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In 2008, what would have been Bernstein’s 90th year, conductor and Bernstein protégée Marin Alsop (far right) teamed up with director Kevin Newbury to present a
trio of performances of
Mass
with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on its home stage, where they also made a Grammy-nominated recording of the work, as well as
at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall (pictured).
Jackie Kennedy. And the loss of Ken-
nedy, the loss of MLK [Martin Luther
King Jr.], the loss of Bobby Kennedy—
these things really affected Bernstein
very deeply, and this is a piece that pays
tribute to JFK.”
But because of the negative reac-
tions to the piece,
Mass
was essentially
shelved—a huge blow to Bernstein and
the musical and socio-political ambitions
he had invested in it. “It was like some-
thing you weren’t supposed to talk about,
like a family secret,” Alsop recalls of her
years around the composer. “And I could
tell he really suffered about this piece.”
To celebrate the culmination of her
seven-year tenure at the Eugene (OR)
Symphony in 199, the leaders of the or-
chestra said she could perform any work
she wanted, and there was no doubt as
to what she wanted to do: Bernstein’s
virtually forgotten
Mass
. At the time, she
recalls, there was not even any readily
available edition from the publisher.
Since then, she has conducted it nearly a
dozen additional times across the world,
becoming one of the work’s best-known
champions.
And her efforts, along with those
of other conductors like Kent Nagano,
another Bernstein protégé, who re-
corded the piece in , have helped
changed perceptions of the piece. Nearly
three decades after the composer’s
death, Alsop says, people are finally able
to separate the composer’s music from
his bigger-than-life persona. In addi-
tion, musical boundaries have become
more porous, and audiences in the 1st
century are used to works that cross
genres and combine multiple styles as
Mass
does. “To have a rock band in the
middle of an orchestra is not that for-
eign to us today,” she says, “but in 1971,
it seemed absurd to people.”
in
mounting any perfor-
mance of
Mass
is finding
a singer who can meet
the daunting musical
and theatrical demands
of the Celebrant, its main
soloist. Baritone Alan
Titus made his name
with his debut in the role
in 1971. “We have Paulo Szot, who is just
a marvel,” Newbury says. “He is going to
be amazing. There are very few people
who can get through it. You read a lot of
stories of people dropping out right be-
fore it starts or getting replaced, because
it’s a real tour de force.”
When Kauffman and Alsop put their
minds together about the performance
five years ago, just as quickly as they de-
cided to present
Mass
in the first place,
they agreed that Szot, a Tony Award–
winning Brazilian singer who has
excelled both in opera and on Broadway,
would be Ravinia’s Celebrant. “I knew
the piece from years ago when I first lis-
tened to a recording, and I was amazed
by it,” Szot says. “So when Marin wrote
me an email and asked, ‘Hey, do you
want to do this piece?’ I said, ‘Absolute-
ly, yes.’ ” The two had worked together
previously on another Bernstein work,
and he was sure there was no better
conductor to introduce him to
Mass
.
Subsequently, when Alsop was engaged
to lead a performance of the work at
London’s Southbank Centre in April of
this year, she brought Szot into the fold
to give him another chance to don the
Celebrant’s vestments.
Szot, who will be making his Ravinia
and CSO debuts, was attracted to the
HIROYUKI ITO/GETTY IMAGES
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