BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913-1976)
War Requiem (1962)
On the title page of the War Requiem Benjamin Britten quotes Wilfred Owen: “My subject is War, and the pity of War / The Poetry is in the pity … / All a poet can do today is warn.” A gripping condemnation of war and a call for reconciliation and peace, Britten’s monumental work is one of the masterpieces of 20th century music. Scored for soprano, tenor, baritone, chorus, boys’ choir, plus large and chamber orchestras, it was composed for the consecration of the new St. Michael’s Cathedral in Coventry, England. The new structure was built alongside and incorporated the ruins of the original 14th century cathedral that had been destroyed—along with most of the city—by the German Luftwaffe on November 14-15, 1940. Some five years later, on February 13, 14, and 15, 1945, England’s Royal Air Force and the US Air Force repaid this devastation by razing the German city of Dresden, wreaking even greater havoc on people and property. The War Requiem was conceived as a gesture of reconciliation. (Two seasons ago, the New York Philharmonic premiered Colin Matthews’s Berceuse for Dresden, for the consecration of Dresden’s rebuilt Church of our Lady, in an analogous gesture.) A pacifist, Britten described the plan for his work to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, the baritone soloist who sang Owen’s posthumously published texts at the premiere: “It is a full-scale Requiem Mass for chorus and orchestra (in memory of those of all nations who died in the last war), and I am interspersing the Latin text with many poems of a great English poet, Wilfred Owen, who was killed in the First World War. These magnificent poems, full of the hate of destruction, are a kind of commentary on the Mass.” The masterful interweaving is echoed in the orchestration and the vocal writing. For example: the horrific images of the call to the Last Judgment by the last trumpet are mirrored in Owen’s poem “Voices,” which refers to the sound of bugles, while brass fanfares sound in the orchestra. But the central poem in the War Requiem is “The Parable of the Old Man and the Young,” in which Owen retells the story of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son Isaac. In the Bible, the angel intercedes and Abraham sacrifices a ram instead. But Owen’s poem reads: “Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps, / And builded parapets and trenches there / And stretched forth the knife to slay his son. / When lo! an angel called him out of heaven, / Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, / Neither do anything to him, thy son./… But the old man would not so, but slew his son,--/ And half the seed of Europe, one by one”—a devastating indictment of those who would rather make war than find a way to peace. Owen died one week before the Armistice was declared, felled by a sniper’s bullet. No one can fail to be moved by the Requiem’s apocalyptic vision, chilling beauty, deepest sorrow, and plea for peace.

Lorin Maazel, who has led more than 150 orchestras in more than 5,000 opera and concert performances, became Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in September 2002. His appointment came 60 years after his debut with the Orchestra at Lewisohn Stadium, then the Orchestra’s summer venue. As Music Director he has conducted seven World Premiere–NewYork Philharmonic Commissions, including the Pulitzer Prize– and Grammy Award–winning On the Transmigration of Souls by John Adams; Stephen Hartke’s Symphony No. 3; and Melinda Wagner’s Trombone Concerto. He has led cycles of works by Brahms, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky; and he conducted the Orchestra’s inaugural performances in the DG Concerts series — a groundbreaking initiative to offer downloadable New York Philharmonic concerts exclusively on iTunes.

Mr. Maazel has taken the Orchestra on numerous international tours, including the historic visit to Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, in February 2008 — the first performance there by an American orchestra, and an event watched around the world. Other recent tours have included Asia 2008 — to Taipei, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing; the May 2007 Tour of Europe; the November 2006 visit to Japan and Korea; the Philharmonic Tour of Italy in June 2006, sponsored by Generali; the two-part 75th Anniversary European Tour to thirteen cities in five countries in the fall of 2005; and residencies in Cagliari, Sardinia, and at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado.

In addition to the New York Philharmonic, Mr. Maazel is music director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain. A frequent conductor on the world’s operatic stages, he returned to The Metropolitan Opera in January 2008 for the first time in 45 years to conduct Wagner’s Die Walküre.

Prior to his tenure as New York Philharmonic Music Director, Mr. Maazel led more than 100 performances of the Orchestra as a guest conductor. He served as music director of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (1993–2002), and has held positions as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1988–96); general manager and chief conductor of the Vienna Staatsoper (1982–84); music director of The Cleveland Orchestra (1972–82); and artistic director and chief conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1965–71). He is an honorary member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic. On February 17, 2009, he will be named a Commander of the Legion of Honor by the government of France.

A second-generation American, born in Paris, Mr. Maazel was raised and educated in the United States. He took his first violin lesson at age five, and first conducting lesson at seven. Between ages 9 and 15 he conducted most of the major American orchestras. In 1953 he made his European conducting debut in Catania, Italy.

Mr. Maazel is also an accomplished composer. His opera, 1984, received its world premiere on May 3, 2005, at London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. It was revived in the 2007–08 season at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and has been released on DVD by Decca.

Lionel Bringuier, winner of the 49th Besançon Young Conductors Competition in 2005, began the 2008–09 season as chef associé of the Orchestre de Bretagne and his second as assistant conductor to Esa-Pekka Salonen with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He will make his debut this season with The Cleveland Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and Iceland Symphony Orchestra, among others, and has been invited back to the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Dresden Sächsische Staatskapelle, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Basel Symphony Orchestra, and Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Born in Nice, France, in 1986, Mr. Bringuier began his musical studies at the Academy of Nice at the age of five and gave his first cello recital before the Countess of Paris at the age of nine. At 13, he was admitted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (C.N.S.M.) in the cello class of Philippe Muller and furthered his academic work in chamber music, choral singing, and jazz studies. In 2000 he began his conducting studies at the C.N.S.M. in Paris under the tutelage of Zsolt Nagy. He has also participated in master classes with Peter Eötvös and Janos Fürst. In June 2004 he received from the C.N.S.M. de Paris his diploma in cello with “Mention Très Bien à l’unanimité” as well as a “Mention Très Bien à l’unanimité” in conducting. Other distinctions include the the “Médaille d’Or” from the Lord Mayor of Nice, as well as first prize in a competition organized by the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra in Ostrava. Mr. Bringuier is also a prizewinner of the Swiss Foundation Langart and the Cziffra Foundation. He is making his New York Philharmonic debut in these concerts.

Soprano Nancy Gustafson has performed at The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. In Europe she has appeared in Vienna, Munich, Hamburg, Geneva, Rome, Turin, Berlin, and at Paris’s Opéra Bastille, London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Milan’s Teatro all Scala. Ms. Gustafson is especially well known for her interpretations of Janáček operas, particularly the title role of Katya Kabanova, which she has performed at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera under Andrew Davis, and at Opéra Bastille. She sang the title role of Janáček’s Jenůfa at Covent Garden and at Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet under the baton of Simon Rattle, and returned to Glyndebourne as Lisa in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades. Other roles include the Marschallin in R. Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, and the title roles in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Salome. She performed in the world premieres of Deborah Drattell’s Nicholas and Alexandra opposite Plácido Domingo in Los Angeles, and in Lorin Maazel’s opera, 1984, at Covent Garden. Her recordings include Wagner’s Das Rheingold (Decca), as well as Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Puccini’s La bohème (both for Teldec). Ms. Gustafson last appeared with the New York Philharmonic in December 2006, performing the Final Scene from Salome, conducted by Lorin Maazel.

American tenor Vale Rideout’s 2008–09 engagements include the role of Nadir in Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs des perles with Opera Columbus; Orff’s Carmina Burana with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra; Sam in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah with Mobile Opera; Gernando in Haydn’s L’isola disabitata with Gotham Chamber Opera; Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor with Central City Opera; and Frederic in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance at the Chautauqua Institution. Recent highlights include portraying Ferrando in Mozart’s Così fan tutte (Boston Baroque), Frank in the world premiere of Robert Aldridge’s Elmer Gantry (Nashville Opera); Atis in Reinhard Keiser’s Croesus (Minnesota Opera); Tamino in Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Tulsa Opera); the Male Chorus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia; and Sam in Susannah (Central City Opera). Upcoming engagements include Peter Quince in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw with Boston Lyric Opera. Mr. Rideout performed Britten’s War Requiem with Lorin Maazel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and was a soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Symphonica Toscanini in Rome and Brussels, also led by Mr. Maazel. He is making his New York Philharmonic debut in these concerts.

American baritone Ian Greenlaw recently made his debut at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala as the protagonist in Lorin Maazel’s opera, 1984. Other recent engagements include Britten’s War Requiem with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Mercutio in Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette with Atlanta Opera; Bartók’s Cantata profana with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; the title role in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia at Kentucky Opera; and as Peter in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Mr. Greenlaw made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Theater Manager in Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias. He has also sung with Opera Colorado, Arizona Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Central City Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Dallas Opera, and Lyric Opera Cleveland, and is an alumnus of the Pittsburgh Opera Center and the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Mr. Greenlaw has appeared with numerous orchestras, is currently on the roster of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, and is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2002 Richard Tucker Career Grant. He last appeared with the New York Philharmonic in February 2009, in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges at Carnegie Hall, led by Lorin Maazel.

New York Choral Artists, a professional chorus founded and directed by Joseph Flummerfelt, has been heard with the New York Philharmonic in recent seasons performing repertoire ranging from Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time to Mozart’s Requiem. Among the memorable collaborations with the New York Philharmonic was the concert on September 20, 2001, of Brahms’s A German Requiem, commemorating the events of September 11. The chorus opened the Philharmonic’s 2002–03 subscription season performing the world premiere of John Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic with Lincoln Center’s Great Performers. Other highlights of include participation in the 1995 New York Philharmonic concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, and a televised performance of the 1986 Statue of Liberty Concert in Central Park. The chorus performed Verdi’s Requiem with the Philharmonic in March 2006, conducted by Lorin Maazel, and in the October 5–6, 2006, and February 2009 Philharmonic concert performances of Ravel’s one-act opera, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, also conducted by Mr. Maazel.

Find additional upcoming performances with New York Choral Artists

The Dessoff Symphonic Choir is an extension of The Dessoff Choirs, which was founded in 1924 by Margarete Dessoff. One of New York’s leading avocational choruses, the group is active in the city’s musical life, presenting its own concerts under music director James Bagwell and collaborating with ensembles ranging from the New York Philharmonic to the Kronos Quartet. Dessoff took part in the Philharmonic’s 2004 celebration of Charles Ives, and last season sang Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky at Carnegie Hall with Yuri Temirkanov, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Russian Chamber Chorus of New York. Other recent engagements have been with the American Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, and NHK Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo, as well as in Tan Dun’s Water Passion After Saint Matthew. The group has performed frequently at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival; Lincoln Center Festival; and Mostly Mozart Festival, including collaborations with the Mark Morris Dance Group and an appearance in the Live From Lincoln Center Emmy-nominated telecast of Mozart’s Requiem.

The Brooklyn Youth Chorus (BYC), now in its 17th season, is one of the country’s most respected children’s choruses. Led by founder and artistic director Dianne Berkun, BYC choristers study and perform a range of music in classical and nonclassical genres. The chorus has toured Russia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany; performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, and the White House. Other performance highlights include the 2003 New York premiere of John Adams’s El Niño with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen. BYC has also sung with artists such as Elton John, Barbara Cook, Lou Reed, John Legend, Judy Collins, Andrea Bocelli, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. Its commissioning program has produced new works for youth chorus. BYC first performed with the New York Philharmonic in John Adams’s Grammy- and Pulitzer Prize-winning On the Transmigration of Souls in 2002, and most recently, in June 2008, in a concert performance of Puccini’s Tosca, led by Lorin Maazel.