prince Sinodal in Rubinstein’s The Demon, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos, and the Prince in Dvorak’s Rusalka. He has collaborated with Long Beach Opera to perform Michael
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Gordon’s Van Gogh, Gabriela Ortiz’s Camelia la Tejana: Unicamente La Verdad, Stewart Copeland’s Tell-Tale Heart, and a co-production of Tobias Picker’s Thérèse Raquin with Chicago Opera Theater. He also sang in John Cage’s Europeras 1 & 2 in with the LA Phil in collaboration with The Industry and Yuval Sharon.
Myers has been seen as a soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Mozart’s Mass in C minor with the Grand Rapids Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the National Symphony Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Canterbury Choral Society, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings with Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Mozart’s Requiem with Southwest Florida Symphony, Britten’s War Requiem with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall and in the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music with the Wexford Festival Orchestra, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Fairfield Chorale, and Brahms’s Liebeslieder Waltzes with Performance Santa Fe. He recently performed Dvořák’s Stabat Mater at the Grant Park Music Festival, about which the Chicago Tribune wrote, “He astonished from his thrilling entrance…and kept listeners at the edge of their seats whenever he appeared, his voice a thing of poignance and power.”
Myers has had the pleasure of performing in concert with composer Ricky Ian Gordon on three occasions: at the Chautauqua Institute Music Festival, Opera America’s Salon Series: “Exploring American Voices,” and “Cliburn at the Modern,” the Van Cliburn Foundation’s contemporary music series in Fort Worth, TX. He was a soloist with the Mark Morris Dance Group in their performances of The Muir, and with the American Musical Theatre Ensemble in September Songs: The Legacy of Kurt Weill. He has sung in concert with the Allentown Symphony alongside soprano Angela Meade and was awarded a recital at the Kennedy Center as a winner of Vocal Arts DC’s 2017 Art Song Competition.
Originally from southern California, Myers received his graduate and undergraduate degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, was a Gerdine Young Artist with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Apprentice Artist with Santa Fe Opera, an alumnus of the Verbier Festival Academy, and a fellow with Music Academy of the West. He won Third Prize and the Richard Tauber Prize for the best interpretation of Schubert Lieder at the 2022 Wigmore Hall Bollinger International Song Competition.
RYAN MCKINNY, bass-baritone
Recognized by Opera News as “one of the finest singers of his generation,” American bass-baritone Ryan McKinny has earned his reputation as an artist with something to say. His relentless curiosity informs riveting character portrayals and beautifully crafted performances, reminding audiences of their shared humanity with the characters onstage. McKinny recently opened the Metropolitan Opera’s season as Joseph De Rocher in a new production of Dead Man Walking. He has recently appeared as the title character in Don Giovanni (Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera), Escamillo in Carmen (Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Hamburg), and Mozart’s Figaro (Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera). He is a frequent guest artist at Los Angeles Opera, where his roles have included Scarpia in Tosca and Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named
Desire, and at Santa Fe Opera, where he has appeared as Jochanaan in Salome and Oppenheimer in Doctor Atomic. McKinny made a critically acclaimed Bayreuth Festival debut as Amfortas in Parsifal, a role he has performed around the world, including at Argentina’s Teatro Cólon, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and Dutch National Opera. Other Wagnerian roles include Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde (Deutsche Oper Berlin, Canadian Opera Company), Biterolf in Tannhäuser and Kothner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, both at the Metropolitan Opera, Wotan in Opéra de Montréal’s Das Rheingold, Donner/Gunther in Wagner’s Ring cycle (Washington National Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra), and the titular Dutchman in Der fliegende Holländer (Staatsoper Hamburg, Milwaukee Symphony, Glimmerglass Festival).
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GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813-1901)
Requiem Mass, in Memory of Alessandro Manzoni
Giuseppe Verdi was born October 10, 1813 in Le Roncole, Italy, and died January 27, 1901 in Milan. He composed his Requiem between June 28, 1873 and April 10, 1874, and conducted its premiere, on May 22, 1874 in Milan’s San Marco Cathedral. The score calls for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, four bassoons, four horns, four orchestral trumpets and four additional off-stage trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, strings soloists and mixed chorus. Duration is about 84 minutes. This piece was last performed by the orchestra October 26-27, 2019, with Brett Mitchell conducting.
Giuseppe Verdi was, above all, a patriot. From his earliest years, he was an ardent supporter of the Risorgimento — the “resurgence” of ancient national pride — to free Italy from foreign domination and unify it under a single, native rule. Though he never personally manned the barricades, he became, through his music, one of the most illustrious embodiments of the Italian national spirit.
Almost all of Verdi’s early operas ran afoul of the censors because of the political implications of their plots. In 19th-century Europe, no one doubted that music and drama could inspire strong emotions and, perhaps, even action. The political arbiters were ever wary about allowing ideas of insurrection or royal fallibility to escape from the stage into the public consciousness. One such idea that did slip through their suspicious examination, however, was contained in Verdi’s Nabucco of 1842. The chorus of longing for their lost homeland sung in that opera by the Israelites captive in Babylon, Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate (“Fly, thoughts, on wings of gold”), was quickly adopted by the Risorgimento as an anthem of struggle for Italy’s freedom. So great and enduring was the fame of this stirring music that it was sung by the crowds that lined the streets for Verdi’s funeral procession almost six decades later.
During the insurrections of 1848, the name VERDI became a rallying cry for the nationalists, and was scrawled across walls and carried on signs. Besides being a tribute to their beloved composer, the letters of his name were also an acrostic for “Vittorio Emanuele, Re d’Italia,” the Duke of Savoy whom the nationalists were fighting to bring to power as “King of Italy.” When Cavour called the first parliamentary session of the newly united Italy in 1859, Verdi was elected as the representative from Busseto. Though reluctant to enter the political arena, he was sufficiently patriotic and cognizant of his standing with his countrymen to accept the nomination.
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With his love of country and constant efforts to promote Italian culture, Verdi viewed the death of Rossini in Paris on November 13, 1868 as a national tragedy. He wrote to the Countess Maffei, “A great name has disappeared from the world! His was the most vast and most popular reputation of our time and he was a glory of Italy.” Verdi felt that a musical memorial should be erected to Rossini — not as a religious expedient to usher his soul into heaven, or as an expression of personal grief (the two were never close friends), but rather as an act of patriotism. One of the great Italians was gone, and Verdi believed the nation should properly mourn his passing.
Verdi proposed the composition of a composite Requiem Mass for Rossini to which the leading Italian composers would contribute. (“No foreign hands!” he insisted.) The performance was to take place on the first anniversary of Rossini’s death. Following Verdi’s instructions, the composers were chosen by lot by the publisher Giulio Ricordi, and each was assigned a section of the work. The closing Libera me fell to Verdi. However, preparations for the Rossini Mass foundered on Verdi’s proposal that all those involved offer their services free of charge. The twelve other composers agreed to this, and the Mass was actually written, but the performers could not be secured. The project was cancelled, and the manuscripts were returned to their composers, whose reputations faded along with the prospects for the memorial Mass — Platania, Mabellini and Cagnoni, for example, are unknown today even in Italy. (The scores for this Messa per Rossini were discovered in Ricordi’s archives in 1970 by musicologist David Rosen during his research in preparing the complete edition of Verdi’s works. A performance of the work, its first ever, took place in Stuttgart on September 11, 1988 under the direction of Helmut Rilling; the New York Philharmonic gave the American premiere on October 12, 1989. A recording was produced on the German label Hänssler Classic.) Verdi’s Libera me was filed away and forgotten, as were the plans for the Rossini Requiem.
In 1871, Alberto Mazzucato, a friend of Verdi and a composition teacher at the Milan Conservatory, discovered the Libera me manuscript in Ricordi’s vaults. He was enraptured with its beauty, and wrote to its creator urging him to complete the entire work. Verdi responded, “Your words nearly prompted me to compose the whole Mass.... Think what a disastrous result your praise could have had! But have no fear; this is only a temptation, which, like others, will pass.” He continued that to add yet another Requiem to the “many, many” that existed was “useless.” Soon, however, he was to find a use for such a work, and give in to the temptation to take up his Libera me once again.
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Alessandro Manzoni was one of the dominant figures of 19th-century Italy. His poems, plays and novels spoke directly to the Italian soul as it quested for freedom and national identity. His most famous work was the novel I promessi sposi (“The Betrothed”), which was considered not only the greatest Italian prose piece of the time, but also, as William Weaver noted in his study of Verdi, “a kind of stylebook for the country, which ... was linguistically chaotic.” Manzoni accomplished for Italy with that book what Luther’s translation of the Bible had done three centuries before for Germany — brought a standardized language to a country factionalized by innumerable dialects.
Verdi venerated Manzoni. He often referred to him as “a saint” and his letters show boundless admiration for the great writer. Of I promessi sposi he said, “In my opinion he has written a book which is not only the greatest product of our times, but also one of the finest in all ages which has issued from the human mind. And, more than being just a book, it is a comfort to humanity as well.... My enthusiasm for this work is undiminished; nay, it has increased with my
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understanding of humanity; for this book is true, as true as ‘truth’ itself.” After the two first met in 1868, Verdi wrote, “What can I tell you of Manzoni? How express the new, inexplicable, happy feeling which the sacred presence of this man aroused in me? I would have knelt before him if men worshipped men.”
Manzoni died at the age of 87 on May 22, 1873. Verdi was stricken with grief. A few days after receiving the news he wrote, “With him ends the most pure, the most sacred, the highest of our glories. I have read many of the newspapers, and not one of them speaks of him as he should be spoken of. Many words, but none of them profoundly felt.” Verdi could not bring himself to attend the funeral. While thousands of mourning Milanese poured into the streets of the city to witness Manzoni’s funeral procession, Verdi stayed at his country home, Sant’ Agata, too distraught to leave until he found the strength to make a private visit to the graveside on June 3rd. As he had been five years earlier with the passing of Rossini, Verdi was again inspired to commemorate the death of a great Italian with a memorial Mass. He sent his proposal to compose a Requiem in honor of Manzoni to the mayor of Milan, and it was eagerly accepted.
Verdi scheduled the Requiem’s premiere for the first anniversary of Manzoni’s death, and began the score immediately. Remembering his earlier experience with the Rossini Requiem, however, he decided this time to control the entire project himself — composition, preparations and performance. He revived the Libera me for inclusion in the Manzoni Requiem, and newly composed the rest. As the work proceeded, he arranged for performers, printing and publicity, and even made acoustical tests to determine the most suitable of Milan’s churches for the premiere. The work was finished on April 10, 1874, and the first performance six weeks later in San Marco Cathedral was a complete success.
Verdi’s Requiem is in seven large movements, based on the text. Throughout, the ancient words are illuminated and enriched by the composer’s broad strokes and subtle touches, which are best perceived by following the text as the piece unfolds around them. The Requiem’s initial gesture, in the cellos, comes as if from a great distance and establishes the grave solemnity of the movement. The chorus intones a sweet, pathetic invocation for departed souls that leads directly into the Kyrie eleison (“Lord have mercy”), a broad, flowing prayer for divine compassion.
The Dies irae paints the awe-inspiring “Day of Wrath” when the world will stand in judgment. Verdi rose to the challenge of these words with music “full of things terrifying and at the same time moving and pathetic,” wrote the critic Filippo Filippi following the premiere. This movement, which occupies fully one-third of the Requiem’s length, is divided into nearly a dozen successive scenes, which encompass a broad range of musical moods and technical devices.
The Offertorio (Domine Jesu Christe — “Lord Jesus Christ”) that follows comes like a halcyon spring breeze after the winter’s blast. Its gently swaying rhythm and huge melodic arches bear to celestial reaches the supplicant’s entreaty for the deliverance of the departed from the pains of hell. Its contrasting center section (Quam olim — Hostias — Quam olim repeated) is followed by a brief return of the gentle opening music.
The Sanctus (“Holy, Holy, Holy”) begins with a joyous shout. The music then launches into a bracing fugue on two subjects for divided chorus, which is followed by an antiphonal setting (i.e., choruses in alternation) of the Hosanna.
Agnus Dei (“Lamb of God”) is the shortest movement of the Requiem and the simplest. Plain in texture and introspective in expression, it is dominated by the voices with only the most sparse orchestral accompaniment. The Lux aeterna (“Light eternal”) is memorable for some of the most ethereal, translucent orchestral scoring in all of Verdi’s works.
The concluding Libera me (“Deliver me”) is the remnant of the earlier Requiem for Rossini. In the Manzoni Requiem, the movement consists of several sections: an introductory verse for
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soprano soloist that rises from a freely chanted beginning; a recall of the tempestuous Dies irae movement; a reminiscence of the opening Requiem aeternam in a breathtakingly beautiful setting for unaccompanied chorus and soprano; and a fugue which concludes with the quiet, resigned chanting that opened the movement. It is thought that the fugue and the opening chant were the only music originally written for the earlier Mass, and that the Dies irae and Requiem aeternam reminiscences were inserted when the work was newly composed for the Manzoni commemoration.
Verdi’s Requiem is one of music’s greatest masterpieces, providing artistic, emotional and spiritual sustenance whenever it is performed. No amount of discussion or analysis could exhaust its content, and yet any comments on it seem almost unnecessary — the Requiem speaks eloquently for itself and its composer. Perhaps it is most prudent to agree with Johannes Brahms, a curmudgeonly soul disinclined to compliments, who honored his Italian colleague when he said, simply, “Verdi’s Requiem is a work of genius.”
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, Rest eternal grant them, O Lord; et lux perpetua luceat eis. and let perpetual light shine upon them.
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion, There shall be singing unto Thee in Zion, et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem. and prayer shall go up to Thee in Jerusalem. Exaudi orationem meam. Hear my prayer.
Ad te omnis caro veniet. Unto Thee all flesh shall come. Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.
Dies irae (Chorus)
Dies irae, dies illa
This day, this day of wrath solvet saeclum in favilla, shall consume the world in ashes, teste David cum Sibylla. so spake David and the Sibyl. Quantus tremor est futurus, Oh, what great trembling there will be quando Judex est venturus when the Judge will appear cuncta stricte discussurus! to examine everything in strict justice!
Tuba mirum (Bass and Chorus)
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
The trumpet, sending its wondrous sound per sepulchra regionum, across the graves of all lands, coget omnes ante thronum. shall drive everyone before the throne. Mors stupebit et natura, Death and nature shall be stunned cum resurget creatura when all creation rises again judicanti responsura. to stand before the Judge.
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Liber scriptus (Mezzo-Soprano and Chorus)
Liber scriptus proferetur, A written book will be brought forth, in quo totum continetur, in which everything is contained, unde mundus judicetur. from which the world will be judged. Judex ergo cum sedebit, So when the Judge is seated, quidquid latet apparebit, whatever is hidden shall be made known, nil inultum remanebit. nothing shall remain unpunished.
Quid sum miser (Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano and Tenor)
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
What shall such a wretch as I say then? Quem patronum rogaturus, To which protector shall I appeal, cum vix justus sit sicurus? when even the just man is barely safe?
Rex tremendae (Soloists and Chorus)
Rex tremendae majestatis, King of awesome majesty, qui salvandos salvas gratis, who freely saves those worthy of salvation, salva me, fons pietatis! save me, fount of pity!
Recordare (Soprano and Mezzo-Soprano)
Recordare, Jesu pie,
Recall, dear Jesus, quod sum causa tuae viae, that I am the reason for Thy time on earth, ne me perdas illa die. do not cast me away on that day. Quaerens me, sedisti lassus,
Seeking me, Thou didst sink down wearily, redemisti crucem passus; Thou hast saved me by enduring the cross; tantus labor non sit cassus. such travail must not be in vain. Juste judex ultionis, Righteous judge of vengeance, donum fac remissionis award the gift of forgiveness ante diem rationis. before the day of reckoning.
Ingemisco (Tenor)
Ingemisco tamquam reus,
I groan like the sinner that I am, culpa rubet vultus meus, guilt reddens my face, supplicanti parce, Deus. Oh God, spare the supplicant. Qui Mariam absolvisti Thou, who pardoned Mary et latronem exaudisti, and heeded the thief, mihi quoque spem dedisti. hast given me hope as well. Preces meae non sunt dignae, My prayers are unworthy, sed tu bonus fac benigne, but Thou, good one, in pity ne perenni cremer igne. let me not burn in the eternal fire. Inter oves locum praesta Give me a place among the sheep et ab hoedis me sequestra, and separate me from the goats, statuens in parte dextra. let me stand at Thy right hand.
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Confutatis (Bass and Chorus)
Confutatis maledictis, When the damned are cast away flammis acribus afflictis, and consigned to the searing flames, voca me cum benedictis. call me to be with the blessed. Oro supplex et acclinis, Bowed down in supplication I beg Thee, cor contritum quasi cinis, my heart as though ground to ashes: gere curam mei finis. help me in my last hour. Dies irae, dies illa This day, this day of wrath solvet saeclum in favilla, shall consume the world in ashes, teste David cum Sibylla. so spake David and the Sibyl.
Lacrimosa
(Soloists and Chorus)
Lacrimosa dies illa
Oh, this day full of tears qua resurget ex favilla when from the ashes arises judicandus homo reus; guilty man, to be judged: huic ergo parce Deus. Oh Lord, have mercy upon him. Pie Jesu, Domine, Gentle Lord Jesus, dona eis requiem. grant them rest. Amen. Amen.
Offertorio: Domine Jesu Christe (Soloists)
Domine Jesu Christe, rex gloriae, Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, Libera animas omnium deliver the souls of the faithful departed fidelium defunctorum de poenis inferni from the pains of hell et de profundo lacu. and the bottomless pit. Libera eas de ore leonis, Deliver them from the jaws of the lion, ne absorbeat eas tartarus, lest hell engulf them, ne cadant in obscurum; lest they be plunged into darkness; sed signifer sanctus Michael but let the holy standard-bearer Michael representet eas in lucem sanctam, lead them into the holy light, quam olim Abrahae promisisti as Thou didst promise Abraham et semini ejus. and his seed.
Hostias et preces tibi, Domine, Lord, in praise we offer to Thee laudis offerimus, sacrifices and prayers, tu suscipe pro animabus illis, receive them for the souls of those quarum hodie memoriam facimus: whom we remember this day: fac eas, Domine, de morte Lord, make them pass transire ad vitam, from death to life, quam olim Abrahae promisisti as Thou didst promise Abraham et semini ejus. and his seed.
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Sanctus (Chorus)
Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus,
Holy, holy, holy, Dominus Deus Saboath!
Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.
Lord God of hosts!
Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna in excelsis!
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini!
Glory to God in the highest!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in excelsis!
Glory to God in the highest!
Agnus Dei (Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano and Chorus)
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, dona eis requiem. grant them rest.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, dona eis requiem sempiternam. grant them eternal rest.
Lux aeterna (Mezzo-Soprano, Tenor and Bass)
Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, May eternal light shine upon them, O Lord, cum sanctis tuis in aeternam, with Thy saints forever, quia pius es. for Thou art good.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, Lord, grant them eternal rest, et lux perpetua luceat eis. and let perpetual light shine upon them.
Libera me (Soprano and Chorus)
Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death in die illa tremenda, in that awful day quando coeli movendi sunt et terra, when the heavens and earth shall be shaken, dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem. when Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
Tremens factus sum ego et timeo, I am seized with fear and trembling, dum discussio venerit atque venture ira: until the trial shall be at hand and the wrath to come:
quando coeli movendi sunt et terra. when the heavens and earth shall be shaken. Dies irae, dies illa, That day, that day of wrath, calamitatis et miseriae, of calamity and misery, dies magna et amara valde, a great day and exceeding bitter, dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem. when Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, Lord, grant them eternal rest, et lux perpetua luceat eis. and let perpetual light shine upon them. Libera me, Domine, etc. Deliver me, O Lord, etc.
