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Alsop has been even
more in demand as a
guest conductor than
usual since worldwide
celebrations of
Bernstein’s centennial
began last fall.
Ravinia’s July 28
performance of
Mass
is the centerpiece
of the three weeks
of concerts with the
Chicago Symphony
Orchestra that she is
personally leading
as the curator of the
festival’s multiyear
salute to the great
American musician
and socio-cultural
provocateur. Earlier
this year, she
presented
Mass
at
London’s Southbank
Centre with musicians
from the National
Youth Orchestra of
Great Britain and
the Chineke! Junior
Orchestra along with
a cast of young choirs
and theater artists.
Baritone Paulo Szot
(left) earned critical
acclaim in his debut as
the central Celebrant
at the performance,
and he will reprise the
role for his Ravinia and
CSO debuts.
diverse musical styles found in the work
and Bernstein’s willingness to rethink
how the baritone voice is typically treat-
ed.
Mass
includes an extended section
that calls on Szot to sing a cappella and
falsetto, something he had never done
before. “So, I was absolutely fascinated
from the beginning until the day we
opened in London,” the baritone says.
“And I can’t wait to do it again.”
Because of the massive scale of
Mass
,
learning, rehearsing, and performing it
becomes a journey in itself—what Alsop
calls a “secondary metaphor” for the
message of the piece. The trepidation
and anxiety at the beginning are ulti-
mately replaced with feelings of accom-
plishment and fulfillment. “I know what
the pay-off can be,” Alsop says. “For
people who haven’t gone through this
journey, they don’t actually yet know
what an incredible experience it will be
for the audience and for themselves. I
don’t have the fear anymore. I just have
the knowledge of the enjoyment of the
process.”
The work brings out the best in the
artists working on it, Newbury says,
because virtually all of them have expe-
rienced a crisis of faith or a lost con-
nection with community and can share
in its message. And that common bond
and the empathy it generates communi-
cate powerfully to the audience. “More
than any other piece that I’ve done,” he
says, “and I’m not being hyperbolic, it
really feels like the audience and the
performers are in the same space and
the same world, and there is no real di-
viding line between who’s listening and
who’s performing.”
The world has changed a great deal
since 1971, when
Mass
premiered, yet
the United States faces many similar
challenges, including intense political
divisions and societal upheaval. “The
message of community, of standing up
for what you believe in about tolerance,
about acceptance, about love, about mu-
tual respect,” Alsop says, “all of these are
very strong messages throughout
Mass
,
and it brings together such a diverse cast
of people, not just ethnically diverse but
generationally diverse.
“I think it is a very important mes-
sage for the time we’re living in where
we have to remember that tolerance is
an important part of existence on this
planet.”
Kyle MacMillan served as classical music critic
for the
Denver Post
from 2000 through 2011.
He currently freelances in Chicago, writing for
such publications and websites as the
Chicago
Sun-Times
,
Wall Street Journal
,
Opera News
,
and
Classical Voice of North America
.
MARK ALLAN/SOUTHBANK CENTRE (BOTH)
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JULY 23 – AUGUST 5, 2018
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