MUSIC

The Houston Symphony presents Verdi's Requiem, Thursday, January 20 and Saturday, January 22 at 8pm, and Sunday, January 23 at 2:30pm, in Jones Hall.

Danish National Symphony’s Chief Conductor Thomas Dausgaard (pictured) returns to Jones Hall on January 20, 22 and 23 to lead the Houston Symphony in Verdi’s Requiem. Alongside the Houston Symphony Chorus, mezzo-soprano Margaret Lattimore will return, while Soprano Angela Meade, Tenor Garret Sorenson and Baritone Morris Robinson all make their debuts.

Widely revered for its drama and magnitude, Requiem was composed in memoriam of esteemed poet and Italian nationalist Alessandro Manzoni. Surging with fear, sorrow, and final redemption, Verdi’s powerful work has developed into one of the most popular choral-orchestral works ever written. 

Messa da Requiem begins with a delicate melody that quickly blossoms into music of great sweep and grandeur. Hear your Houston Symphony, Chorus and world renowned soloists recreate the tempestuous “Dies irae” and the powerful “Confutatis.” Experience the ever-growing sorrow of “Lacrimosa,” and find comfort in the words and music of “Libera me.”

Click here to read more about Verdi's Requiem.

Danish conductor, Thomas Dausgaard  is renowned for his dynamic conducting style, his fresh approach to a broad range of repertoire, his prolific discography and the exciting results he has achieved as Chief Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra/DR and as Chief Conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.

Dausgaard became Chief Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra/DR in August 2004. The orchestra has developed impressively under his leadership, embracing his energy and creativity. With Dausgaard they tour worldwide and record extensively together. Their disc of Nielsen works which was nominated for a 2007 Gramophone award

The Swedish Chamber Orchestra has also flourished under Dausgaard’s direction since he took up his position there in 1997. Having brought this group from a regional orchestra to international attention over the past decade, he and the orchestra have recorded all of Beethoven's orchestral music for Simax, a project which has received outstanding critical acclaim for the individual and dynamic approach that Dausgaard and the orchestra bring to this repertoire.

Thomas Dausgaard guest conducts several of the world's leading orchestras. He enjoys a special relationship with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducting them on tour as well as in their home city. Recent and future guest conducting highlights include engagements with Vienna Symphony Orchestra (both at the Musikverein and the Vienna Konzerthaus), Berlin Konzerthausorchester, SWR Stuttgart, Czech Philharmonic, Verdi Orchestra Milano and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic amongst others. He works with the leading Scandinavian Orchestras, including the Swedish Radio, Oslo and Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestras. In the UK, Dausgaard works with the BBC Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and he will return to the Proms in 2010 with both the Danish National Symphony and Swedish Chamber Orchestra.

Thomas Dausgaard also conducts regularly in North America. He has worked with many of the major orchestras including the Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony and the Montreal Symphony. He conducts the Toronto Symphony every year, makes regular appearances at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York and has just conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the 2009 Tanglewood Festival. In the 10/11 season, he will make his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra.

Artists:
Thomas Dausgaard, conductor
Angela Meade, soprano
Margaret Lattimore, mezzo-soprano
Garrett Sorenson, tenor
Morris Robinson, baritone
Houston Symphony Chorus
Charles Hausmann, director

About Angela Meade
Since her operatic debut in Verdi’s Ernani with the Metropolitan Opera in 2008, American soprano Angela Meade has quickly become one of the outstanding vocalists of her generation, excelling in heroines of 19th-century bel canto repertoire, and in Verdi and Mozart operas.

This season brings title roles in Mercadante’s Virginia at the Wexford Festival and Rossini’s Armida with the Metropolitan Opera; debuts with the Palm Beach Opera, and the Pittsburgh and Baltimore symphonies in Verdi’s Requiem; and performances of Mahler’s Second Symphony with the Seattle Symphony and Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang with the San Antonio Symphony.

Past productions include Le Nozze di Figaro, Agrippina, Die Zauberflöte and Die Fledermaus, among others. Concert repertoire includes Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder, Poulenc’s Gloria, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Verdi’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah and Vivaldi’s Gloria.

Meade won opera’s largest cash prize – the $50,000.00 purse of the Jose Iturbi Competition – and was the first to win both the opera and operetta categories of Vienna’s prestigious Belvedere Competition. She is a native of Washington state and currently resides in Philadelphia.

About Margaret Lattimore
Grammy nominated Mezzo-Soprano Margaret Lattimore has sung with countless opera companies and orchestras across the country. She has sung the roles of Dorotea in Stiffelio, Meg Page in Falstaff, Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and the title role in La Cenerentola.

This season’s highlights include Rossini's Stabat Mater with the San Antonio Symphony and Haydn's Paukenmesse with the Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico. The 2009-2010 season brought Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Houston Symphony and Messiah with the Alabama Symphony.

Lattimore attended the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam where she studied with Patricia Misslin. She won the Metropolitan National Council Auditions at 24, the Eleanor McCollum Award from the Houston Grand Opera Studio, a Jacobson Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, the prestigious George London Award and was a 2006 Grammy Nominee for the Koch International recording of John Harbison’s Motetti di Montale. She resides with her husband and son in New York.

About Garrett Sorenson
American tenor Garrett Sorenson has been praised as a young artist of unique promise, with a rich lyric voice of beauty and power.

He has performed with, among others, the Metropolitan, San Francisco, Houston Grand, Los Angeles and West Australian Operas; the Florida and New York Philharmonics; and the San Francisco, Baltimore, Cleveland and Boston Symphony Orchestras.

Sorenson has performed in Carmen, Otello, La Bohème, La Traviata, Faust, Die Fledermaus, Tristan und Isolde, Don Giovanni, Der Rosenkavalier and Die Zauberflote, among others. Concert repertoire includes Mozart’s Requiem and Handel’s Messiah.

He received the Sara Tucker Study Grant and the Richard Tucker Foundation Career Grant; and won the Opera Birmingham Young Singer Contest, the Sorantin Young Artist Award and the 2003 George London Foundation Competition.

A Texas Tech University alum, Sorenson was a member of the 2001 Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program and is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. He resides in Kentucky with his wife and sons.

About Morris Robinson
Morris Robinson is quickly becoming one of the most interesting and sought after basses of his generation. He has appeared with the Metropolitan, Los Angles, Cincinnati, Florida Grand and Seattle operas; in concert with the Chicago, Baltimore, Nashville and São Paulo symphonies; the National Symphony and Metropolitan Chamber orchestras; and at the Ravinia, Mostly Mozart, Tanglewood, Cincinnati May, Verbier and Aspen festivals.

Robinson’s appearances this season include The Magic Flute with the Metropolitan Opera and Don Giovanni with the Dallas and Florida Grand operas; and concerts with the Nashville, Baltimore and Detroit symphony orchestras.

An Atlanta native, Robinson attended the Boston University Opera Institute, and is a graduate of The Citadel and the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. His solo album, Going Home, was released on Decca.

About Houston Symphony Chorus
Made up of volunteer musicians committed to singing at the highest artistic level, the Houston Symphony chorus is the official choral unit of the Houston Symphony and has performed on tour in Mexico and Europe. To join the Chorus, call 713-444-9221 or e-mail chorus@sbcglobal.net.  

About the Houston Symphony
The Houston Symphony has played a central role in Houston’s cultural and civic life since 1913. Each year, the Houston Symphony performs more than 170 concerts for approximately 350,000 people, featuring an innovative and broad spectrum of classical, popular, education and community-based symphonic programming. For tickets and more information, please visit www.houstonsymphony.org  or call 713-224-7575.