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This review is reprinted in OperaNotes, courtesy of Patricia Beach Smith, The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, CA. OperaNotes chose to reprint this article to celebrate the success of New York soprano, Arianna Zukerman.
Review: UCD singers, musicians in magnificent 'Requiem'
By Patricia Beach Smith -- Bee Arts Critic
Giuseppe Verdi's "Requiem," a masterpiece by anyone's reckoning, was given its full dimension and power Sunday evening when a huge chorus of 260 singers, four spectacular soloists and a cohesive 116-piece orchestra, all under the steady hands of conductor Jeffrey Thomas, performed the work at the Mondavi Center at the University of California, Davis. The extraordinary performance by the combined University and Alumni choruses and the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, plus soprano Arianna Zukerman, mezzo-soprano Judith Malafronte, tenor Steven Tharp and bass David Arnold, treated the sold-out audience to a rare experience in which everything coalesced magnificently.
Verdi knew how to write for choruses, and the opening Requiem, Kyrie and Dies irae proved it. If anyone had any doubts, they would have been quashed after hearing the ensemble rip through the opening score following a quiet beginning in the cello section.
Verdi's famous "Nabucco" chorus was recalled in the Agnus Dei, where the unison sound was powerful and determined.
Verdi also knew how to write for soloists. Tenor Tharp, like many of Verdi's operatic heroes, had no easy warm-up to get into his first thrilling, hall-piercing notes in the Kyrie. His focused and controlled voice continually rang out in the piece.
Tharp and his counterparts - Zukerman, a young soprano with a solid future if she continues to sing as dramatically and beautifully as she did Sunday; bass Arnold, a dependable veteran who delivered rich expressiveness every time he stepped out to sing; and mezzo Malafronte, a workhorse in this piece - gave performances one wishes were recorded.
Likewise the chorus, a combination of students and alumni who sang with ardor and skill throughout. Not only was the chorus accurate, but it managed fortes and pianissimos with a delicacy that is difficult to muster with such a large group. When they all loudly whispered the words in a part of the Dies irae, the effect was stunning. They should also all get medals just for standing onstage like proper, black tie-clad sardines for two-plus hours.
The orchestra, except for a sometimes unsteady cello section, profited from having some faculty playing along with an accomplished student contingent. The six members of the UC Davis Trumpet Ensemble added antiphonal shimmer to the sequence whose words were: "The trumpet, scattering a marvelous sound ..."
Conductor Thomas, elegant and controlled in his directing, kept the whole ensemble and soloists attentive yet flexible, especially in tricky sections when the chorus was going full tilt in the Dies irae and the explosive Sanctus, where Verdi summons all the forces.
The Agnus Dei and Libera Me sections gave Zukerman a chance to stand out, often with Malafronte in strong unison.
The performance was the kind of event a university should foster, and hopefully it will continue to do so after this resounding success. Having the voice-and orchestra-friendly Jackson Hall on campus should be incentive to continue offering such programs - and eventually opera, too.