San Francisco Symphony & Chorus at Davies Symphony Hall, May 18, 2023

San Francisco Symphony presents an Open Rehearsal featuring guest conductor Philippe Jordan, guest choral director Joshua Habermann, and vocal soloists Ian Bostridge, Jennifer Holloway, and Brian Mulligan
with additional support from Ragazzi Boys Chorus
Davies Symphony Hall 201 Van Ness, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA 9:00 AM, Thursday, May 18, 2023

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2023 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2023 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

• 9:00 AM Doors open; coffee, tea & morning treats in the lobby (until 10 AM)
• 9:10 AM Welcome remarks from in the lobby featuring Senior Director of Artistic Planning Phillippa Cole and Chorus Director Joshua Haberman
• 9:30 AM Musicians' Warm-up period
• 10 AM - 12:30 PM Edward Benjamin Britten (1913–1976): War Requiem, Op. 66 (1962) rehearsal led by Philippe Jordan

[9:51 AM] {pre-concert noodling from the orchestra}
[9:59 AM] {Welcome from ?Rachel Kirley or ?Robin Freeman}
[10:00 AM] {concert tuning}
[10:00 AM] {enter PJ & male soloists}

Edward Benjamin Britten (1913–1976): War Requiem, Op. 66 (1962)

Section One: Requiem Aeternam

1. [10:01 AM] Requiem aeternam
2. [10:04 AM] Te decet hymnus
3. [10:07 AM] Anthem for Doomed Youth (Wilfred Owen) AKA “What passing bells for these who die as cattle?”
4. [10:10 AM] Kyrie eleison
   [10:11 AM] {full stop at end of first section}
   
   Section Two: Dies Irae
5. [10:11 AM] Dies irae
6. [10:15 AM] But I Was Looking at the Permanent Stars (Wilfred Owen), excerpted, AKA “Bugles sang, saddening the evening air”
7. [10:18 AM] Liber scriptus
8. [10:20 AM] The Next War (Wilfred Owen) AKA “Out there, we've walked quite friendly up to Death,”
9. [10:22 AM] Recordare lesu pie
10. [10:26 AM] Confutatis maledictis
11. [10:27 AM] Sonnet – “On Seeing a Heavy Piece of Artillery Brought into Action” (Wilfred Owen), excerpted, AKA “Be slowly lifted up, thou long black arm,”
12. [10:29 AM] Dies irae
13. [10:32 AM] Futility (Wilfred Owen) AKA “Move him into the sun”
14. [10:35 AM] Pie lesu Domine
    [10:37 AM] {full stop at end of Mvt}
    
    Section Three: Offertorium
15. [10:37 AM] Domine Jesu Christe
16. [10:39 AM] Sed signifer Sanctus
17. [10:41 AM] The Parable of the Old Man and the Young (Wilfred Owen) AKA “So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,”
18. [10:44 AM] Hostias et preces tibi
    [10:47 AM] {full stop at end of Mvt}
    
    Section Four: Sanctus
19. [10:47 AM] Sanctus
20. [10:49 AM] Hosanna
21. [10:53 AM] The End (Wilfred Owen) AKA “After the blast of lighning from the East,”
    [10:57 AM] {full stop at end of Mvt}
    
    Section Five: Agnus Dei
22. [10:57 AM] Agnus Dei/At a Calvary near the Ancre (Wilfred Owen) AKA “One ever hangs where shelled roads part.”
    [11:01 AM] {full stop at end of Mvt}
    [11:01 AM] {dead air: UNION BREAK!}
    
    [11:23 AM] {concert tuning}
    
    Section Six: Libera Me
23. [11:24 AM] Libera me
24. [11:28 AM] Tremens factus
25. [11:31 AM] Strange Meeting (Wilfred Owen), excerpted, AKA “It seems that out of battle I escaped”
26. [11:34 AM] Strange Meeting (Wilfred Owen), excerpted, AKA “'None', said the other,'save the undone years',”
27. [11:40 AM] Strange Meeting (Wilfred Owen), excerpted, AKA “Let us sleep now…” / In paradisum
28. [11:44 AM] Requiescant in pace
    [11:45 AM] {applause at end work}
    
    Follow up: additional bits of rehearsal, noted by Rehearsal Mark from the score
29. [11:47 AM] RM102 Libera Me - Libera me
    [11:48 AM] {brief discussion}
30. [11:48 AM] RM104 Libera Me - Libera me [11:49 AM] {brief discussion}
31. [11:50 AM] RM127 Libera Me - “Let us sleep”
    [11:52 AM] {more discussion}
32. [11:52 AM] RM3 Requiem Aeternam - Te decet hymnus
    [11:54 AM] {discussion}
33. [11:55 AM] RM28 Dies Irae - Liber scriptus
    [11:55 AM] {discussion}
34. [11:55 AM] RM54 Dies Irae - Dies irae - “Lacrimosa, lacrimosa”
    [11:57 AM] {discussion}
35. [11:58 AM] RM63 Offertorium - Sed signifer Sanctus
    [11:59 AM] {discussion}
36. [11:59 AM] RM72 Offertorium - “So Abram rose” - “Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps”
    [12:00 PM] {final discussion}
    [12:00 PM] {applause at end of rehearsal}

San Francisco Symphony & Chorus

• Esa-Pekka Salonen: music director;
• other performers vary by program.

• Joshua Habermann: guest choral director;
• Carolyn Alexander: alto vox;
• Terry A. Alvord: alto vox;
• Paul Angelo: tenor vox;
• Sylvia Baba: soprano vox;
• Alexis Wong Baird: soprano vox;
• Emily P. Bernier: alto vox;
• Carl Boe: tenor vox;
• Arlene Boyd: soprano vox;
• Josh Bozich: bass vox;
• Todd Bradley: tenor vox;
• Seth Brenzel: tenor vox;
• Sean Brooks: bass vox;
• Philip Buonadonna: bass vox;
• Helen Burns: soprano vox;
• Celeste Camarena: alto vox;
• Sean Casey: bass vox;
• Sara Chalk: soprano vox;
• Eric Choate: bass vox;
• Dean Christman: tenor vox;
• Adam Cole: bass vox;
• Noam Cook: bass vox;
• Carol Copperud: alto vox;
• Jim Cowing: bass vox;
• Michael Desnoyers: tenor vox;
• Scott Dickerman: tenor vox;
• Lauren Diez: soprano vox;
• Michael Dooling: bass vox;
• Thomas Ellison: tenor vox;
• Elizabeth Emigh: soprano vox;
• Christian Emigh: tenor vox;
• Elliott JG Encarnación: tenor vox;
• Abigail Farrell: alto vox;
• Samuel Faustine: tenor vox;
• Corty Fengler: alto vox;
• Michael Fields: bass vox;
• Cara Gabrielson: soprano vox;
• Malcolm Gaines: bass vox;
• Rick Galbreath: bass vox;
• Kevin Gibbs: tenor vox;
• Julia Hall: soprano vox;
• Ashley Hecht: soprano vox;
• Stacey Helley: alto vox;
• Amy L. Hespenheide: alto vox;
• Bradley Irving: bass vox;
• Kelsey Ishimatsu Jacobson: alto vox;
• Lukáš Janata: bass vox;
• Hilary Jenson: alto vox;
• Alec Jeong: tenor vox;
• Betsy Johnsmiller: soprano vox;
• Mitchell Jones: bass vox;
• Cathleen Josaitis: alto vox;
• Kate Juliana: soprano vox;
• Michele Elizabeth Kennedy: soprano vox;
• Gretchen Klein: alto vox;
• Drew Kravin: tenor vox;
• Jocelyn Queen Lambert: soprano vox;
• Ellen Leslie: soprano vox;
• Linda Liebschutz: alto vox;
• Katherine M. Lilly: alto vox;
• Joyce Lin-Conrad: alto vox;
• Margaret Lisi: alto vox;
• Benjamin Liupaogo: tenor vox;
• Benjamin Lorenzoni: tenor vox;
• Matthew Lovell: bass vox;
• Roderick Lowe: bass vox;
• Joachim Luis: tenor vox;
• Tim Marson: bass vox;
• BrieAnne Martin: alto vox;
• Andrew Paul McIver: tenor vox;
• Lane McKenna: soprano vox;
• Michael Mendelsohn: tenor vox;
• Jennifer Mitchell: soprano vox;
• Richard Mix: bass vox;
• Clayton Moser: bass vox;
• Brielle Marina Neilson: alto vox;
• Julian Nesbitt: bass vox;
• Jack O'Reilly: tenor vox;
• Kimberly J. Orbik: alto vox;
• Akane Ota: alto vox;
• Jess G. Perry: bass vox;
• Matthew Peterson: bass vox;
• Ryan S. Peterson: tenor vox;
• Michael Prichard: bass vox;
• Laura Stanfield Prichard: soprano vox;
• Aimée Puentes: soprano vox;
• Lindsay Rader: alto vox;
• Linda J. Randall: alto vox;
• Meredith Riekse: alto vox;
• Celeste Riepe: alto vox;
• Kelly Ryer: soprano vox;
• Natalia Salemmo: soprano vox;
• Peter Sargent: bass vox;
• Jeanne Schoch: alto vox;
• Tara Scown: alto vox;
• Sandy Sellin: alto vox;
• Chung-Wai Soong: bass vox;
• Meghan Spyker: alto vox;
• Storm Staley: bass vox;
• Elizabeth L. Susskind: soprano vox;
• Ben Taube: bass vox;
• Michael Taylor: bass vox;
• Connor Tench: bass vox;
• Mayo Tsuzuki: alto vox;
• Troy Turriate: tenor vox;
• Makiko Ueda: alto vox;
• David Varnum: bass vox;
• Merilyn Telle Vaughn: alto vox;
• Sarah Vig: soprano vox;
• John A. Vlahides: tenor vox;
• Heidi L. Waterman: alto vox;
• Darla Wigginton: alto vox;
• Lauren Wilbanks: soprano vox;
• Jack Wilkins: tenor vox;
• J.T. Williams: bass vox;
• Hannah Wolf: alto vox;
• Goangshiuan Ying: bass vox;
• John Paul Young: tenor vox;
• Helene Zindarsian: soprano vox;
• Jakob Zwiener: tenor vox.

• Ian Bostridge: tenor vox;
• Jennifer Holloway: soprano vox;
• Philippe Jordan: conductor;
• Brian Mulligan: baritone vox.

• Ragazzi Boys Chorus: Kent Jue: director;
• The boys, per SFS program notes: Andrew Altorfer; Nathan Bannister; Ian Bass; Calvin Blanford; Nick Damon; Alex Dujmovic; Kui Fine; Eli Hart; Colin Henderson; Bryant Ho; Jonah Hsu; Elliot Lee; Lyn Leonard; Ming Lim; Brandon Liu; Henry Liu; Isaac Liu; Michael Long; Albert Luo; Florian Mayssat-Basu; Darius Monstavicius; Finn Reese; Hersh Saxena; Arthur Scholom; Johan Sijp; Connor Statton; Luke Suffoletto; Alex To; Oliver To; Adrian Twomey; Iker Vahamaki; Abraham Villeda; Eshu Vinnakota; Justin Vives; Colin Xiellie; Brenden Yu; Joshua Zheng

Without printed lyrics or notes for the Requiem, it was hard to have any sense of place as the performance progressed. Happily, they played it through just once from top to bottom, with a twenty-minute union break at the Dona Nobis. Once finished with that run-through, the conductor called for spot checks of a few sections, then he inquired of the strings, the woodwinds, the brass, and so on what questions they had, which resulted in a bit more rehearsal of specific parts. I was caught by surprise when the event wrapped up because it was about twenty minutes early, and from my perspective, there was nothing to indicate that they were done. Must be accomplished by invisible hand signals or something. Overall, it was an interesting way to spend the morning. And while I can't make it work this weekend, I enjoyed the rehearsal enough that someday I'll put the regular performance of Britten's piece into my agenda.

Program Notes or program notes

Text of the War Requiem

Score of the War Requiem

Today's photo gallery comes from ol' squinty!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2023 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2023 event list! ☸ On to the next event!