DUDAMEL CONDUCTS VERDI’S REQUIEM

TUESDAY JULY 11, 2023 8PM

Los Angeles Philharmonic

Gustavo Dudamel, conductor

Angel Blue, soprano

Rihab Chaieb, mezzo-soprano

Mario Chang, tenor

Ryan Speedo Green, bass-baritone

Los Angeles Master Chorale

Grant Gershon, Artistic Director

Jenny Wong, Associate Artistic Director

VERDI Requiem (c. 90 minutes)

Introit and Kyrie Dies irae

O ertory Sanctus

Agnus Dei Lux aeterna Libera me

Please note that tonight’s program is presented without intermission. Official

Programs and artists subject to change.

REQUIEM Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)

Is the Requiem Mass Verdi’s greatest opera? Or was it just his latest opera in ecclesiastical vestments? This was the snide assertion made by the loyal Brahms partisan, pianistconductor Hans von Bülow. For his trouble, Bülow was soundly rebu ed by Brahms himself, who said, “Only a genius could have written such a work.”

Brahms, of course, was right; it takes one to know one.

When Verdi composed the Requiem, in 1873, he had long been considered opera’s reigning master. His singular stature in the world of 19th-century lyric theater e ectively began with the success of his third opera, Nabucco, in 1842, a work that the composer came to write only after the most intense urging and cajoling by Bartolomeo Merelli, impresario of Milan’s La Scala.

A vital element of Nabucco’s success was a performancestopping chorus in the opera’s third act. “Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate” (Go, thought, on golden wings) became a rallying cry of freedom from Austrian rule and Verdi the musical standardbearer of the movement toward a united and free Italy. Verdi’s sympathies with the Italian nationalist liberal cause may not have been the guiding force of his professional activities, but there was no question that he held high the ideal of his country’s desire for independence, which finally came in 1870.

Verdi equated Italy’s freedom from foreign rule with an author whom he idolized as much for his championing of Italian independence as for his literary excellence. Alessandro Manzoni, born in 1785, is considered the father of the modern Italian novel.

When Verdi heard of Manzoni’s death, he was stunned, incredulous, so much so that he could not even bring himself to attend the revered man’s funeral. But with the passage of time the loss became somewhat bearable, and the idea of honoring Manzoni through music appeared clearly. He would write a Requiem Mass and express the depth of emotion he felt.

The “Manzoni” Requiem was first performed on May 22, 1874, at St. Mark’s in Milan. Immediately following its premiere, it moved to La Scala for three hugely successful performances, and then Verdi took it to Paris, London, and Vienna, where it received equal acclaim.

Architecturally, the work is in seven movements, with the second, the Dies irae, the most extended, being set in 10 sections. The Libera me, an optional movement in a traditional requiem, becomes here in its position the final movement, in e ect a recapitulation musically of earlier materials. These materials, of course, were devised, as it were, after the fact (“ the last shall be first, and the first, last.” Matthew 20).

Textually, the Libera me brings a personal emphasis to the Mass. The Requiem text, ending as it often does with the Lux aeterna—“May eternal light shine on them, Lord…Grant them eternal rest”—fulfills the elevated ecclesiastical requirement of praying for the dead. In the Libera me, the fear of the “last enemy” that is latent in all of us is brought to consciousness: “Deliver me, Lord, from eternal death…Deliver me.”

Within its vast emotional content, the Requiem covers every shade of operatic expression that Verdi ever conjured, from the most inward and fragile to the most extroverted and violently passionate. To Verdi, religiosity was not ecclesiastic but humanistic, and his language for speaking operatically about the things of man was the same as speaking oratorically about the things of God. Remember that the composer’s supplications to the Almighty in his massive Requiem were motivated by his having lost a man, Manzoni, and not by his having found God. (Verdi was all his adult life a lapsed Catholic.) Realizing this should make acceptable, even to a religionist, the secular musical vocabulary as being fully appropriate to the religious subject matter.

Expectedly, the vocal elements in the work, both solo and choral, are masterful. Perhaps not so expected is the high estate of Verdi’s contrapuntal learnedness and harmonic sophistication, both of which, added to the Requiem’s other virtues, were surely what prompted Brahms’ judgment of Verdi’s Requiem as a work of genius.

Succeeding generations have echoed that judgment unreservedly. Every element of the Mass—chorus, orchestra, vocal soloists, the drama, penetrating emotion, breathtaking excitement, heaven-storming grandeur—all contribute to the irresistible appeal of the work.

Excerpted from program notes by Orrin Howard

Gustavo Dudamel

To read about Music & Artistic Director GUSTAVO DUDAMEL, please turn to page 12

Angel Blue

Soprano Angel Blue’s importance in opera today cannot be overstated. In September 2019 she opened the Metropolitan Opera’s 2019/20 season as Bess in a new production of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, for which she won a Grammy Award in the Best Opera Recording category. She reprised this role at the Met in autumn 2021, immediately following her triumphant role debut as Destiny/Loneliness/ Greta in the Met’s historic 2021/22 season opener of Fire Shut Up in My Bones, the first production at the Metropolitan Opera by a Black composer, Terence Blanchard, and also a Grammy winner. In addition, she was the 2020 recipient of the Met’s prestigious Beverly Sills Award—as the first African American artist to receive this honor—and in 2022 she won the Richard Tucker Award.

The 2022/23 season was a display of Blue’s immense versatility and virtuosity on the operatic and concert stage. She opened Houston Grand Opera’s season with her house debut as Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata, and she also sang Violetta later in the spring of 2023 at the Metropolitan Opera. The California native returned to longtime collaborator the Los Angeles Opera performing the title role in Puccini’s Tosca. In spring 2023, Blue appeared as Aida at the Royal Opera House.

Angel Blue has appeared in recital and in concert in more than 35 countries. Important orchestral engagements have included Porgy and Bess at the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle and with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Marin Alsop; Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Münchener Philharmoniker under the baton of Zubin Mehta; and Verdi’s Requiem in Sydney, Australia, with Oleg Caetani. Blue debuted in recital at the Ravinia Festival in August 2019, after which she joined many of her international colleagues at the 2019 Richard Tucker Gala at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Angel Blue was born and raised in California and completed her musical studies at UCLA.

Rihab Chaieb

Tunisian Canadian mezzosoprano Rihab Chaieb has drawn international recognition for her clear, sensuous vocal tone and her dramatic flair. With a versatile instrument that allows her to shine in repertoire from Monteverdi, Handel, and Mozart through Bizet, Verdi, and Glass, Chaieb is a prominent new talent on the world’s major stages.

In the 2022/23 season, Chaieb made both notable debuts and anticipated returns: she brought her acclaimed interpretation of Carmen to the Canadian Opera Company and Calgary Opera and made her LA Opera debut as Cherubino in James Gray’s new production of Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by James Conlon. At Grand Théâtre de Genève she appeared as La mère Meryem in the world premiere of Christian Jost’s

Voyage vers l’espoir and made her Bayerische Staatsoper debut as Fenena in Verdi’s Nabucco, conducted by Daniele Rustioni.

A regular performer on the concert platform, Rihab Chaieb joined Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Richard Egarr in Handel’s Messiah, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Otto Tausk for Berlioz’ Les nuits d’été, and with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra she performed her first Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina. In recital, she performed alongside pianist Brian Zeger at the Kennedy Center, presented by Vocal Arts DC.

On the concert stage, Rihab Chaieb has performed with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under Johannes Debus in Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and in a program of Rossini under Kent Nagano; and with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah and under Music Director Gustavo Gimeno in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. She recorded Bach’s Mass in B minor and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for two audiovisual recordings with Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain under Music Director Yannick NézetSéguin, the latter released on Deutsche Grammophon’s online platform DG Stage. In 2022, she reprised Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with NézetSéguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

Mario Chang

Guatemalan tenor Mario Chang has been praised as “a born bel canto tenor” by The New York Times. The 2022/23 season saw his house debut with the Hong Kong Opera as Alfredo in La traviata as well as his house debuts at Ópera de Oviedo in the title role in Ernani and his role debut as Cavaradossi in Tosca with Teatro de la Maestranza.

Orchestral highlights include Chang’s Hollywood Bowl debut as Cassio in Otello with the LA Phil, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier with the National Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Guatemala, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Orquesta Sinfónica Centroamericana in Nicaragua.

Chang made his Carnegie Hall debut in a concert with the Musical Olympus Foundation and returned to appear in recital as part of the Marilyn Horne Song Celebration.

Honors and awards include First Prize, Zarzuela Prize, and audience favorite at the 2014 Operalia Competition, Top Prize in the 2014 Gerda Lissner Foundation competition, and a Festival Musique et Vin au Clos Vougeot career grant in 2013.

Chang is founder and director of Querido Arte Opera de Guatemala, the first opera company in Guatemala, a Center for the Development of the Arts (Centro de Perfeccionamiento para las Artes), and a youth orchestra and chorus program, creating a platform for the development and promotion of the arts and supporting hundreds of young musicians and emerging artists to reach their dreams. In recognition of this work, he was appointed with the Medalla del Quetzal and Cambio de la Rosa de la Paz by the Ministry of Culture and Sports of his country, making him ambassador of peace and culture in Guatemala.

Chang was a member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera and holds an Advanced Diploma in Opera Studies from the Juilliard School.

A native of Su olk, VA, Grammy Award-winning bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green has quickly garnered an international reputation as a breakthrough star, appearing at many of the world’s most important opera houses and music festivals. A recipient of both the Richard and Sara Tucker Grants from the Richard Tucker Foundation, Speedo completed his training as a member of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

The 2022/23 season saw Speedo’s first leading role at the Metropolitan Opera, starring as Emile Gri th in Terence Blanchard’s Champion, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Speedo also made his house debut at Opéra National de Paris singing Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, and his house debut at Bayerische Staatsoper as Varlaam in Boris Godunov. Orchestral engagements included Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and his debut with the New York Philharmonic in the world premiere of a piece by Courtney Bryan written for him.

Speedo opened the Metropolitan Opera’s 2021/22 season as Uncle Paul in Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, sang Varlaam in Stephen Wadsworth’s new production of Boris Godunov, reprised his Grammy Award-winning role of Jake in Porgy and Bess, portrayed Colline in La bohème, and also sang Tru aldino in Ariadne auf Naxos, which was broadcast as part of the Met’s Live in HD series.

In the fall of 2016, Little, Brown, and Co. published Sing for Your Life, by New York Times journalist Daniel Bergner. The book tells the story of Speedo’s personal and artistic journey: from a trailer park in southeastern Virginia and from time spent in Virginia’s juvenile facility of last resort to the Met stage. The New York Times Book Review called the book “one of the most inspiring stories I’ve come across in a long time.” Sing for Your Life was a New York Times Best Seller and New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, a Washington Post Notable Book, and a Publishers Weekly Book of the Year.

Los Angeles Master Chorale

The Los Angeles Master Chorale is “the finest-by-far major chorus in America” (Los Angeles Times) that turns “precision into wonder” (The New Yorker). Hailed for its powerful performances, technical precision, and artistic daring, the Chorale is led by Grant Gershon, Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director; Associate Artistic Director Jenny Wong; and President & CEO Jean Davidson. Reena Esmail is Swan Family Artistin-Residence.

Created by legendary conductor Roger Wagner in 1964, the Chorale is a founding resident company of The Music Center and choirin-residence at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The fully professional choir is a diverse and vocally dynamic group that reaches over 175,000 people a year through its concert series at Walt Disney Concert Hall, international touring of innovative works, and performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and others. The Chorale’s discography includes the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Deutsche Grammophon recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, for which the Chorale won a Best Choral Performance Grammy Award with the National Children’s Chorus, Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, and Pacific Chorale. Under Gershon’s direction, the Chorale has released eight recordings including Mysterium with Anne Akiko Meyers on Avie Records and The Sacred Veil by Eric Whitacre on Signum Records. The Chorale is heard on the soundtracks of many major motion pictures, including Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Jungle Cruise

Throughout 2018 and 2019, the Chorale toured its production of Lagrime di San Pietro, directed by Peter Sellars, earning rave reviews across the globe: Süddeutsche Zeitung called the 2019 Salzburg Festival performance “painfully beautiful”; Sydney Morning Herald said, “Their voices soared to the heavens”; and London’s The Stage called Lagrime a “balm for the soul.” In the 2022/23 season, the Chorale performed its second collaboration with Sellars, Music to Accompany a Departure, which it will also take on tour.