April 14, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … The glory of Mozart’s “Requiem” is paired with the Pacific Northwest premiere of John Adams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning musical memorial to the September 11 attacks, “On the Transmigration of Souls,” in an Oregon Symphony Classical concert featuring the Portland Symphonic Choir and the Pacific Youth Choir led by Music Director Carlos Kalmar on May 13, 14 and 15 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Corporate sponsorship and media support are provided by The Oregonian. Lufthansa is the exclusive airline sponsor for the Symphony’s Classical series.
The Monday evening concert also marks the 25th anniversary of Mercy Corps, a nonprofit relief organization headquartered in Portland, whose programs reach over seven million people in 81 countries
Last summer Kalmar conducted the Chicago premiere of “On the Transmigration of Souls,” which Chicago Sun-Times critic Wynne Delacoma described as “the most unforgettable concert of the year.” In addition to the large orchestra and adult and children’s choirs, Adams uses a vast array of sonic resources, including prerecorded traffic noises and voices reciting the names of the dead. The music is structured into three sections that flow together without pause, using fragments of text taken from missing persons posters and memorial tributes posted near the ruins of the World Trade Center, as well as interviews with surviving family members quoted in the New York Times’ “Portraits of Grief.” The Symphony is joined by the Portland Symphonic Choir, directed by Dr. Steven Zopfi, and the Pacific Youth Choir, directed by Mia Hall Savage. “The connection between these two works is profound,” says Kalmar. “The Mozart can be heard as a kind of requiem for those who died on 9/11, as represented by Adams’ music.”
“On the Transmigration of Souls” is paired with Mozart’s “Requiem,” one of the most popular works Mozart composed, and which he left unfinished at the time of his own death. Along with the Portland Symphonic Choir, soprano Karina Gauvin, mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó, tenor Benjamin Butterfield and bass-baritone Michael Dean join the Symphony to present this dramatic and powerful music, which highlights the grim but ultimately redemptive language of the text of the requiem mass.
The concert concludes with Mozart’s short choral work, “Ave verum corpus,” one of his last compositions. The music’s delicate simplicity highlights the words of this Eucharistic hymn, and it remains part of the standard repertoire of both church and secular choirs today.
This concert is part of the “Month of Mozart,” a city-wide celebration of the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth that also includes performances by the Oregon Ballet Theatre which features Mozart’s music in several dances created by leading choreographers, and the Portland Opera’s production of “Don Giovanni.” For more information on the Month of Mozart visit www.monthof.org.
Oregon Symphony Classical concerts regularly include additional opportunities for listeners to learn more about the music and the orchestra. These activities include:
Pre-concert talks: Music Director Carlos Kalmar and KBPS host Shaun Yu will lead a discussion one hour before the concert of the works to be performed. Media support for “Pre-Concert Talks” is provided by Classical Millennium.
Saturday: Music Director Carlos Kalmar will speak briefly from the podium in “Saturday Interactive.” Media support for “Saturday Interactive” is provided by KINK fm102.
Performances are scheduled for Saturday, May 13, at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, May 14, at 7:30 p.m. and Monday, May 15, at 8 p.m. at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Tickets range in price from $20 to $85 and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Customer Service Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Discounted tickets for groups of eight or more are available through the Group Sales hotline at (503) 416-6380. Tickets also may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets (503-790-ARTS) or through Ticketmaster Online, via the Symphony’s Web site at www.orsymphony.org. Service fees may apply.
Karina Gauvin’s unique voice, remarkable technique, and accomplished musicianship have charmed audiences worldwide from the Royal Opera House in London to Lincoln Center in New York. Her wide-ranging repertoire includes music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Gustav Mahler, Samuel Barber, Benjamin Britten, Alban Berg and Luciano Berio. Gauvin has sung with many major orchestras including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Minnesota Orchestra, I Musici de Montréal, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Les Talens Lyriques, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Capriccio Stravagante and Les Violons du Roy. On the operatic or concert stage, she has performed with conductors as diverse as Charles Dutoit, Christopher Hogwood, Helmuth Rilling, Christoph Campestrini, Bruno Weil, Markus Creed, Bernard Labadie, Andrew Parrot and Christophe Rousset. Active as a recitalist, she has collaborated with several chamber music ensembles and with pianists Marc-André Hamelin, Michael McMahon and Roger Vignoles.
Gauvin’s 2005-2006 season highlights include performances of the Mozart “Requiem” with Les Violons du Roy under Bernard Labadie and with the Oregon Symphony. She also performs Handel’s “Messiah” with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, Mozart arias with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Brahms’ “Ein Deutsches Requiem” with the Calgary Philharmonic and Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. On New Year’s Day, Gauvin was broadcast throughout Europe (on Eurovision) performing in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the WDR Sinfonie-Orchester Köln.
In 2004, Canadian mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó made her Lincoln Center debut as Dorabella in “Così fan tutte” at the Mostly Mozart Festival. Recent engagements include touring the United States as soloist with Les Violons du Roy (Haydn’s “Arianna a Naxos”), Nerone in “Agrippina” with L’Opéra de Montréal, The Double/Offred in The Time Before in “The Handmaid’s Tale” and Musetta in “La Bohème” (both with Canadian Opera), the Countess in “Le nozze di Figaro” with Chicago Opera Theater, the Verdi Requiem at the Elora Festival, and (in France) the title role in Charpentier’s “Medée” with Le Concert Spirituel. Her Chicago Opera Theater debut was as Ottavia in “L’Incoronazione di Poppea.” She has sung the title role in “Iphigénie en Tauride” with Opera Atelier, Paride in Gluck’s “Paride ed Elena” at the Caramoor Festival, Ruggiero in “Alcina” with Les Violons du Roy, and “Elijah” with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. She debuted as Rosina in “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”with L’Opéra de Québec and as Magnolia in “Showboat” at the Opéra National du Rhin. She has appeared in recital with Aldeburgh Connection and Ravinia Festival, and in concert and oratorio with Symphony Nova Scotia, Lanaudiere Festival and Calgary Philharmonic. Ms. Szabó sings Zerlina in the Rhombus Media film “Don Giovanni: Leporello’s Revenge,” appearing with baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky. She made her European debut in Amsterdam, singing the title role in Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia.”
Regarded as a “musically arresting presence” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Benjamin Butterfield is in demand for concert, opera and recital. His stage repertoire has encompassed roles in the “Barber of Seville,” “Don Giovanni,” “Die Zauberflöte,” “The Rake’s Progress,” “Persephone,” “The Cunning little Vixen” and “Tamerlano” with performances in Naples at Il Teatro di San Carlo, Theatre du Capitole in Toulouse, Welsh National Opera, the Canadian Opera Company, L’Opera Nationale de Montpellier and Arizona Opera, as well as New York City Opera, L’Opera de Montreal, Vancouver Opera, Glimmerglass Opera Festival and Canterbury Opera in New Zealand.
In concert he has appeared in Britten’s “War Requiem” with the London Symphony Chorus and the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki, the“St. Matthew Passion” and “St. John Passion” with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and “Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln” at the Toronto International Choral Festival. Butterfield has performed with the Symphony Orchestras of San Francisco and Washington, New Jersey, Houston and Chicago. Other appearances have included the Saito Kinen Festival with Seiji Ozawa, and Festival Vancouver performing the Mad Woman in Britten’s “Curlew River.”
The 2005-2006 season finds Butterfield performing Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” at the Bethlehem Bach Festival, a piece that he will reprise with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra along with performances of Handel’s “Messiah.” Other upcoming orchestral engagements include performances with the London Symphony, National Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic and a return to the Carmel Bach Festival this summer.
American bass-baritone Michael Dean is in demand worldwide in both concert and operatic repertoire, appearing with many of the leading opera houses and orchestras of the U.S. and Europe. He has made frequent appearances at New York City Opera, where he has performed the title role in “The Marriage of Figaro,” Leporello in “Don Giovanni,” George in “Of Mice and Men” and Papageno in “The Magic Flute.” Recent appearances have also included Jason McFarlane in the “Live From Lincoln Center” broadcast of “Lizzie Borden,” the title role in “Don Giovanni” in Linz, Austria, “Figaro” in Antwerp, “Of Mice and Men” at Arizona Opera, and Colline in “La Bohème” in Strasbourg and Berlin. Dean has also received critical praise for his numerous recordings of baroque opera, including “Agrippina,” “Ottone,” “Dido and Aeneas,” “Radamisto,” “Giustino” and “Serse.” He recently made his debut with the New York Philharmonic in Aaron Jay Kernis’ “Garden Of Light,” conducted by Kurt Masur, and returned the following year for “Street Scene,” conducted by Leonard Slatkin.
Highlights of the last two seasons include Handel’s “Alexander’s Feast”at the Kennedy Center, “Messiah” at Carnegie Hall, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9with the Omaha Symphony, Bach’s “Magnificat” with the Toronto Symphony and “Messiah” with the Pittsburgh and Baltimore Symphonies. Dean will also return to the Carmel Bach Festival in the summer of 2006 for numerous concerts including Bach cantatas and the “St. John Passion.” Dean is also a member of the voice faculty at UCLA. For more information, visit www.michaeldean.org.
Founded in 1946, Portland Symphonic Choir, now under the direction of Dr. Steven Zopfi, is Portland’s oldest and largest independent choral organization. The Choir presents its own concert series each year in addition to regular performances as the official chorus of the Oregon Symphony. The choir has also appeared at the Cascade Festival of Music in Bend, Oregon, and as guests of the Oregon Ballet Theatre, Portland Youth Philharmonic and the Boston Pops. Membership in the Portland Symphonic Choir is based upon stringent auditions in which current and prospective members must demonstrate not only vocal ability but proficiency at sight singing. Singers selected for membership in the volunteer ensemble come from all walks of live and live throughout the Portland region.
The choir has gained an impressive international reputation through regular tours to Europe and Australia. Most recently the choir sang Mozart’s “Requiem” at the Jablonenc Music Festival and at the famed Rudolfinum Concert Hall in Prague.
The Portland Symphonic Choir is committed to promoting excellence in the tradition of choral music through education and service to the community. In 1989 the choir inaugurated a Girl Choir for girls aged 10 to 16 which has flourished under its conductor, Dr. Roberta Jackson. In 1994 the Choir created a Boy Choir which is also now a thriving independent group. Both groups are valuable training grounds for young singers.
The Pacific Youth Choir (PYC) is a community of six choirs of young singers from ages six through 20. The organization is committed to building and sustaining choirs that perform major works from the choral repertoire at the highest level of musical excellence, while instilling a lifelong love of music in each student.
PYC is dedicated to enriching the lives of its singers by developing their choral artistry in a joyful, caring and nurturing environment. It maintains an extensive and active scholarship program that enables students from low-income families to fully participate in every aspect of its activities, including touring. Through the ongoing process of rehearsal and performance, each PYC singer emerges as a confident young adult whose life has been transformed through a musical education that focuses on community building as an essential aspect of personal growth.
Since its inception in September 2003, the PYC choirs have been in demand, performing in a wide variety of venues at the local, regional and national levels. Performances have included The Chicago Gold Heritage Festival, The Pacific International Children’s Choir Festival, Trinity Cathedral Concert Series, Oregon Symphony Prelude Series, Aurora Women’s Chorus, Aaron Meyer and many other guest concert appearances.
