Verdi: Messa da Requiem Philippe Jordan & Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Paris

• Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901): I Requiem & Kyrie
• 1I. Requiem08:05
• II Dies irae
• 2II. Dies irae02:14
• 3III. Tuba mirum02:02
• 4IV. Mors stupebit01:21
• 5V. Liber scriptus04:38
• 6VI. Quid sum miser03:36
• 7VII. Rex Tremendae03:14
• 8VIII. Recordare03:37
• 9IX. Ingemisco03:21
• 10X. Confutatis05:03
• 11XI. Lacrymosa05:23
• III Offertorio
• 12XII. Domine Jesu Christe - Hostias09:01
• IV Sanctus
• 13XIII. Sanctus,02:53
• V Agnus Dei
• 14XIV. Agnus Dei04:14
• VI Lux aeterna
• 15XV. Lux Aeterna05:39
• VII Libera me
• 16XVI. Libera me12:40
• Total Runtime01:17:01

Info for Verdi: Messa da Requiem

In his magnificent Requiem, first heard in Milan in 1874, Verdi brought all his dramatic genius to a sacred text. The chorus and orchestra of the Paris Opéra, under their music director Philippe Jordan, marked the composer’s bicentenary in 2013 with two performances of the work. Joining them was an impressive quartet of soloists: soprano Kristin Lewis, mezzo-soprano Violeta Urmana, tenor Piotr Beczala and bass Ildar Abdrazakov.

“The result was a performance on an elevated level,” wrote ForumOpéra. “The audience rose to its feet to acknowledge an interpretation that sought less to wake the dead than to pay them tribute. That was precisely Verdi’s intention when he originally decided to compose a Requiem to honour [the poet] Alessandro Manzoni ... Kristin Lewis’ voice blossoms to the full in the scores of Verdi’s maturity ... Her Aida was stunning, and [here] her sleek luminosity evoked the Nile (and Leontyne Price) ... Violeta Urmana was even throughout her range, with a generous middle register and sure top notes ... Piotr Beczala’s sculpted tone accommodated both nuance and restraint and .... Ildar Abdrazakov’s singing was ... filled with humanity ... his tone noble, cut from royal cloth.”

Kristin Lewis, soprano
Violeta Urmana, mezzo-soprano
Piotr Beczala, tenor
Ildar Abdrazakov, bass
Patrick Marie Aubert chorus master
Orchestre et Choeur de l’Opéra national de Paris
Philippe Jordan, conductor

Live recording from the Opéra Bastille, Paris, 10 & 11 June 2013
Executive producer: Opéra de Paris Production
Recording producer: Arnaud Moral
Balance engineer: Michel Pierre
Mixing: Michel Pierre

Philippe Jordan
Currently Musical Director of the Opera National de Paris and designated Chief Conductor of the Wiener Symphoniker beginning September 2014, Philippe Jordan has at 38 already established himself as one of the most gifted and exciting conductors of his generation.

Philippe Jordan’s musical education began with piano lessons at the age of six. At the age of eight, he joined the Zurich Sängerknaben and he was eleven when he began studying violin. At sixteen, he entered the Zurich Conservatory where he obtained his diploma of piano teacher with honors. He studied theory and composition with the Swiss composer Hans Ulrich Lehmann and continued his piano studies with Karl Engel. At the same time, he worked as assistant to Maestro Jeffrey Tate on Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the Châtelet in Paris. He continues to appear occasionally as pianist in recital and chamber music.

His career began in 1994/95 as Kapellmeister of the Ulm Stadttheater. From 1998-2001, he was assistant to Daniel Barenboim at the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin. From 2001-2004, he held the position of Chief Conductor of the Graz Opera and Graz Philharmonic Orchestra. In this period he made his debut at several prestigious international Opera houses and festivals, the Houston Grand Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Metropolitan Opera, New York, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Teatro alla Scala, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, the Salzburger Festspiele (Cosi fan tutte), the Wiener Staatsoper and the Festspielhaus Baden Baden (Tannhäuser). From 2006-2010, he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Berlin Staatsoper unter den Linden.

Philippe Jordan’s orchestral engagements have included the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Staatskapelle, Vienna Symphony, Vienna RSO, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Philharmonia Orchestra London, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Tonhalle Zurich, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, NDR/Hamburg Symphony, DSO Berlin, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. In North America, he has appeared with the Seattle, St. Louis, Dallas, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Washington, Minnesota, Montreal, New York and San Francisco Orchestras. Highlights of the last season include his opera debut at the Teatro alla Scala (Der Rosenkavalier) and concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

This season, Philippe Jordan made his opera debut at the Bayreuth Festival (Parsifal) and will conduct a Ring revival at the Opéra de Paris. On the symphonic podium, he will conduct concerts with the Wiener Symphoniker, the Hamburger Symphoniker, the Philharmonia Orchestra and will make his debut with the Munich Philharmonic.

Philippe Jordan has recorded Carmen (Glyndebourne Festival), Werther (Wiener Staatsoper), Doktor Faust (Zurich Opera) and Salomé (Covent Garden), Tannhäuser (Baden Baden) and Le Nozze di Figaro (Paris Opera) in DVD format. He has also recorded for Naïve the complete Beethoven Piano concertos with François-Frédéric Guy and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France as well as the Strauss Alpensymphonie with the Opéra National de Paris Orchestra awarded “CHOC de l’année - Classica”.

Nina Stemme
The Swedish soprano Nina Stemme is today in great demand at all major opera houses worldwide. After her debut as Cherubino in Italy, she sang and sings at opera houses like Stockholm, Vienna State Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Geneva, Zürich, Teatro San Carlo Naples, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Metropolitan Opera New York, San Francisco Opera as well as at the festivals of Bayreuth, Salzburg, Savonlinna, Glyndebourne and Bregenz the roles of her repertoire like Rosalinde/FLEDERMAUS, Mimi/LA BOHEME, Cio-Cio-San/ MADAMA BUTTERFLY, Tosca, Manon Lescaut, Tatjana/EUGENE ONEGUINE, Katerina/ GREEK PASSION, Suor Angelica/IL TRITTICO, Euridice/ ORFEO ED EURIDICE, Katerina/LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK, Countess/LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, Marguerite/FAUST, Agathe/ FREISCHÜTZ, Marie/WOZZECK, Nyssia/KÖNIG KANDAULES, JENUFA, Marschallin/ ROSENKAVALIER, ARABELLA, ARIADNE, SALOME, Eva/MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG, Elisabeth/TANNHÄUSER, Elsa/LOHENGRIN, Senta/DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER, Sieglinde/DIE WALKÜRE, Amelia/UN BALLO IN MASCHERA, Leonora/FORZA DEL DESTINO, AIDA/title role and her outstanding first Isolde/TRISTAN UND ISOLDE at Glyndebourne Festival Opera which has now been published on DVD.

She has also sung Isolde in EMI’s famous recording of TRISTAN UND ISOLDE with Placido Domingo, and with fantastic success at Bayreuth Festival, at Zurich Opera and Royal Opera House Covent Garden London. Further highlights were her phenomenal Sieglinde and Brünnhilde/SIEGFRIED in the new RING at Vienna State Opera. She has also sung FIDELIO in concert version with Claudio Abbado at the Lucerne Festival (recorded on CD) and a sensational Brünnhilde/WALKÜRE for the season’s opening at La Scala Milan. At the San Francisco Opera she has sung the three Brünnhilden in den RING cycles and most recently TANNHÄUSER at Opera Bastille Paris, a new production of LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST and TURANDOT at Royal Opera House Stockholm, SALOME with the Cleveland Orchestra in Cleveland and New York and Brünnhilde (GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG) in the new RING at Munich State Opera.

Awards: Swedish Royal Court Singer, Member of The Royal Swedish Academy of Music, Premio Abbati Italy, Medal “Litteris et Artibus” by H. M. the King of Sweden, Laurence Olivier Award for her performance in Tristan und Isolde at the Royal Opera House London. In 2012 she received the title Kämmersängerin of the Vienna State Opera. She was chosen Singer of the Year by the magazine ‘Opernwelt’ and won the first Opera Award 2013 in London.

Booklet for Verdi: Messa da Requiem