DANIELPOUR: THE PASSION OF YESHUA
ARTISTS: JoAnn Falletta (GRAMMY® winning conductor), Hila Plitmann (GRAMMY® winning singer)
Matthew Worth, Kenneth Overton, J'Nai Bridges, Timothy Fallon, James K. Bass, UCLA Chamber Singers (James K. Bass – Chorus Master), Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus (Adam Luebke – Chorus Master), Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
COMPOSER: Richard Danielpour
LABEL: Naxos | 636943988527
GRAMMY® NOMINATED IN 3 CATEGORIES:
BEST ENGINEERED ALBUM, CLASSICAL
BEST CHORAL PERFORMANCE
BEST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL COMPOSITION
Richard Danielpour’s dramatic oratorio The Passion of Yeshua- a work which has evolved over the last 25 years- is an intensely personal telling of the final hours of Christ on Earth. It incorporates texts from the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian gospels inspiring extraordinarily beautiful music that stresses the need for human compassion and forgiveness. Danielpour returns to the scale and majesty of Bach in the oratorio, creating choruses that are intense and powerful, and giving both Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene a central place in a work of glowing spirituality. Conductor JoAnn Falletta considers The Passion of Yeshua to be “a classic for all time.”
Composer
Photo Credit: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
RICHARD DANIELPOUR
Award-winning composer Richard Danielpour has established himself as one of the most gifted and sought-after composers of his generation. His music has attracted an international and illustrious array of champions, and, as a devoted mentor and educator, he has also had a significant impact on the younger generation of composers. His list of commissions includes celebrated artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Jessye Norman, Dawn Upshaw, Emanuel Ax, Gil Shaham, Frederica von Stade, Thomas Hampson, Gary Graffman, Anthony McGill, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, the Guarneri and Emerson String Quartets, the New York City and Pacific Northwest Ballets, and institutions such as the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Mariinsky and Vienna Chamber Orchestras, the Orchestre National de France, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and many more. With Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison, Danielpour created Margaret Garner, his first opera, which premiered in 2005 and had a second production with the New York City Opera. He has received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Charles Ives Fellowship, a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, the Joseph H. Bearns Prize from Columbia University, and fellowships and residencies from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Copland House, and the American Academies in Berlin and Rome. He served on the composition faculty of the Manhattan School of Music from 1993 to 2017. Danielpour recently relocated to Los Angeles where he has accepted the position of professor of music at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. He is also a member of the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music where he has taught since 1997. Danielpour has a vast discography, and many of his recordings can be found on the Naxos and Sony Classical labels. Danielpour’s music is published by Lean Kat Music and Associated Music Publishers.
www.Richard-Danielpour.com
Performers
JoAnn Falletta
Grammy-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Laureate of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. She has guest conducted many of the most prominent orchestras in America, Canada,Europe, Asia and South America. As Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Falletta became the first woman to lead a major America ensemble. Credited with bringing the Philharmonic to an unprecedented level of national and international prominence, she is a leading recording artist for Naxos, and won her most recent Grammy in 2019 as conductor of the London Symphony for Spiritualist, by Kenneth Fuchs. Her Naxos recording of John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man received two Grammys in 2008. From 2011-14, she served as Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra, with whom she made her Proms debut and recorded 6 highly acclaimed Naxos discs. She was the first woman and the first American to fill this post. Falletta is a member of the esteemed American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has served as a Member of the National Council on the Arts, is the recipient of many of the most prestigious conducting awards and was named Performance Today’s Classical Woman of the Year.
For more information, visit www.joannfalletta.com.
BUFFALO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Founded in 1935, the GRAMMY® Award-winning Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO), under music director JoAnn Falletta, is Buffalo’s leading cultural ambassador and presents more than 120 classics, pops and youth concerts each year. Since 1940, the orchestra’s permanent home has been Kleinhans Music Hall, a National Historic Landmark, designed by Eliel and Eero Saarinen.
The BPO has toured the United States and Canada, including several Florida Friends Tours with JoAnn Falletta. In 2013, the BPO made its 24th appearance at Carnegie Hall as a participant in the Spring For Music festival. In March 2018, it became the first American orchestra to perform at the Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw, Poland.
Over the decades, the BPO has matured in stature under leading conductors, including William Steinberg, Josef Krips, Lukas Foss, Michael Tilson Thomas, Maximiano Valdés, Semyon Bychkov and Julius Rudel. During the tenure of JoAnn Falletta the BPO has rekindled its distinguished history of radio broadcasts and recordings, including the release of 46 new albums of diverse repertoire on the Naxos and Beau Fleuve labels.
For more information, please visit: https://bpo.org/
Photo Credit: Nancy J. Parisi
Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus/Adam Luebke (Chorus Master)
The Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus (BPC) is dedicated to the performance of high quality, diverse musical programs and developing singers in the choral arts. With over 140 singers, the BPC is frequently heard as the principal guest chorus of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO). Formed in 1937 as the Buffalo Schola Cantorum, it became the BPC in 1992 to reflect its close association with the BPO. Founder Jessamine E. Long was succeeded by noteworthy musicians, including Cameron Baird and Thomas Swan. The BPC makes various guest appearances throughout the region and produces self-sponsored concerts such as its annual performance of Handel’s Messiah.
Photo Credit: Nick Lie
UCLA Chamber Singers
The UCLA Chamber Singers, a 35-voiced mixed choir, represents the highest level of ensemble singing in the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, and has been conducted by choral luminaries including Roger Wagner, Donn Weiss, and Donald Neuen. The choir routinely presents performances representing the entire spectrum of choral literature on campus and in the community, annually presenting major choral orchestral works with the UCLA Philharmonia in the historic on-campus venue Royce Hall. The ensemble has collaborated with nationally recognized arts groups including the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, Seraphic Fire and the touring production of Distant Worlds, the music of Final Fantasy.
Photo Credit: Marc Royce
Hila Plitmann
GRAMMY® Award-winning singer, songwriter, and actress Hila Plitmann has worked with many leading conductors, and performed with the likes of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, and the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). She has an impressive catalogue of varied recordings, including Hans Zimmer’s GRAMMY-winning soundtrack for The Da Vinci Code, Eric Whitacre’s Goodnight Moon with the LSO, and John Corigliano’s song cycle Mr. Tambourine Man with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, for which she won a GRAMMY® Award. Recent recordings include Richard Danielpour’s Toward A Season of Peace and Corigliano’s Vocalise, both released to critical acclaim on Naxos.
www.hilaplitmann.com
Matthew Worth
Matthew Worth is quickly becoming the baritone of choice for innovative productions and contemporary works. In 2018, he created the role of the Narrator in the world premiere of The Passion of Yeshua with the Oregon Bach Festival. The season also included Worth’s return to Boston Lyric Opera as Figaro in Rosetta Cucchi’s production of Il barbiere di Siviglia. Recent season highlights include the title role in the world premieres of both JFK with Fort Worth Opera and The Manchurian Candidate with Minnesota Opera, and Moby Dick at Washington National Opera.
Kenneth Overton
Kenneth Overton made his New York City Opera mainstage debut in 2012 as Doctor Grenvil in Verdi’s La Traviata. That season, he also performed in the world premiere of David Ott’s The Widow’s Lantern at Pensacola Opera, where he was reengaged as Joe in Showboat and then Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd. He performed the role of Stephen Kumalo in Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars for Union Avenue Opera, and was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in an Opera by the St. Louis Theater Circle for this role. He has performed with Opera Grand Rapids, Toledo Opera, and Opera Idaho.
J'Nai Bridges
Critically acclaimed by Opera News, mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges completed a three-year residency at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2015. She is a recipient of the 2018 Sphinx Medal of Excellence Award, a 2016 Richard Tucker Career Grant, a 2013 Sullivan Foundation Award, a 2012 Marian Anderson Award, a 2011 Sara Tucker Study Grant, and a 2009 Richard F. Gold Grant. Bridges was awarded First Prize at both the 2016 Francisco Viñas International Singing Competition and the 2015 Gerda Lissner Competition, and was the winner of the 2008 Leontyne Price Foundation Competition.
Timothy Fallon
Tenor Timothy Fallon released his debut album LISZT 15 Songs with pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz in 2018 on BIS Records. From 2007 to 2013 he was part of the ensemble of the Oper Leipzig in Germany. In 2013 he performed Baroncelli in Wagner’s Rienzi for the Bayreuther Festspiele. He collaborated with I Virtuosi Ambulanti in Wertheriade, a salon opera devised for him of seldom-performed pieces from the bel canto era. Fallon holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Westminster Choir College, a Master of Music in Opera from Binghamton University and an Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School.
James K. Bass
Three-time GRAMMY® Award-nominated conductor and singer James K. Bass is director of choral studies at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, associate conductor of Seraphic Fire and artistic director of the Long Beach Camerata Singers. He has prepared choirs for eminent conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Sir David Willcocks, Michael Tilson Thomas and Gerard Schwarz. In 2017 he made his solo debut with The Cleveland Orchestra singing with Franz Welser-Möst in Severance Hall, and in 2018 was bass soloist with the Aspen Chamber Orchestra led by Xian Zhang. Other engagements as a soloist include the New World Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas, The Florida Orchestra and The Sebastians among many others. He was the featured baritone soloist on the GRAMMY® Award nominated recording Pablo Neruda: The Poet Sings, and also appeared on the GRAMMY® Award-nominated album A Seraphic Fire Christmas. His discography includes releases on the Harmonia Mundi, Naxos, Albany Records and Seraphic Fire Media labels. Bass serves as director of education for Seraphic Fire, and associate programme director and serves on the conducting faculty at the Professional Choral Institute at the Aspen Music Festival.
Press
Among the score’s finest pages are the solos and duets of the three female characters – Yeshua’s mother and sister and Mary Magdalene – sung with lustrous expressivity by the soprano Hila Plitmann and mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges. The men are also excellent, from Kenneth Overton’s noble Yeshua and Matthew Worth’s articulate Narrator to Timothy Fallon’s vehement Pilate and Kefa and James K Bass’s sonorous Kayafa. JoAnn Falletta is a forceful champion of the score, which she shapes with sensitive and potent authority. The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus and UCLA Chamber Singers are splendid collaborators.
Gramophone
Danielpour sets his own adaptations of sacred texts (the Hebrew and English words are included in the Naxos’s booklet) in a manner that is powerfully sincere. Falletta believes The Passion of Yeshua is “a classic for all time” and conducts it accordingly, drawing a dedicated response from her Orchestra and also its associated Chorus as well as the UCLA Chamber Singers. I found The Passion of Yeshua to be compelling – on its own terms as a musical experience and in this wonderful performance. It is no doubt coincidence that Naxos’s release coincides with the Covid-19 pandemic, but it could not be timelier or more significant in terms of music as our saviour. You don’t need to be religious to appreciate it. With excellent/atmospheric sound.
Classical Source
Danielpour comes out of the Copland–Barber–Bernstein line in American music, and he is at his most engaging here. Exchanges between his characters and their interactions with the choir are expertly managed. The stunner of the ensemble is J'Nai Bridges, who is lustrous and heartbreaking as Miryam, Mother of Yeshua. The Buffalo Philharmonic sounds world–class, especially in the wind and brass departments. The real star, though, is JoAnn Falletta, who goes after the score with everything she has. Buffalo has gone from strength to strength under her baton, and that trend continues here. With her able support, Richard Danielpour has retold the Passion of the Christ in a new and compelling way.
American Record Guide
Continuing Naxos’s championing of the composer Richard Danielpour, this is one of the most important and imposing cantatas created in 21st century North America. JoAnn Falletta receives excellent playing from her Buffalo orchestra, and some red-blooded singing from their chorus, particularly so in the barbaric music that leads to the crucifixion. Outstanding recorded sound, perfectly balanced between the various vocal elements. You must hear this World Premiere Recording.
David's Review Corner
Naxos’ world première recording of The Passion of Yeshua does full justice to Danielpour’s vision, thanks to the strong involvement and fine vocal talents of half a dozen soloists and the highly committed, knowing and knowledgeable conducting with which JoAnn Falletta shapes the performances of the UCLA Chamber Singers and the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra. The Passion of Yeshua is filled with emotionally engaging, involving music that explores the pain and suffering of Christ’s last days on Earth. Danielpour offers a 21st-century audience an alternative way of looking at the last days of Yeshua/Jesus, one that coexists with and complements the approach of Handel. The sheer beauty of Handel’s music, and the comfort level its words provide to those who share the beliefs of his time, have kept Messiah vital and meaningful for nearly 300 years. But because we live in a far more secular age than Handel’s, and one with a far more diverse set of religious and spiritual beliefs, Danielpour’s oratorio, with its strong focus on the human side of the New Testament narrative, fits our time period just as snugly and securely as Handel’s Messiah fit his.
Infodad
Conductor JoAnn Falletta impressively marshals the large-scale forces needed, including her own Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, and the singers are heavily invested in Danielpour’s intensely personal vision which features Jesus’ mother Mary (mezzo J’Nai Bridges) and Mary Magdalene (soprano Hila Plitmann).
The Flip Side
JoAnn Falletta gets strong performances from all her soloists. Hila Pitmann and J’Nai Bridges both bring strongly operatic voices to the mix, contributing intensely vibrant performances. Both do well with Danielpour’s vocal writing. This is a large-scale work with plenty of feeling of contrast and Danielpour’s approach makes for an impressive piece. Throughout, the musicians of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra play with superb commitment and realize Danielpour’s complex harmonic language and richly romantic style with great sympathy and skill. Danielpour also gives the chorus a number of striking moments, including a couple of large-scale choruses and the combined chorus of the UCLA Chamber Singers and Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus do not disappoint. Ultimately, I found this piece dignified and impressive. The music builds to a powerful and intensely wrought climax, which testifies to the composer’s thoughtful identification with his subject.
Opera Today
Danielpour returns to the scale and majesty of Bach in the oratorio, creating choruses that are intense and powerful, and giving both Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene a central place in a work of glowing spirituality.
Records International
An accessible, thought-provoking work that increasingly impresses on repeated listening. JoAnn Falletta seizes every opportunity offered by the musical drama and drives the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and especially the excellent BPO Chorus, with a keen awareness of a story that needs to be kept on the boil. The colorful musical language of The Passion of Yeshua draws the listener in. First-class engineering ensures the dramatic climaxes fairly leap out of the speakers.
Musical America