≈ 90 minutes · No intermission
Last updated: September 9, 2019
And so we pick up in September where we left off in June: with orchestra and voices in symbiotic, compelling expression of the human condition. Where Mozart’s comic Marriage of Figaro, one of the greatest operas ever written, concluded our 2018/2019 program, we begin this season’s journey with what has often been described as Verdi’s ‘greatest opera’, his Requiem Mass. Dedicated to the writer Alessandro Manzoni, whom Verdi deeply admired, it is a work that brings the Mass for the Dead to life with a blistering drama only ever matched by Mozart’s incomplete Requiem. The power of this masterpiece remains undimmed today, 145 years after its premiere, and it is my hope that this curtain raiser will prove as inspiring, moving and passionate as the season to come. On behalf of the entire NAC Orchestra family, a warm welcome back to Southam Hall and here’s to unforgettable moments together!
The NAC Orchestra’s first performance of Verdi’s Requiem took place in 1998 under the direction of Helmuth Rilling, with Alessandra Marc, Jard van Nes, Gerald Gray and Simon Estes as soloists. The Orchestra’s most recent interpretation of this work, presented in 2012 with Pinchas Zukerman on the podium, featured the singers Adrianne Pieczonka, Measha Brueggergosman. Anita Krause, James Valenti and Eric Owens.
Chorus
Choristers from:
Cantata Singers of Ottawa (CSO)
Ottawa Choral Society
Rehearsal Pianists:
Frédéric Lacroix
Scott Richardson
Rehearsal Soloists:
Lynlee Wolstencroft, soprano
Carole Portelance, mezzo-soprano
Philip Klaassen, tenor
Ryan Hofman, baritone
________
Soprano
Carol Anderson OCS
Kristi Aruja CSO
Sandra Bason OCS
Stephanie Brassard OCS
Loretta Cassidy OCS
Sheilah Craven OCS
Heather Crowther *
Renée Dahn OCS
Valeria Dimitrova OCS
Kathy Dobbin OCS
Valerie Douglas CSO
Janet Doyle OCS
Carol Fahie OCS
Jane Flook OCS
Janet Fraser OCS
Rachel Gagnon OCS
Deirdre Garcia CSO
Beth Granger OCS
Christy Harris OCS
Natasha Harwood CSO
Julie Henderson OCS
Susan Hodgson *
Susan Joss OCS
Floralove Katz OCS
Sharon Keenan-Hayes CSO
Alison Lamont OCS
Lucie Laneville CSO
Anna Lehn OCS
Joyce Lundberg OCS
Pat MacDonald OCS
Mary Martel-Cantelon OCS
Margaret McCoy OCS
Jessyca Morgan CSO
Colleen Morris CSO
Shailla Nargundkar OCS
Derry Neufeld OCS
Cathy Patton CSO
Nancy Savage OCS
Susan Scott OCS
Jane Sly OCS
Kachusa Szeto *
Ellen Tsai *
Veronique Vonderau *
Uyen Vu OCS
Lynlee Wolstencroft */**
Jean Wylie *
Hiroko Yokota-Adachi CSO
Karen Zarrouki *
Alto
Barbara Ackison CSO
Joan Auden *
Nicole Bélecque *
Ruth Belyea OCS
Frances Berkman OCS
Tracey Brethour *
Trish Brooks CSO
Jennifer Brown OCS
Judy Brush CSO
Frances Buckley OCS
Lisa Callahan OCS
Maureen Carpenter OCS
Sue Chapman OCS
Jackie Clark *
Vickie Classen Iles CSO
Barbara Collins OCS
Barbara Colton OCS
Janet Cover CSO
Jennifer Davis OCS
Margaret Fritz *
Mary Beth Garneau OCS
Mary Gordon CSO
Adele Graf OCS
Carolyn Greve *
Tara Hall *
Lisa Hans OCS
Catherine Helferty *
Paula Helmer OCS
Lisanne Hendelman OCS
Jennifer Hicks OCS
Sharon Hiebert OCS
Pein-Pein Huang CSO
Maureen Hutchinson OCS
Patricia Jackson OCS
Eileen Johnson CSO
Katharine Kirkwood *
Margot Lange *
Grace Mann CSO
Lois Marion OCS
Beth Martin OCS
Nora McBean OCS
Kathryn McCarthy OCS
Andi Murphy CSO
Chantal Phan OCS
Carole Portalance */**
Eileen Reardon OCS
Heather Reid OCS
Peggy Robinson *
Nesta Scott OCS
Elizabeth Shore OCS
Sally Sinclair OCS
Heidi Sprung OCS
Claire Thompson OCS
Danielle Tremblay OCS
Tenor
Vicken Avrikian OCS
Gary Boyd CSO
Noah Bragança OCS
Diane Chevrier OCS
Tim Coonen OCS
Neil Crawford CSO
Kim Current OCS
Marc de La Durantaye *
Charles Donnelly OCS
John Goldsmith OCS
Bill Graham OCS
Toby Greenbaum OCS
Jim Howse OCS
Ross Jewell CSO
Philip Klaassen* */**
Roy Lidstone OCS
Louis Majeau OCS
Alf Mallin OCS
Karl Mann CSO
Michel Marinier OCS
Simon McMillan OCS
John Moffat OCS
Mark Munday *
David Palframan OCS
Sue Postlethwaite OCS
Martin Presenza OCS
Charles Pryce *
Peter Robb *
Kent Siebrasse OCS
JF Tardif *
________
Bass
Paul Badertscher OCS
George Bailey OCS
Ron Bell *
Chris Berry OCS
Terry Brynaert *
Roger Butt OCS
Sholto Cole OCS
Mark Dumbrique CSO
Andrew Hodgson CSO
Ryan Hofman */**
Greg Huyer CSO
Peter Janzen OCS
Björn Johansson CSO
Gary King OCS
Doug MacDonald OCS
Ian MacMillan OCS
Christopher Mallory CSO
J.P. McElhone, CSO
Craig McIntyre OCS
Peter McRae CSO
Gerald Oakham OCS
Bruce Pettipas *
Andrew Rodger OCS
Mathieu Roussel-Lewis OCS
Mathieu Roy OCS
Daniel Savoie CSO
Glen Seeds CSO
Mark Silver OCS
Gavriel Swayze OCS
Tim Thompson OCS
Rodney Williamson *
John Young CSO
* Guest chorister | ** Rehearsal Soloist
Repertoire
Requiem
Born in Le Roncole, October 10, 1813
Died in Milan, January 27, 1901
Verdi’s Requiem stands at the very pinnacle of the sacred choral repertoire for its passionate sincerity, expressive intensity and dramatic – at times even theatrical – power. Only one Requiem before it (that of Berlioz) and one after (Britten’s War Requiem) can match Verdi’s in scope and grandeur.
The history of Verdi’s Requiem is bound up in the deaths of two of Italy’s greatest cultural heroes, the composer Gioachino Rossini and the writer Alessandro Manzoni. Rossini died in 1868, a living legend even forty years after he had written his final opera. To honour his memory, Verdi conceived the idea of asking a dozen composers each to contribute a section of a composite Mass to be performed in Bologna on the first anniversary of his death (November 13). Verdi’s own contribution would be the concluding Libera me.
Why Bologna? Because this was the city where Rossini had grown up, studied and produced his first opera. The city council approved the plan, the composers (important then but none of whom is even a faintly recognized name today) were assigned their parts, and soloists were booked. But as the performance date approached, it became increasingly apparent that the orchestra and chorus of the Teatro Comunale were not going to offer their services gratis as everyone else involved had agreed to do, and the whole plan disintegrated. Verdi was bitterly disappointed. The music was collected and deposited in the archives of the publishing firm of Ricordi. Nothing more was heard of it until over a century later, when its first performance in modern times was conducted in 1988 by Helmut Rilling in Stuttgart.
Verdi’s Libera me lay quietly forgotten for several years while the composer involved himself with Aida and other matters. Enter a figure named Alberto Mazzucato – composer, critic, professor at the Milan Conservatory, and one of the members of the Rossini commemoration committee. Having seen Verdi’s Libera me at Ricordi’s, he was moved to write the composer: “You, my dear maestro, have written the most beautiful, the most magnificent, the most colossally poetic page one can imagine. Nothing more perfect has been done so far; nothing beyond it can ever be done.” This effusive praise, to which Verdi replied in equally complimentary terms, was apparently the catalyst that stirred Verdi to contemplate writing an entire Requiem himself. He had already begun when the news reached him of the death of the revered novelist and poet Alessandro Manzoni on May 22, 1873.
Manzoni, born in 1785, was the leader of the Italian romantic school and his country’s greatest literary figure of the nineteenth century. Manzoni also, like Verdi, was one of Italy’s leading public figures in the struggle for Italian independence and unification. Both of these great artists were widely regarded as symbols of the new Italy. Both were elected to the first Italian parliament in 1861. It was only fitting that Verdi would die 28 years later at the same age as Manzoni, 88.
Verdi immediately resolved to complete his Requiem and dedicate it to the memory of Manzoni. He proposed to the mayor that the first anniversary of the death of Manzoni be marked by the premiere of his Requiem, all expenses to be borne by the City of Milan. All came to pass as scheduled, without the bickering that attended the Rossini fiasco five years earlier. The venue chosen was the thirteenth-century, Lombard-Gothic style Church of St. Mark’s, and the event was such a triumph that three additional performances had to be scheduled at La Scala.
The Requiem opens in a mood of hushed mystery, “as if with a reverent, head-bowing gesture” (James Hepokoski). A normal Mass would begin with the Kyrie, but this being a Requiem Mass, it is introduced by the Introit consisting of the antiphon “Requiem aeternam dona eis” (Eternal rest grant them) and the psalm “Te decet hymnus” (A hymn becometh Thee), the latter sung a cappella (without instrumental accompaniment). The solo voices make their successive entries in the Kyrie, where the tempo quickens and the mood brightens for the prayer for mercy.
The Dies irae is by far the longest section of the Requiem. In its opening pages Verdi pulls out all the stops, unleashing the full power of his large orchestra and chorus in its portrayal of the terrors of Judgment Day. In those “downward chromatic phrases of the opening verse the whole universe seems to slide to ruin,” writes Dyneley Hussey. In eight further sub-sections, the peoples’ hopes, fears, and pleas for salvation are portrayed by the various soloists in moods ranging from hushed awe to terrified outbursts. Twice more the electrifying opening verse returns. The frightening power and visceral impact of this music caused some of the Requiem’s early critics to complain that it was too operatic, too theatrical, not dignified or ecclesiastical enough. For these critics, the noted New York critic Lawrence Gilman had the answer: “Are not the words themselves dramatic, lurid, theatrical enough, in all conscience? Are the basic conceptions that underlie the text: the thoughts, visions, prayers of the believer – are these reserved and sober and austere? The thought of the Judgment Day, when the graves shall give up their dead, when the heavens shall be rolled together like a scroll and the world becomes ashes; the thought of the trumpets of the Resurrection; the thought of the horror of the everlasting darkness, of the fiery lake, of the agonies of damnation; the thought of universal lamentation, supplication, dread: what music could be too dramatic, lurid, vehement, theatrical to come within speaking distance of such appalling conceptions?”
The Offertorio is more intimate in character, at times taking on a chamber music quality. It omits the chorus but spotlights all four soloists, both individually and as an ensemble. It is laid out in an arch form, ABCBA. The outer sections are set to a gently rocking rhythm that develops from the opening solo cello lines. Verdi withholds the timbre of the bright soprano voice until the appropriate pictorial moment: at the words “sed signifer sanctus Michael…,” where St. Michael will bring the souls of the faithful from the maws of hell to the holy light that God promised to Abraham and his seed. At the mention of “Abraham and his seed,” the music quickens and enters the “B” section of the arch to a brief canonic treatment of the initial motif, thus suggesting the progeny generated by Abraham. The central Hostias is music of quiet radiance and inner peace, introduced by the tenor dolcissimo (very sweetly).
The Sanctus is short but spirited, and contains the only truly joyous music in the Requiem, a fugue sung by double chorus (in eight parts). Near the end of this contrapuntal tour de force Verdi adds a spine-tingling effect in the form of a run up and down the chromatic scale, played fortissimo by every single instrument from tuba to piccolo.
The Agnus Dei is, by contrast, the essence of simplicity. The opening for solo soprano and mezzo singing quietly and dolcissimo in octaves is as memorable in its own way as was the terrifying outburst that opened the Dies irae. Francis Toye calls it music of “mystical beauty.” This thirteen-bar duet is then repeated in five different ways, each time to different scoring: chorus and orchestra in unison and octaves in the first; the two soloists (now in the minor mode) accompanied by woodwinds and violas in the second; chorus and orchestra in a harmonization in the third (only six measures long); the soloists and three flutes in the fourth; soloists, chorus and orchestra in another harmonization for the fifth.
The Lux aeterna opens with a shimmering background of violins divided into six parts, against which the mezzo quietly intones the prayer for perpetual light. The bass makes the same plea, but in solemn tones to the tread of a funeral march. After two more repetitions (including one for a cappella solo trio), Verdi introduces some felicitous woodwind writing that brings to mind the delicacy of scoring in the evening scene on the Nile in Aida (opening of Act III).
The solo soprano, silent throughout the Lux aeterna, suddenly springs to the fore at the beginning of the Libera me. In terrified tones that might well have come from an operatic recitative, she implores the Deity for salvation from the agonies of hell. From this point on, the movement serves as a summary of the entire Requiem, revisiting or recalling various parts of the enormous edifice: a literal reprise of the opening of the Dies irae, a return to the music of solemn mystery that opened the entire Requiem, now scored for solo soprano and a cappella choir; a fugue set to the rhythm and to a melodic inversion of the Sanctus; and other references to the past. This is not, incidentally, exactly the same Libera me Verdi composed for the aborted Rossini commemoration five years earlier; it has been somewhat revised, mostly in matters of scoring. The Requiem closes with the chorus intoning a final supplication for deliverance, now in an almost inaudible whisper that seems to disappear into the farthest reaches of the cosmos.
The emotional impact and expressive power of Verdi’s Requiem have stimulated innumerable paeans of praise. Here is what Herbert Elwell wrote in the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 1953: “One comes away with an impression like the mighty sweep and grandeur of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, or the flying pennants and golden lions of San Marco in Venice. There is an outpouring of the spirit in this work that defies description. It leaves one weak and unstrung by the tremendous current of its inspiration.”
– Program notes by Robert Markow
Artists
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“A natural communicator, both on and off the podium” (The Telegraph), Alexander Shelley performs across six continents with the world’s finest orchestras and soloists.
With a conducting technique described as “immaculate” (Yorkshire Post) and a “precision, distinction and beauty of gesture not seen since Lorin Maazel” (Le Devoir), Shelley is known for the clarity and integrity of his interpretations and the creativity and vision of his programming. He has spearheaded over 40 major world premieres to date, including highly praised cycles of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms symphonies, operas, ballets, and innovative multi-media productions.
Since 2015, he has served as Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and Principal Associate Conductor of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In April 2023, he was appointed Artistic and Music Director of Artis–Naples in Florida, providing artistic leadership for the Naples Philharmonic and the entire multidisciplinary arts organization. The 2024–2025 season is Shelley’s inaugural season in this position. In addition to his other conducting roles, the Pacific Symphony in Los Angeles’s Orange County announced Shelley’s appointment as its next Artistic and Music Director. The initial five-year term begins in the 2026–2027 season, with Shelley serving as Music Director-Designate from September 2025.
Additional 2024–2025 season highlights include performances with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Colorado Symphony, the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, the Seattle Symphony, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland). Shelley is a regular guest with some of the finest orchestras of Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Australasia, including Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Helsinki, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Malaysian, Oslo, Rotterdam and Stockholm philharmonic orchestras, and the Sao Paulo, Houston, Seattle, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Montreal, Toronto, Munich, Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney, and New Zealand symphony orchestras.
In September 2015, Shelley succeeded Pinchas Zukerman as Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, the youngest in its history. The ensemble has since been praised as “an orchestra transformed ... hungry, bold, and unleashed” (Ottawa Citizen), and his programming is credited for turning the orchestra “almost overnight ... into one of the more audacious orchestras in North America” (Maclean’s). Together, they have undertaken major tours of Canada, Europe, and Carnegie Hall, where they premiered Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 13.
They have commissioned ground-breaking projects such as Life Reflected and Encount3rs, released multiple Juno-nominated albums and, most recently, responded to the pandemic and social justice issues of the era with the NACO Live and Undisrupted video series.
In August 2017, Shelley concluded his eight-year tenure as Chief Conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, a period hailed by press and audiences alike as a golden era for the orchestra.
Shelley’s operatic engagements have included The Merry Widow and Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet (Royal Danish Opera), La bohème (Opera Lyra/National Arts Centre), Louis Riel (Canadian Opera Company/National Arts Centre), lolanta (Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen), Così fan tutte (Opéra national de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon), The Marriage of Figaro (Opera North), Tosca (Innsbruck), and both Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni in semi-staged productions at the NAC.
Winner of the ECHO Music Prize and the Deutsche Grunderpreis, Shelley was conferred with the Cross of the Federal Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in April 2023 in recognition of his services to music and culture.
Through his work as Founder and Artistic Director of the Schumann Camerata and their pioneering “440Hz” series in Dusseldorf, as founding Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen’s “Zukunftslabor” and through his regular tours leading the National Youth Orchestra of Germany, inspiring future generations of classical musicians and listeners has always been central to Shelley’s work.
He regularly gives informed and passionate pre- and post-concert talks on his programs, as well as numerous interviews and podcasts on the role of classical music in society. In Nuremberg alone, over nine years, he hosted over half a million people at the annual Klassik Open Air concert, Europe’s largest classical music event.
Born in London in October 1979 to celebrated concert pianists, Shelley studied cello and conducting in Germany and first gained widespread attention when he was unanimously awarded first prize at the 2005 Leeds Conductors Competition, with the press describing him as “the most exciting and gifted young conductor to have taken this highly prestigious award.”
The Music Director role is supported by Elinor Gill Ratcliffe, C.M., ONL, LL.D. (hc).
The Cantata Singers of Ottawa exist to perform choral music to the highest standards, to promote choral music in Ottawa, and to support Canadian musical talent by commissioning Canadian composers, engaging Canadian musicians, and offering scholarships to young Canadian singers.
Since 1964, the Cantata Singers have been bringing choral music to our nation’s capital and beyond, with hundreds of concerts and thousands of works from all over the world. The choir’s annual concert series presents innovative programmes of a wide variety of classical and contemporary music.
In Season 61, the Cantata Singers are pleased to present:
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Saint Nicolas and A Ceremony of Carols, the community event envisioned by composer Benjamin Britten, with a professional soloist and musicians, children’s choruses and a student orchestra.
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Ave Maria, an acapella concert of interpretations of the prayer Ave Maria from across the centuries and cultures, from plainsong to 21st-century composers.
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Splendours of Venice, a concert of Venetian music of the 17th century accompanied by the Ottawa Baroque Consort on period instruments.
One of Canada’s premier large choral ensembles, the Ottawa Choral Society (OCS) draws its auditioned voices from across the National Capital Region. As well as presenting an annual subscription series, the Society appears regularly with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, performs under renowned conductors with acclaimed vocal artists, and tours internationally. Its programming is diverse and ambitious—from timeless masterworks to adventurous music by today’s leading composers.
With a vision of creating community through music, the OCS fosters Canadian talent by providing training opportunities for young soloists, conductors, and choral singers. The Society commissions and performs new works, engages leading Canadian musicians, offers bursaries and scholarships, and invites the region’s outstanding youth and children’s choirs to share its stage.
Our 2023–2024 season begins with A Christmas Playlist at the National Arts Centre. On December 17, we perform a concert of seasonal music (at St. Francis of Assisi Church) featuring renowned actor Pierre Brault as storyteller. On March 5, 2024, we present Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and other works by Jewish composers (at Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre). On May 26 we perform the Te Deums by Haydn, Dvořák, and Pärt, at St. Francis of Assisi. Our season closes with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the National Arts Centre on June 19 and 20.
ottawachoralsociety.com
Internationally recognized conductor, scholar, and pedagogue Jean-Sébastien Vallée was named as the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir’s eighth Artistic Director in June 2021. In addition to his work as Artistic Director of the Choir, Jean-Sébastien is Associate Professor of Music, Director of Choral Studies, and Coordinator of the Ensembles & Conducting Area at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University.
Jean-Sébastien has conducted ensembles throughout North America, Europe, and Asia and has prepared choruses for leading orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. In addition to his interest in choral, operatic, and orchestral music, Jean-Sébastien is an advocate for contemporary music, making it a priority to premiere and commission works by young composers, and to program rarely performed repertoire. He has recorded extensively under the ATMA Classique label.
Three-time Grammy winner for Best Choral Performance, Best Classical Recording, and Best Opera Performance, Duain Wolfe is in his 20th season of preparing choral works for the National Arts Centre Orchestra and his 40th season as founder-director of the Colorado Symphony Chorus. Well known for his work with children, he is Founder of the Colorado Children’s Chorale, from which he retired in 1999 after 25 years.
Wolfe recently retired as Director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus after 28 years. In 2008 he conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a tribute concert of choral/orchestral masterworks as the culmination of the Chorus’s season-long 50th-anniversary celebration. He also directed the Chorus for the 1998 Grammy Award-winning recording of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with the late Sir Georg Solti.
Wolfe’s other accomplishments include directing and preparing choruses for Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, the Bravo! Vail Festival, the Berkshire Choral Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Grand Teton Music Festival. For 20 years, he also worked with the Central City Opera Festival as chorus director and conductor, founding and directing the company’s young artist residence program, as well as its education and outreach programs.
In 2012 Duain Wolfe received the Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art, awarded by Chorus America.
Tobi Hunt McCoy is enjoying another year as season Stage Manager with the National Arts Centre Orchestra. In past seasons, she stage-managed Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Christopher Plummer in 2001 and Colm Feore in 2014. She co-produced the 1940s Pops show On the Air with Jack Everly for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, a show they co-produced in 2007 for the NAC Orchestra.
In 2018, McCoy made her Southam Hall acting debut in the role of Stage Manager in the Magic Circle Mime Co.’s production of Orchestra from Planet X. Additional professional duties have included aiding Susanna and the Countess in schooling the Count and Figaro on the finer points of marital love during The Marriage of Figaro, keeping her eyes open (for the first time ever) during the flying monkey scene in The Wizard of Oz, mistakenly asking Patrick Watson for proof of identity backstage, holding her breath while marvelling at the athletic ability of the cast during Cirque Goes Broadway, continuing to implement feedback on her British-Columbian French with the choruses of Ottawa, and cheering on Luke and Princess Leia with Charlie Ross, Émilie Fournier, and Eric Osner during the Star Wars Pops concert.
In her spare time, McCoy is the Head of Arts, Drama, English, and Library at Lisgar Collegiate Institute.
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees