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Virginia Symphony 09 Season Continues With Famous Verdi Requiem
Dies Irae Part also Pop Culture Favorite in John Woo’s Film Face/Off
and Harry Potter Video Game
Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and Guest Soloists
Perform Stirring Vocal Segments
Hampton Roads, VA… The concert halls of Hampton Roads in February will resound with the operatic proportions and dramatic majesty of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem as the Virginia Symphony presents breathtaking performances of the famous work Friday, February 27, 8pm, Ferguson Center, Newport News; Saturday, February 28, 8pm, Chrysler Hall, Norfolk; and Sunday, March 1, 2:30pm, Sandler Center, Virginia Beach. The Virginia Symphony Chorus, under the direction of chorusmaster Robert Shoup and soloists Jonita Lattimore, soprano, Charlotte Paulsen, mezzo-soprano, Fernando del Valle, tenor and Kevin Deas, bass will join the orchestra onstage for the awe-inspiring Requiem based on the Roman Catholic funeral mass and written by a composer with a reputation as a non-believer. The Verdi Requiem is 90 minutes long and will be performed without an intermission.
Verdi’s Requiem remains one of the most profound compositions in the repertoire today. With its variety of powerful emotions, textural segments and scoring variations, it is comparable to an operatic performance. At its premiere in 1874, it was described by critics as “an opera in church vestments.” Using musical language he understood, Verdi challenges his singers and musicians with his incredible drama and emotion and he make spectacular use of brass and percussion including four horns, eight trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani and percussion.
The Dies Irae “Day of Judgment” portion with its pounding brass has become a pop culture favorite. Concert goers and gamers will recognize it from movie director John Woo’s film Face/Off, the Project Gotham Racing 3 video game for Xbox 360 and Nintendo gamecube’s Harry Potter Quidditch World Cup.
Over 2000 requiems have been composed to present day. Originally they were funeral music compositions performed in liturgical services for the dead. Eventually, the dramatic nature of the music appealed to composers and the requiem became a genre of its own. By the 18th and 19th century, composers like Verdi were writing concert oratorio requiems which were not readily usable in ordinary funeral services because they employed forces too large or of too long a duration. By the 20th century, Requiems had evolved in secular directions and were written simply for public performance, e.g. Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, Igor Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles and musical theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Requiem Mass.
For tickets, call the Symphony Box Office, 757-892-6366; or visit online www.virginiasymphony.org or call Ticket Master 1- 800 -745 -3000 (new number).
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The Virginia Symphony Orchestra with a complement of 79 professional musicians under the direction of Grammy-nominated Music Director JoAnn Falletta performs 140 concerts annually, reaching 200,000 concert goers every season in venues throughout the region. Our education and outreach programs reach 53,000 students and adult learners every year. The Virginia Symphony Orchestra is the cultural cornerstone of the performing arts in Hampton Roads.
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