Verdi spotlighted at concert

Friday, May 18, 2001 | 9:14 a.m.

A performance Sunday by the Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society, in memory of the 100th anniversary of the death of one of Italy's greatest opera composers, will miss by two days the 127th anniversary of the debut of one of the composer's greatest works.

Nearly 200 musicians will take to the stage at UNLV's Artemus Ham Concert Hall to perform the monumental "Manzoni Requiem" by Giuseppe Verdi, who died Jan. 27, 1901, at age 88.

Verdi's "Requiem," composed shortly after the death of national Italian poet Alessandro Manzoni, premiered on May 22, 1874, in the church of St. Mark in Milan, with the composer conducting a 120-voice choir and 100-piece orchestra.

The Musical Arts Society, which is now in its 38th season, first performed Verdi's "Requiem" in 1989.

"We had 110 in the chorus for that performance, and a 55-piece orchestra," Douglas Peterson, the Society's director, said. "It was a huge success." He said this time there will be about 190 people onstage.

Sunday's production will include Las Vegas' Musical Arts Chorus, the Las Vegas Academy Singers and the Premiere Chorale of Woodland Hills, Calif.

Peterson said some of the musicians who will perform at Ham Hall also will be part of an international ensemble that will perform "Requiem" on June 27 outside the walls of St. Paul's Basilica in Rome.

During a career that spanned almost 70 years, Verdi composed 26 operas and numerous other works. Many of the operas are standard productions in most modern opera companies today.

Among the other famous operas by Verdi are "Aida," "Rigoletto," "Il Trovatore" and "La Traviata." His final two compositions were "Otello" and "Falstaff," both based upon plays by Shakespeare.

"People love Verdi's melodies," Peterson said. "They are so identified with Italian tenors."

Guest soloists Sunday will be Las Vegas tenor Mark Thomsen, soprano Luvada Harrison, mezzo soprano Allison Swenson and bass-baritone Neil Wilson.

Thomsen, an assistant professor of voice and director of the opera program at UNLV, performs throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. This season he has appeared in a variety of productions in New York City, Atlanta, Dallas and Austin, Texas. The Minneapolis native earned his undergraduate degree at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., and his master's in applied voice at the Eastman School of Music.

Harrison has performed with the New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera and Baltimore Opera companies, among others. As winner of the Bel Canto Foundation of Chicago Competition, she spent six weeks in Busetto, Italy, studying with world-renowned tenor Carlo Bergonzi.

Swenson is an active singer both on the operatic and concert stages. She recently performed with the Spokane, Wash., Symphony in "Resurrection Symphony."

Wilson has appeared in 40 opera and musical theater roles. Recently he performed in Mozart's "Grand Mass in C Minor" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Peterson, who has been director of the Musical Arts Society for 33 years, will conduct "Requiem." He has a doctor of musical arts degree from the University of Iowa. His choral groups have performed at both regional and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association. In 1977 he conducted the American premiere of David Fanshawe's "African Sanctus."

Peterson described "Requiem" as a "blockbuster. The day of judgment scene is very, very striking. It is Verdi's sacred opera and it has an overwhelming effect.

"It will be the concert of the decade."