Featuring stellar quartet of vocal soloists:
Ana María Martínez, Marina Prudenskaya, Jonathan Tetelman, and Dmitry Belosselskiy
Slovakian-born conductor Juraj Valčuha launches his first season as Houston Symphony Music Director, and Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair, with Verdi’s monumental, operatically-scaled Requiem. From the outset, Juraj sets a new precedent for Houston Symphony opening nights that showcase the organization’s entire orchestral and choral complement onstage at once. Part of the Frost Bank Gold Classics Series, there are three performances of Verdi’s Requiem: Friday, September 16, Saturday, September 17, and Sunday, September 18 at Jones Hall. Joining Valčuha and the orchestra onstage are Houston-based, internationally renowned soprano Ana María Martínez, Russian mezzo-soprano Marina Prudenskaya, ascendant young American tenor star Jonathan Tetelman, and internationally acclaimed Ukrainian bass Dmitry Belosselskiy, as well as the Houston Symphony Chorus prepared by new Chorus Director Dr. Allen Hightower. Verdi’s Messa da Requiem is universally considered the most dramatic and operatic of settings of the Catholic Requiem mass. Scored for four soloists, double choir, and orchestra, Verdi wrote it in memory of the Italian poet Lorenzo Manzoni, whom Verdi greatly admired. The work is particularly famous for the plaintive, lyrical beauty of the tenor aria “Ingemisco,” and even more for the chorus’s fiercely dramatic, fiery musical depiction of the apocalypse, “Dies Irae.” The Opening Night Gala, chaired by Drs. Susan and Dennis Carlyle on Friday, September 16, begins with a champagne reception before the concert. At the concert’s conclusion, gala attendees are transported to The Corinthian for a seated dinner by Jackson & Company, with musical entertainment by the David Caceres Band. For gala ticket reservations contact stacey.swift@houstonsymphony.org or 713-337-8523. For tickets and more information, please call 713.224.7575 or visit houstonsymphony.org/requiem. All programs and artists are subject to change. [gallery size="medium" link="file" ids="376515,376519,376518,376514,376517,376516"] Juraj Valčuha Inaugural Weekend: Verdi Requiem Juraj Valčuha, conductor Ana María Martínez, soprano Marina Prudenskaya, mezzo-soprano* Jonathan Tetelman, tenor* Dmitry Belosselskiy, bass* Houston Symphony Chorus Dr. Allen Hightower, director Friday, September 16, 2022, 8 p.m. Saturday, September 17, 2022, 8 p.m.** Sunday, September 18, 2022, 2:30 p.m. *Houston Symphony debut **Livestreamed
