Area venues feature works by Italian icons Verdi, Puccini

By: Tim McDondald, Classical Corner

Fans of Italian music have much to look forward to this weekend: Music by two icons – Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini – will be featured in local performances.

Verdi Requiem

The Kansas City Symphony presents three performances of  extraordinary choral masterwork – Verdi’s massive “Requiem,” a work that is operatic in style.

The genesis of the work stems from the death of opera composer Gioacchino Rossini in 1868. Verdi, a nationalist and established opera composer, proposed that leading Italian composers produce a composite Requiem, a musical setting of the Roman Catholic Mass for the dead.

The project faltered, but Verdi found an opportunity to revive the project in 1873. The work was completed in April 1874 and received its first performance six weeks later. Verdi organized more performances for Milan’s La Scala opera house and toured with the work, bringing it to London, Paris and Vienna.

The work is imbued with a sense of drama and sublime melodies and harmonies. Its seven large movements are written for four vocal soloists, large orchestra and chorus.

Soprano Indra Thomas has performed in many of the world’s major international opera houses. Forthcoming performances include debuts at the Hamburg State Opera and the New National Theatre in Tokyo as Amelia in Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera” and the Porgy and Bess Suite with the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig.

Mezzo-soprano Guang Yang is the 1997 winner of the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in Wales, and a member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Center for American Artists. She has performed with the Welsh National Opera and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Tenor John Mac Master has sung with the London Symphony Orchestra, Canadian and Welsh National Opera companies and the Symphonic Orchestra of Barcelona.

Russian-American bass Mikhail Svetlov received a 2003 Grammy nomination for a recording of Stravinsky’s “L’Histoire Du Soldat Suite.” Earlier this season he performed a concert version of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “Mozart and Salieri” with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Verdi “Requiem” with the Detroit Symphony.

The Kansas City Symphony Chorus, under the direction of Arnold Epley, will join the orchestra and soloists for three performances: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday at Lyric Theatre, 11th and Central streets, Kansas City, Mo. For tickets, call (816) 471-0400 or visit www.kcsymphony.org.

Puccini Festival

One of the most fortuitous yet unexpected developments in the Kansas City classical music scene in recent years is the Kansas City Puccini Festival, now in its ninth season. The event is the brainchild of conductor Andy Anderson and friends, several of whom travel to Kansas City each May to participate.

This year’s festival features Puccini’s opera “La Rondine,” which premiered in Monte Carlo in March 1917. One of the composer’s lesser known operas, the title means “The Swallow.”

The annual celebration begins with a wine and cheese reception at 7 p.m. Friday at Images Art Gallery, 1520 Walnut, Kansas City, Mo. Festival participants will discuss “La Rondine” and the history of the Puccini Festival.

The free performance is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Folly Theatre, 12th and Central streets, Kansas City, Mo. Donations will be accepted to help offset festival costs. Andy Anderson will discuss the opera in a pre-performance talk at 6:30 p.m. at the Folly.