SYMPHONY FEATURES SPECTACULAR VERDI'S REQUIEM

Sep 20, 2007

For Immediate Release

Contact: Annie Matlow 326-3136

SPOKANE One of the most powerful concert pieces ever written for orchestra, chorus and soloists will be presented by the Spokane Symphony on Friday, Oct. 19 at 8 p.m. in the INB Performing Arts Center. The Symphony, under the direction of Maestro Eckart Preu, the Spokane Symphony Chorale and four outstanding soloists, soprano Angela Maria Blasi, mezzo-soprano Jan Wilson, tenor Roy Cornelius Smith and bass Nmon Ford, will present Verdi's Requiem. The Spokane Symphony Chorale, an eighty voice choir affiliated with the Spokane Symphony, is director by Dr. Lori Weist, an Associate Professor of Music at Washington State University in Pullman.

Verdi's Requiem is the masterwork above all others that proves the composer's right to claim the throne of 19th-century operatic king. The exhilarating music of this work embodies every nuance of human emotion. Verdi's Requiem is one of the most powerful concert pieces ever written. Johannes Brahms, not given to complimentary speech, said simply, Verdi's Requiem is the work of a genius.

Angela Maria Blasi is one of today's leading lyric sopranos and performs regularly with international opera houses and festivals of the world including Munich, Vienna, London, Milan, Brussels, Florence, Hamburg, Berlin, and the Metropolitan Opera. She is also well known as a recording artist, and received a 2004 Grammy nomination (Best Vocal Performance) for her interpretation of orchestral songs by Joseph Marx. A recent highlight is her critically acclaimed performance of Puccini's heroine in Robert Wilson's "Madama Butterfly" with the Los Angeles Opera. Blasi has just relocated from Munich, Germany to the United States and makes her home in Harrington Park, N. J.

Mezzo-soprano Jan Wilson has performed solo engagements with the Pittsburgh, Richmond, West Virginia, Savannah, Erie, Wheeling, Owensboro, Dubuque, Allentown Symphony Orchestras and others. Wilson received her Bachelor in Music Education degree from Westminster College, and Master's Degree in Voice Performance from Penn State University where she was the winner of the Young Artist's Competition. She resides in Manhattan and has performed as an ensemble singer with New York premiere professional choruses.

Tenor Roy Cornelius Smith has been heard on some of the world's great operatic stages including the Metropolitan Opera, Salzburger Festspiele, Volksoper Wien, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the New Israeli Opera. He has also appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice, Orchestre Mtropolitain du Grand Montral and with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Smith hails from Big Stone Gap, Virginia, and received both a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Music from the University of Tennessee and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the American Conservatory of Music.

A two-time 2006 Grammy Award Winner (including Best Classical Recording) for his participation in Naxos' recording of Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Panamanian-American baritone Nmon Ford most recently performed both Scarpia (Tosca) and the title role in a new production of Billy Budd with Hamburg Opera. Having begun his musical training in piano at age three, Ford has since appeared with Hamburg Opera, San Francisco Opera, Spoleto Festival USA, Los Angeles Opera and more. His concert appearances include the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the National Symphony and others. He earned his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees from the University of Southern California where he graduated cum laude, and was named Outstanding Vocal Arts Graduate, for both degrees.

Tickets range from $17 to $39 and are available Monday through Friday from 9:30-5 p.m. at the Spokane Symphony Ticket Office at 818 W. Riverside, by calling (509) 624-1200, or online at www.spokanesymphony.org. Tickets are also available on weekends and evenings, with a service charge, at 325-SEAT, 1-800-325-SEAT. After Oct. 15, the Symphony ticket office will be located in the Fox Theater, 1001 W. Sprague.

CALENDAR LISTING:
Verdi's Requiem: Greatest Work for Orchestra and Chorus Classics Concert; Eckart Preu conducts the Spokane Symphony, Spokane Symphony Chorale, Lori Weist conducts the Chorale, Angela Maria Blasi, soprano, Jan Wilson, mezzo-soprano, Troy Cornelius Smith, tenor, Nmon Ford, baritone; Oct. 19 at 8:00 p.m. in the INB Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $17 to $39; Call the Spokane Symphony Ticket Office at (509) 624-1200; tickets are also available, with service charges, through TicketsWest outlets or by calling 325-SEAT or 1-800-325-SEAT.