Gerard Schwarz, Seattle Symphony and Seattle Symphony Chorale will be joined by soprano Sarah Coburn, mezzo-soprano Mary Phillips, tenor Stanford Olsen and bass-baritone Charles Robert Austin for three performances of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B minor on Thursday, March 20, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, March 21, at 1 p.m.; and Saturday, March 22, at 8 p.m.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest works of the classical repertoire, Bach’s B-minor Mass has immense historical, musical and spiritual significance, offering audiences an opportunity to reflect on the Easter season.
As a devout Lutheran, Bach gave a great deal of attention to his religious pieces and, as his last liturgical effort before his death the following year, his B¬-minor Mass is his crowning achievement. The beauty of this musical icon exists both in its calculated details and the power of its overwhelming whole – more than two hours of commanding, moving music. Finished after the composer had gone blind, the Mass in B minor is the summation of Bach’s keen perception and unequivocal devotion to God and music.
Sarah Coburn has appeared with leading opera companies around the country, including the Chicago, Cincinnati, Metropolitan, New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington National operas, among others. Notable roles include Adele in Die Fledermaus, Amenaide in Tancredi, Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor. In recent seasons she created the role of Kitty in the world premiere of Anna Karenina at Florida Grand Opera and debuted the role of Princess Yue-yang in the Metropolitan Opera’s world premiere of The First Emperor. She was a National Grand Finalist in the 2001 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a recipient of the 2002 Opera Index Career Grant.
Mary Phillips joined the Metropolitan Opera roster in 2005, making her debut as Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino. Other appearances include the opera companies of Barcelona, Dallas, Edinburgh, San Francisco, Seattle and Virginia in the roles of Wagner, Strauss, Handel, Mozart, Verdi, Bizet and Heggie. Concert appearances with the Hong Kong, Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics, and symphonies in Atlanta, Dallas, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Phoenix and Pittsburgh have included repertoire by Glass, Mahler, Szymanowski, Prokofiev, Bruckner, de Falla and Tchaikovsky. Her interest in contemporary repertoire resulted in performances of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking and his song cycle “Starry Night;” and the world premieres of Michael Torke’s Four Seasons and Aaron Jay Kernis’ Garden of Light, in which she made her New York Philharmonic debut.
Stanford Olsen has appeared with orchestras and opera companies throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Théâtre du Châtelet, Hamburger Staatsoper, La Monnaie and the operas of Houston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Francisco and Santa Fe; the philharmonics of Israel, Los Angeles and New York; the Minnesota, Montreal and Philadelphia orchestras, and the symphonies of Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, San Francisco and Seattle, among others. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Arturo in I Puritani, opposite Dame Joan Sutherland. Olsen has also appeared as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Fenton in Falstaff, Alfred in Die Fledermaus and Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri. In 1989, he received the prestigious Walter W. Naumburg award.
Nebraska native Charles Robert Austin has an operatic repertoire of more than 100 roles, including Scarpia in Tosca, Mephistopheles in Faust, Wotan in Die Walküie, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte,and Duke Bluebeard in Bluebeard’s Castle. He has won particular acclaim for his work in Wagner’s operas, performing with the Cincinnati and Minnesota symphonies, Opera Pacific, Teatro de la Opera San Juan, Tokyo Philharmonic and Virginia Opera. A frequent performer on the concert stage, notable highlights include Carnegie Hall performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Missa solemnis, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Great Mass in C and Verdi’s Nabucco; Haydn’s Creation at the Mostly Mozart Festival; and Handel’s Messiah at both Avery Fisher Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. -- www.seattlesymphony.org
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