YANNICK October 2012 The Inaugural Season 27 Season 2012-2013 Friday, October 19, at 8:00 Saturday, October 20, at The Philadelphia Orchestra 8:00 Sunday, October 21, at 2:00 Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Marina Poplavskaya Soprano Christine Rice Mezzo-soprano Rolando Villazón Tenor Mikhail Petrenko Bass Westminster Symphonic Choir Joe Miller Director Verdi Requiem I. Requiem (Solo Quartet and Chorus) II. Dies irae: Dies irae (Chorus) Tuba mirum (Bass and Chorus) Liber scriptus (Mezzo-soprano and Chorus) Quid sum miser (Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, and Tenor) Rex tremendae (Solo Quartet and Chorus) Recordare (Soprano and Mezzo-soprano) Ingemisco (Tenor) Confutatis (Bass and Chorus) Lacrymosa (Solo Quartet and Chorus) III. Offertorio (Solo Quartet) IV. Sanctus (Chorus I and II) V. Agnus Dei (Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, and Chorus) VI. Lux aeterna (Mezzo-soprano, Tenor, and Bass) VII. Libera me (Soprano and Chorus) This program runs approximately 1 hour, 30 minutes, and will be performed without an intermission. 228 Story Title The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin Renowned for its distinctive vivid world of opera and Orchestra boasts a new sound, beloved for its choral music. partnership with the keen ability to capture the National Centre for the Philadelphia is home and hearts and imaginations Performing Arts in Beijing. the Orchestra nurtures of audiences, and admired The Orchestra annually an important relationship for an unrivaled legacy of performs at Carnegie Hall not only with patrons who “firsts” in music-making, and the Kennedy Center support the main season The Philadelphia Orchestra while also enjoying a at the Kimmel Center for is one of the preeminent three-week residency in the Performing Arts but orchestras in the world. Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and also those who enjoy the a strong partnership with The Philadelphia Orchestra’s other area the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Orchestra has cultivated performances at the Mann Festival. an extraordinary history of Center, Penn’s Landing, artistic leaders in its 112 and other venues. The The ensemble maintains seasons, including music Philadelphia Orchestra an important Philadelphia directors Fritz Scheel, Carl Association also continues tradition of presenting Pohlig, Leopold Stokowski, to own the Academy of educational programs for Eugene Ormandy, Riccardo Music—a National Historic students of all ages. Today Muti, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Landmark—as it has since the Orchestra executes a and Christoph Eschenbach, 1957. myriad of education and and Charles Dutoit, who community partnership Through concerts, served as chief conductor programs serving over tours, residencies, from 2008 to 2012. With 45,000 annually, including presentations, and the 2012-13 season, its Neighborhood Concert recordings, the Orchestra Yannick Nézet-Séguin Series, Sound All Around is a global ambassador becomes the eighth music and Family Concerts, and for Philadelphia and for director of The Philadelphia eZseatU. the United States. Having Orchestra. Named music been the first American For more information on director designate in 2010, orchestra to perform in The Philadelphia Orchestra, Nézet-Séguin brings a China, in 1973 at the please visit www.philorch.org. vision that extends beyond request of President Nixon, symphonic music into the today The Philadelphia 29 Soloist Mitch Jenkins Mitch Russian-born soprano Marina Poplavskaya drew international attention after singing the role of Rachel in Halévy’s La Juive in concerts at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in the fall of 2006. Those critically acclaimed performances resulted in invitations from theaters around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera where she made her debut the following year as Natasha in Prokofiev’s War and Peace, conducted by Valery Gergiev. She has returned each season for new productions of Verdi’s Don Carlos, Verdi’s La traviata, and Gounod’s Faust and has also sung Liù in Puccini’s Turandot and appeared with the company in Japan in Don Carlos. Ms. Poplavskaya was born in Moscow and studied at the Ippolitov-Ivanov State Institute of Music. After winning numerous prizes in international competitions, including first prize in the Maria Callas Grand Prix in Athens, she began her professional career at the New Opera Theatre in Moscow, making her operatic debut as Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. She joined the Jette Parker Young Artists Program of the Royal Opera in 2004 and made her company debut as the Third Norn in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung under Antonio Pappano. Following La Juive, Ms. Poplavskaya made her French stage debut in Avignon as Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and her Spanish debut in Valencia in the same role under Lorin Maazel; she has also sung the role at Covent Garden. In the summer of 2008 Ms. Poplavskaya debuted at the Salzburg Festival as Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello, performing under the baton of Riccardo Muti. Later that year she made her debut at La Monnaie in Brussels in a performance of Verdi’s Requiem, followed by her Italian stage debut in Rome, again as Desdemona under Mr. Muti. During the 2012-13 season Ms. Poplavskaya returns to the Metropolitan Opera in Faust, to Los Angeles Opera for Verdi’s I due Foscari, to Covent Garden as Alice in Meyerbeer’s rarely performed Robert le Diable, and to Netherlands Opera in La traviata. She also makes her debut at La Scala as Gutrune in Götterdämmerung under Daniel Barenboim. Ms. Poplavskaya makes her Philadelphia Orchestra debut with these current performances. 30 Soloist Rob Moore British mezzo-soprano Christine Rice was born and educated in Manchester and studied physics at Balliol College, Oxford, before entering the Royal Northern College of Music to study with Robert Alderson. She begins the 2012-13 season with a number of concert performances and, on the operatic stage, in the title role of Bizet’s Carmen at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She is a regular performer at the major European opera houses, including the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; the Bavarian State Opera in Munich; Frankfurt Opera; the Teatro Real in Madrid; and English National Opera. Concert appearances this fall include Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Mass in B minor, Dvorˇák’s Stabat Mater, and a live BBC Radio broadcast featuring works by Britten. For the Royal Opera Ms. Rice has sung Judith in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, Concepcion in Ravel’s L’Heure espagnol, Miranda in Adès’s The Tempest, the title role in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, Sonetka in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Ariadne in the world premiere of Birtwistle’s The Minotaur, and Nicklausse in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann, among others. For English National Opera her roles have included Marguerite in Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust and Arsace in Handel’s Partenope. Other notable roles include Penelope in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria for Frankfurt Opera; Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte for Seattle Opera and the Bavarian State Opera; Diana in Cavalli’s La Calisto for Geneva Opera; Beatrice in Berlioz’s Beatrice and Benedict for the Opera Comique in Paris; and the title roles in Handel’s Ariodante and Rinaldo for the Bavarian State Opera. Ms. Rice also has a very busy concert career, appearing throughout the U.K., Europe, and North America. She performs at the BBC Proms and at the Edinburgh International Festival, working with such conductors as Antonio Pappano and Charles Mackerras. She made her Carnegie Hall debut last October with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Fabio Luisi in the world premiere of Closer to My Own Life by John Harbison with text by Alice Munro. With these current performances, Ms. Rice makes her Philadelphia Orchestra debut. 31 Soloist Felix Broede/DGFelix Tenor Rolando Villazón began the 2012-13 season with concerts at the Musikfest Bremen and the Klara Festival in Brussels. Following these current concerts, which mark his debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra, he performs with the Staatskapelle Berlin under the baton of Daniel Barenboim in concerts featuring songs by Giuseppe Verdi, Mozart’s Requiem, and a world premiere of songs by Elliott Carter. This season he also embarks on a multi-city European tour with a program of songs and arias by Verdi to mark the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth. On the operatic stage Mr. Villazón performs the roles of Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Nemorino in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love with the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; and Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata with the Vienna State Opera. Born in Mexico City, Mr. Villazón began his musical studies at the National Conservatory of Music before entering young artist programs in Pittsburgh and at San Francisco Opera. After winning several prizes at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia Competition in 1999, he made his European debut as Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon in Genoa, swiftly followed by further debuts at the Paris Opera as Alfredo and at the Berlin Staatsoper as Macduff in Verdi’s Macbeth. A recipient of many prestigious awards, Mr. Villazón has been named a Chévalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, one of the highest awards in the fields of arts and literature in France. In 2007 Mr. Villazón became an exclusive recording artist with Deutsche Grammophon. His releases on that label include a CD of operatic duets with soprano Anna Netrebko, as well as both CD and DVD recordings of La traviata, recorded live at the Salzburg Festival. Duets claimed the top spot on the Billboard classical chart shortly after its release in the U.S., and in Europe set a record for the best debut ever for a classical album, climbing to the top of the pop charts in several countries.