News Release
Robert Porco conducts The Cleveland Orchestra
in Handel’s Messiah at Severance Hall
on December 10 and 12
Vocal soloists are soprano Mary Wilson, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo,
tenor Alek Shrader, and bass-baritone John Relyea
CLEVELAND, November 10, 2009 – Robert Porco, The Cleveland Orchestra’s director of choruses, will lead The Cleveland Orchestra in performances of Handel’s Messiah at Severance Hall on Thursday, December 10, and Saturday, December 12, at 8:00 p.m. The performances will be given in observance of the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death (April 14, 1759). Vocal soloists for Messiah will be soprano Mary Wilson, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, tenor Alek Shrader, and bass-baritone John Relyea. With these performances, Ms. Wilson makes her Severance Hall debut and Mr. Costanzo makes his Cleveland Orchestra debut. The Cleveland Orchestra Chamber Chorus, prepared by Robert Porco, will also perform.
The program consists of a single work, Handel’s Messiah, with an intermission between Parts I and II.
About the Artists
Soprano Mary Wilson is cultivating a wide-ranging career performing chamber music, oratorio, and operatic repertoire. As an interpreter of Baroque repertoire, especially works by Handel, she has appeared with American Bach Soloists, Bach Society of St. Louis, Baltimore Handel Choir, Boston Baroque, Carmel Bach Festival, Florida Bach Festival, and Musica Angelica. Her engagements this season include the role of Oriana in Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula with Boston Baroque, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Bach’s Mass in B minor and the Mozart Requiem with Florida Baroque, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 with Boston Baroque, and Bach’s St. John Passion with Musica Angelica. Ms. Wilson made her Cleveland Orchestra debut as a soloist in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Blossom Festival in July 2008.
Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo began performing professionally at the age of 11 when he appeared in the Broadway touring production of Falsettos. In 2009, he was a Grand Finals Winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. During the 2009-10 season, Mr. Costanzo makes his New York City Opera debut as Armindo in Handel’s Partenope and his New York Philharmonic debut as Prince Go-Go in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre. In the summer of 2010, he will sing the title role in Glimmerglass Opera’s new production of Handel’s Tolomeo. Following his debut performances with The Cleveland Orchestra at these concerts, he travels to Carnegie Hall for performances of Messiah with Musica Sacra.
Tenor Alek Shrader, a winner of the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, made his San Francisco Opera mainstage debut during the 2008-09 season as Nemorino in L’Elisir d’amore. In March and April 2009, he sang the role of Count Almaviva in Opera Cleveland’s production of The Barber of Seville. He was a featured soloist in the 2009 Metropolitan Opera Concert in the Park series. During the 2009-10 season, he makes his European debut as Tamino in The Magic Flute at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux and appears in the Mozart Requiem with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. At the end of the season, he will make his Santa Fe Opera debut in the title role of Albert Herring. Mr. Shrader made his Cleveland Orchestra debut as a soloist in performances of Bach’s Magnificat and excerpts from Handel’s Messiah in December 2006.
Bass-baritone John Relyea has appeared in many of the world’s most celebrated opera houses and remains in high demand throughout the concert world, performing with leading orchestras across the United States and in Europe. This season, he makes his debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Mephistopheles in The Damnation of Faust and returns to the Metropolitan Opera in the title role of The Marriage of Figaro. He also appears with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Dresden Staatskapelle. Mr. Relyea made his Cleveland Orchestra debut in January 1998 as a soloist in Bach’s Mass in B minor and most recently appeared with the Orchestra at the Blossom Festival in July 2004.
These concerts are sponsored by National City, Now a part of PNC, a Cleveland Orchestra Partner in Excellence.
* * *
The Cleveland Orchestra’s 2009-10 season at Severance Hall is sponsored by UBS. Headquartered in Zurich and Basel, Switzerland, UBS is a global firm providing services to private, corporate and institutional clients. Its strategy is to focus on international wealth management and the Swiss banking business alongside its global expertise in investment banking and asset management. In Switzerland, UBS is the market leader in retail and commercial banking.
UBS is a significant supporter of orchestral music globally. In addition to its season sponsorship of The Cleveland Orchestra, the firm currently sponsors several other outstanding symphony orchestras, such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra and The Philadelphia Orchestra. These partnerships reflect UBS’s dedication to supporting the communities where it operates, as well as a philosophy of working collaboratively with its clients to deliver the customized solutions that help them pursue their goals.
“UBS is proud of our ongoing relationship as Season Sponsor of The Cleveland Orchestra,” said Marten Hoekstra, CEO, UBS Wealth Management Americas. “Supporting the arts is ingrained in our corporate culture and we view our partnership with this internationally renowned orchestra as a reflection of our ongoing commitment to communities where we live and work.”
Biographical information on Robert Porco follows at the end of this release. Additional biographical information on Mary Wilson, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Alek Shrader, and John Relyea is available on request.
TICKET PRICES (Add $5 for Saturday): Orchestra: $66, $44; Dress Circle: $87, $51; Balcony: $66, $51, $31.
TICKET SERVICES: The Severance Hall Ticket Office is located in the Smith Lobby. The entrance and 15-minute Ticket Service parking are along East Boulevard. Single tickets for all concerts in the 2009-10 season are now on sale. Severance Hall Ticket Office Hours: M-F 9-6; Sat. 10-6. Closed Sundays and major holidays, except for those days with performances, when the Ticket Office opens three hours before the concert.
To charge tickets by telephone on American Express, Discover Card, MasterCard, and Visa, call Cleveland Orchestra Ticket Services at (216) 231-1111 (Cleveland) or 800-686-1141 during the regular ticket office hours listed above. Subscriptions and single tickets are also available through The Cleveland Orchestra’s website. The website offers secure ticket transactions with any major credit card and provides complete concert listings.
FREE CONCERT PREVIEWS: Concert Previews will be given prior to the December 10 and 12 concerts, beginning at 7:00 p.m., in the Concert Hall. Hugh Floyd, director of choral activities at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, will give the Preview. Concert Previews are designed to enrich the concert-going experience by providing historical background and critical insight into the music performed at each concert. This series is funded by a generous endowment gift from Dorothy Humel Hovorka.
PARKING: For evening subscription concerts at Severance Hall, parking can be purchased for $10 per vehicle, when space permits, in the Campus Center Garage (the underground garage located directly behind Severance Hall). Pre-paid parking for the Campus Center Garage can be purchased in advance through the Ticket Office at the cost of $14 per concert (this includes City of Cleveland parking tax and handling fee). The pre-paid parking ensures patrons a parking space. Availability of these pre-paid parking passes is limited.
For further information, or to order pre-paid parking, patrons should call the Cleveland Orchestra Ticket Office during regular office hours at (216) 231-1111 or 800-686-1141. Pre-paid parking passes are also available through The Cleveland Orchestra’s website.
Calendar Listings
Thursday, December 10, at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 12, at 8:00 p.m.
Severance Hall
THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA
ROBERT PORCO, conductor
MARY WILSON, soprano
ANTHONY ROTH COSTANZO, countertenor
ALEK SHRADER, tenor
JOHN RELYEA, bass-baritone
CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CHAMBER CHORUS, Robert Porco, director
HANDEL – Messiah
Ticket Prices: $31-$92 – Call (216) 231-1111 or 800-686-1141
Season Sponsor: UBS
Concert Sponsor: National City, Now a part of PNC, a Cleveland Orchestra Partner in Excellence
Concert Preview, in the Concert Hall beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Preview Speaker: Hugh Floyd, director of choral activities, Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Media Contact: Jennifer Schlosser, (216) 231-7518 / Email: jschlosser@clevelandorchestra.com; or
Ana Papakhian, Office: (216) 231-7476; Cell phone: (216) 370-2595 / Email: anap@clevelandorchestra.com
Robert Porco
Director of Choruses
The Cleveland Orchestra
Frances P. and Chester C. Bolton Endowed Chair
Robert Porco became director of choruses for The Cleveland Orchestra in 1998, following in a line of distinguished Cleveland choral leaders that has included Boris Goldovsky, Robert Shaw, Margaret Hillis, Robert Page, and Gareth Morrell. In addition to preparing the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and the Blossom Festival Chorus for performances, Mr. Porco conducts the Orchestra’s annual series of Christmas concerts at Severance Hall and guest conducts both at Severance Hall and at the Blossom Festival.
During the 2009-10 Severance Hall season, Mr. Porco is preparing the Chorus for performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), Handel’s Messiah, Boito’s Prologue to Mefistofele, and Orff’s Carmina Burana. He will conduct the works by Handel, Boito, and Orff.
Throughout his career, Mr. Porco has been active as a conductor of opera and of choral-and-orchestral works. He is a regular guest conductor and the director of choruses for the Cincinnati May Festival, and has guest-conducted the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and other orchestras in the United States and Europe. Mr. Porco has prepared choruses for such prominent conductors as Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Andrew Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Paavo Järvi, Erich Kunzel, Raymond Leppard, James Levine, Jesús López-Cobos, Zubin Mehta, André Previn, Kurt Sanderling, Robert Shaw, Leonard Slatkin, and Franz Welser-Möst.
Highlights of Mr. Porco’s Cleveland tenure in recent seasons have included preparing the Chorus for a February 2009 Carnegie Hall performance of Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass and Debussy’s Nocturnes and for its May 2009 debut in the Cincinnati May Festival, performing Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (“Symphony of a Thousand”). He prepared the Chorus for April 2008 performances of Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony, which he conducted, and January 2007 performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, conducted by Mr. Welser-Möst and recorded and released on compact disc by Deutsche Grammophon. During the 2005 season, Mr. Porco prepared the Chorus for appearances with the Orchestra at the Lucerne Festival and the London Proms.
Ohio native Robert Porco served as chairman of the choral department at Indiana University School of Music from 1980 to 1998, and as artistic director and conductor of the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir from 1989 to 1998. He has directed the Cincinnati May Festival Chorus since 1989.
