22 September 2018
Newsdesk
Verdi is strongly represented in the 2018/19 Season, with performances of his music including a special concert of his Messa da Requiem, which will showcase the forces of the Royal Opera Chorus, four superb soloists and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House under the baton of Antonio Pappano, Music Director of The Royal Opera. This is the first of two concerts that Pappano conducts in the 2018/19 Season.
Verdi's Messa da Requiem began life in 1868 as just one movement. The ‘Libera me’ was written for a proposed Requiem – never completed – in memory of Rossini, to be written by several Italian composers. In 1873, the death of the great Italian writer Alessandro Manzoni inspired Verdi to rework his ‘Libera me’, and expand on it to complete his own full-scale musical setting of the Requiem Mass, dedicated to Manzoni’s memory. The Messa da Requiem had its premiere at the Church of San Marco in Milan in 1874, conducted by Verdi himself. The Messa da Requiem won immediate acclaim and is today one of the most frequently performed 19th-century choral works.
The music of the Messa da Requiem combines religious grandeur with operatic drama and passion, and contains exquisite writing for both chorus and soloists. It is notable for its emotional depth and variety shown, for example, in the terror of the ‘Dies Irae’, the dignity of the sorrowful ‘Lacrimosa’, the pleading of the ‘Libera me’ and the spirited ‘Sanctus’.
The performance is given in celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Royal Opera’s receiving its Royal Charter. All proceeds from this event will benefit the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation, enabling us to continue presenting extraordinary performances, remarkable craftsmanship and inspiring learning and participation projects.
For this concert, Antonio Pappano is joined by four soloists all renowned for their Verdi performances: Bulgarian soprano Krassimira Stoyanova, American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, French tenor Benjamin Bernheim and Hungarian bass Gábor Bretz.
Krassimira Stoyanova made her Royal Opera debut in 2002 as Mimì (La bohème) and has since sung Tatyana (Eugene Onegin) for The Royal Opera. Stoyanova has sung at the world’s leading concert halls and conductors. Her concert repertory includes Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Verdi’s Requiem, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, Bruckner’s Te Deum, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater and Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder. She has made several acclaimed recordings, including an award-winning disc of Slavic opera arias. Opera engagements in the 2018–19 Season include Leonora (Il trovatore) for Bavarian State Opera and Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos) for Semperoper Dresden.
American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton made her Royal Opera debut in 2016 as Fenena (Nabucco). Barton has appeared in concert with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, London Schools Symphony Orchestra (UK debut), Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Iceland Symphony Orchestra, in repertory that includes Verdi’s Requiem. Opera engagements in the 2018–19 Season include Azucena (Il trovatore) for Bavarian State Opera and Fricka (Der Ring des Nibelungen) for the Metropolitan Opera, New York.
French tenor Benjamin Bernheim made his Royal Opera debut in the 2017/18 Season as Rodolfo (La bohème). Bernheim’s concert repertory includes Beethoven’s Mass in C, Britten’s Serenade, Bruckner’s Te Deum, Gounod’s Te Deum, Handel’s Messiah, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and Warlock’s The Curlew. In the 2018/19 Season Bernheim also sings Alfredo Germont (La traviata) for The Royal Opera. Other opera performances in the 2018/19 Season include Rodolfo for Vienna State Opera.
Hungarian bass Gábor Bretz made his Royal Opera debut in the 2013/14 Season as Colline (La bohème) and has since returned to sing Escamillo (Carmen) and Ferrando (Il trovatore). Bretz also appears widely in concert, in a repertory including J.S. Bach’s St John Passion and St Matthew Passion, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time. His recordings include Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater for Chandos. Opera engagements in the 2018/19 Season include Escamillo and Philip II (Don Carlos) for Hamburg State Opera.
Please check BBC Radio 3’s Opera on 3 website for the latest schedule or broadcasts.
