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Marin Alsop Leads BSO, The Washington Chorus in 2010‐2011 Season Finale, Verdi’s Requiem, June 9‐12

Baltimore, Md. (May 31, 2011) – The 2010‐2011 season will conclude with a performance of Verdi’s

Requiem, featuring soprano Angela Meade, mezzo‐soprano Eve Gigliotti, tenor Roger Honeywell, and bass‐baritone Alfred Walker, supported by The Washington Chorus and led by Music Director

Marin Alsop on Thursday, June 9 at 8 p.m., Friday, June 10 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 12 at 3 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Saturday, June 11 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore. Please see below for complete program details.

Verdi composed Messa di Requiem in 1873. It is an epic musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass, written as a memorial for the great Italian poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni

Verdi admired Manzoni, who’s works helped forge an Italian national identity. The work was premiered in 1874 at the San Marco Church in Milan during the first anniversary of Manzoni’s death.

Joining the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to perform this epic work is The Washington Chorus, under the direction of Julian Wachner. Back by popular demand, the Chorus collaborated with the

BSO for last season’s finale concert of Brahms’ German Requiem. Also led by Maestra Alsop, The

Baltimore Sun praised, “[Alsop] summoned considerable beauty of expression‐‐and plenty of power for the score’s few heated moments – from the BSO and the Washington Chorus.”

Marin Alsop, conductor Hailed as one of the world’s leading conductors for her artistic vision and commitment to accessibility in classical music, Marin Alsop made history with her appointment as the 12th music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. With her inaugural concerts in September 2007, she became the first woman to head a major American orchestra. She also holds the title of conductor emeritus at the Bournemouth Symphony in the United Kingdom, where she served as the principal conductor from 2002‐2008, and is music director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California.

In 2005, Ms. Alsop was named a MacArthur Fellow, the first conductor ever to receive this prestigious award. In 2007, she was honored with a European Women of Achievement Award, in 2008 she was inducted as a fellow into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2009 Musical America named her “Conductor of the Year.” In November 2010, she was inducted into the Classical Music Hall of Fame. In February 2011, Marin Alsop was named the music director of the Orquestra Sinfônica do estado de São Paulo (OSESP), or the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, effective for the 2012‐13 season. Ms. Alsop was named to Guardian’s Top 100 Women list in March 2011.

A regular guest conductor with the , The Philadelphia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ms. Alsop appears frequently as a guest conductor with the most distinguished orchestras around the world. In addition to her performance activities, she is also an active recording artist with award‐winning cycles of Brahms, Barber and Dvořák.

Marin Alsop attended Yale University and received her master’s degree from The . In 1989, her conducting career was launched when she won the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize at Tanglewood where she studied with .

Angela Meade, soprano Less than two years after her professional debut, American soprano Angela Meade has quickly become recognized as one of the outstanding vocalists of her generation. The New Yorker hailed her as ʺa lavishly gifted young soprano who sings across a very wide range with uncommon beauty and strength of tone…this fast rising soprano will undoubtedly have many triumphsʺ. Angela Meade excels in the most demanding heroines of the nineteenth century bel canto repertoire as well as in the operas of Verdi and Mozart.

Angela Meade joined an elite group of historyʹs singers when she made her professional operatic debut on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera as Verdiʹs Elvira in Ernani substituting for an ill colleague in March 2008. Ronald Blum of the Associated Press wrote of the debut, ʺshe showed a vibrant voice with nice color and an assured technique and sang like an old pro from start to finish.ʺ She had previously sung on the Met stage as one of the winners of the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, a process that is documented in the film The Audition recently released on DVD by Decca. The New York Times noted Angela Meade as ʺan impressive soprano who powered out a ʹCasta divaʹ from Belliniʹs Norma that left everyone breathless.ʺ

Eve Gigliotti, mezzo‐soprano Newcomer to the stage, young mezzo‐soprano Eve Gigliotti is thrilling audiences with her rich, warm timbre, dynamic stage presence and easy vocal production. In the 2010‐2011 season Ms. Gigliotti will make her Bilbao debut as Isabella in L’italiana in Algieri, she returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Mercedes in Carmen and Sigrune in Wagner’s Die Walküre, and she will sing Verdi’s Requiem with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Last season, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Mercedes in the new production of Carmen, she performed Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Oregon Symphony as well as Maria Aegyptiaca in Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s’ Faust with the American Symphony Orchestra at Avery Fischer Hall. She finished the season as Mrs. Hobs in Flora at Spoleto Festival USA.

Roger Honeywell, tenor Canadian tenor Roger Honeywell has been acclaimed as a performer “with the right kind of heroic mettle to his voice” (Opera Now) Mr. Honeywell’s exciting 2010‐2011 season began with two world premieres; first is the world premiere of Lillian Alling in the role of Jimmy by John Estacio and John Murrell, followed by the world premiere of The Inventor by Bramwell Tovey and John Murell in the role of Smoot. Additional operatic appearances include Narraboth in Salome with the Opéra de Montréal, and The Officer, as well as the cover of Bacchus, in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Canadian Opera Company. He can also be heard with the Vancouver Symphony in performances of Verdi’s Requiem.

In the 2009‐2010 season, Mr. Honeywell was seen as Danilo in The Merry Widow with the Chicago Lyric Opera, and with Santa Fe Opera in Lewis Spratlan’s Pulitzer Prize winning Life Is a Dream. Other performances of note included Don Jose in Carmen with the Pittsburgh Opera, and as Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly and also in Tan Dun’s critically acclaimed contemporary opera Tea, both with the Opera Philadelphia, and La Boheme with Opera Ontario.

Alfred Walker, bass‐baritone Gaining rapid international and national acclaim for his commanding performances, Alfred Walker returns to Theater Basel in the 2010‐11 season for his first performances of Amfortas in Parsifal and Amonasro in Aida. He also returns to the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Bramwell Tovey for Porgy in Porgy in Bess at Tanglewood. Last season, he debuted the roles of Creonte in Medea with the Opéra national de Lorraine in Nancy and the title role of Don Quichotte with Tulsa Opera in addition to returning to San Diego Opera for Colline in La bohème and singing Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. .

The bass‐baritone recently triumphed as the title role in Der fliegende Holländer at Theater Basel, Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde at Angers Nantes Opera and Opéra de Dijon, and Il Prologo in Gnecchi’s Cassandra with the Deutsche Oper Berlin. His celebrated characterization of Orest in Elektra has been seen at Teatro alla Scala, Seattle Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Spain’s San Sebastián Festival and he received great acclaim for performances of Allazim in the Peter Sellars’ production of Zaide at the Festival d’Aix en Provence, Wiener Festwochen, London’s Barbican Center, and ’s Mostly Mozart Festival. He sang Telramund in concert performances of Lohengrin in Oviedo, Spain under the baton of Semyon Bychkov and later joined the conductor and the WDR Sinfonie Orchester Köln for Lodovico in Otello. .

The Washington Chorus Founded in 1961 as the Oratorio Society of Washington, The Washington Chorus is noted for its critically‐acclaimed performances and recordings of the entire range of the choral repertoire. A Grammy Award‐winner, The Washington Chorus is currently celebrating its 50th season and is considered a cultural leader in the Washington area. The Chorus, under direction of Music Director Julian Wachner, presents an annual subscription series at the J. F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Music Center at Strathmore, and other major venues throughout the Washington area. The Chorus frequently appears at the invitation of the National Symphony Orchestra, singing under the direction of many of the world’s greatest conductors, including Leonard Slatkin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Neville Marriner, Charles Dutoit, Kent Nagano, Marin Alsop, and many others. Most recently, the Chorus performed Verdi’s Requiem with the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach in his first appearance as the NSO’s new Music Director, and the Brahms Requiem with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The Chorus also premiered David Hurd’s Three Psalms at the recent National Convention of the American Guild of Organists in Washington DC. A leader in its commitment to the support of new music, the Chorus has instituted a multi‐year concert series, New Music for a New Age, which features the music of living composers such as Trevor Weston, Nico Muhly, Elena Ruehr and others. The Chorus has recorded, been nationally broadcast and internationally televised, performed as part of a motion picture soundtrack, and has performed for presidential inaugurations and to honor world leaders. In February of 2000 the Chorus, under the direction of former Music Director Robert Shafer, won a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance of the Year for its live‐performance recording of ’s War Requiem. Other recordings include the newly released Christmas CD Christmas with The Washington Chorus, Glorious Splendor, Sing Noel!!, the Berlioz Requiem (Gothic Recordings), Dvorák’s Stabat Mater and Psalm 149 (Naxos International), Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov (nominated for a Grammy in 1988), and the Grammy Award‐winning Of Rage and Remembrance by John Corigliano with the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin. The Chorus has toured internationally, traveling to such musically important destinations as Paris, Vienna, Prague, Barcelona, and Rome, among others. To better serve its local community, the Chorus also has various educational programs and presents free concerts throughout the greater Washington area for special needs groups. The Washington Chorus is deeply committed to being a strong presence in the Washington community.

Julian Wachner, The Washington Chorus, Music Director Music Director of The Washington Chorus, Julian Wachner is one of North America’s most exciting and versatile musicians, sought‐after as both conductor and composer. Last summer, he made history having been selected as both conductor (With Blood, With Ink by Daniel Crozier; Zolle by Du Yun) and composer (Evangeline Revisited) at the company’s annual VOX festival of contemporary opera. In addition to his City Opera debut, Wachner regularly appears on the world’s leading stages, including engagements with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Glimmerglass Opera, Montréal Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Portland Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toledo Symphony, Honolulu Symphony, Spoleto Festival USA, Music Academy of the West, Berkshire Choral Festival, Calgary Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Handel & Haydn Society, Pacific Symphony, and L’Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal. In addition to being music director of The Washington Chorus, Wachner is the inaugural director of music and the arts for Trinity Wall Street, the historic Episcopal parish in lower Manhattan. He is also associate professor of music at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montréal, Québec, where he serves as principal conductor of Opera McGill. Julian Wachner’s original music has been described as “bold and atmospheric” by the New York Times, “jazzy, energetic, and ingenious” by the Boston Globe, “highly enjoyable, touching, clever, and inspiring” by the Deseret News, and “upbeat, jazzy, glittering, and poignant” by the Providence Journal. His complete catalogue of music, containing over 80 works, is published by E. C. Schirmer. COMPLETE PROGRAM INFORMATION BSO Classical Concert: Verdi’s Requiem Thursday, June 9, 2011 at 8:00 p.m.—Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (JMSH) Friday, June 10, 2011 at 8:00 p.m.—JMSH Saturday, June 11, 2011 at 8:00 p.m.—The Music Center at Strathmore Sunday, June 12 at 3:00 p.m.— JMSH

Marin Alsop, conductor Angela Meade, soprano Eve Gigliotti, mezzo‐soprano Roger Honeywell, tenor Alfred Walker, bass‐baritone The Washington Chorus Julian Wachner, music director

Verdi: Messa di Requiem

Tickets range from $28 to $88. Tickets are available through the BSO Ticket Office, 410.783.8000 or BSOmusic.org. ###