NZSO performs Verdi masterpiece with four elite singers

16 May 2013 - NZSO Media Release for immediate release

NZSO performs Verdi masterpiece with four elite singers and city choirs

In celebration of Verdi’s bicentenary, Australasia's finest singing talents join forces with New Zealand’s best city choirs in honour of this great composer.

Having wowed audiences in the 2012 performances of The Valkyrie, our very own mezzo-soprano Margaret Medlyn and Australian soprano Lisa Harper-Brown return alongside acclaimed Australian-born tenor Rosario La Spina and New Zealand bass Jud Arthur to perform the famous opera composer’s funeral mass Requiem.

Filled with recognisable musical moments, from the dramatic and despairing ‘Dies Irae’ with its thunderous percussion and brass to the imploring beauty of the ‘Lacrimosa’ that grows in its intensity with every phrase, Verdi’s Requiem is an enduring seven-part masterpiece. Once considered too ‘operatic’ for the church, it is packed with rhythmic vivacity, high emotion, and glorious melodies – one of Verdi’s most popular musical trademarks.

Composed to mark the passing of two great Italian heroes – the composer Gioachino Rossini and the author and poet Alessandro Manzoni – Verdi’s Requiem is an overwhelming expression of grief, and yet it is reassuring in its message of comfort. It is a work of great personal significance for the composer, its performers, and for many who have come to know this monumental work.

City Choir Dunedin joins the NZSO on tour around the country in celebration of their 150th anniversary. Formed in 1863, Dunedin’s leading exponent of large-scale choral works will combine vocal forces with the Auckland Choral, Christchurch City Choir, and Orpheus Choir of Wellington in each respective city. Â

Witness the power of more than 180 singers and an impressive quartet of singing talent alongside your national orchestra, led by NZSO Music Director Pietari Inkinen.

Revel in Verdi’s thrilling brilliance in Requiem, proudly brought to you by National Tour Partner Newstalk ZB.

FUN FACTS:

· Originally, a great work was to be written by a number of composers to honour the life of Gioachino Rossini following his death in 1868. Frustratingly for Verdi, this work was abandoned. So, upon hearing of Manzoni’s death in 1873, Verdi resolved to complete his own Requiem. He travelled to Paris to compose what we now know to be his famous Requiem, including a revised version of the final seventh section, ‘Libera me’, originally composed for Rossini.

· The first performance of Verdi’s Requiem, conducted by Verdi himself, marked the first anniversary of Manzoni's death, the Italian poet and novelist much-loved by Verdi. It took place in San Marco in Milan on 22 May, 1874.

· At one stage, the work was called the Manzoni Requiem.

· Verdi always intended to use female singers; however they were not permitted to perform in Catholic Church rituals at the time that the work was composed. Verdi wrote an open letter during the early stages of the work’s conception stating: “If I were in the good graces of the Holy Father, I would beg him to permit - if only for this one time - that women take part in the performance of this music; but since I am not, it will fall to someone else better suited to obtain this decree”.

· The Requiem was reportedly criticised by some as being too operatic in style for the religious subject matter when it was first performed. However, critics were divided and some praised Verdi’s willingness to break standard compositional rules for musical effect, such as his use of consecutive fifths.

· Verdi’s original instrumentation included an ophicleide - a conical-bore keyed bugle - which was eventually succeeded by the tuba. Andrew Jarvis, NZSO Principal Tuba, will perform this part during the NZSO tour.

· Four of eight trumpets will be played off-stage during the performance.

ENDS

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