Wagner steals the show in Verdi's Requiem

By Sydney Boyd, 21 March 2015

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Reviewed at Jones Hall, Houston on 20 March 2015

Verdi, Messa da Requiem

Amber Wagner, Soprano

Sasha Cooke, Mezzo-soprano

Francesco Demuro, Tenor

Alfred Walker, Bass-baritone

Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Conductor

Houston Symphony Chorus

Charles Hausmann, Director

Houston Symphony

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Blending theater and symphony, the Houston Symphony reimagines Peer Gynt as Grieg intended – complete with dialogue, chorus, and a luminous cameo from Karita Mattila.

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Bach by arrangement: Houston Symphony under Esa-Pekka Salonen

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Full-bodied Beethoven from Yefim Bronfman and Fabien Gabel in Houston

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Fabien Gabel and the Houston Symphony Orchestra present memorable Beethoven performances that are solidly in the Austro-German tradition.

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Sydney Boyd

Sydney Boyd is an arts writer, scholar, and violinist. She has been a music critic in Houston since 2012 and is the blog author of Girl at the Opera. She has a Ph.D. in English literature from Rice University, where she currently holds a post-doctoral Spatial Studies fellowship in the Humanities Research Center.

Damnation without purification: Houston Symphony plays Verdi’s Requiem