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In 2008, what would have been Bernstein’s 90th year, conductor and Bernstein protégée Marin Alsop (far right) teamed up with director Kevin Newbury to present a

trio of performances of

Mass

with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on its home stage, where they also made a Grammy-nominated recording of the work, as well as

at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall (pictured).

Jackie Kennedy. And the loss of Ken-

nedy, the loss of MLK [Martin Luther

King Jr.], the loss of Bobby Kennedy—

these things really affected Bernstein

very deeply, and this is a piece that pays

tribute to JFK.”

But because of the negative reac-

tions to the piece,

Mass

was essentially

shelved—a huge blow to Bernstein and

the musical and socio-political ambitions

he had invested in it. “It was like some-

thing you weren’t supposed to talk about,

like a family secret,” Alsop recalls of her

years around the composer. “And I could

tell he really suffered about this piece.”

To celebrate the culmination of her

seven-year tenure at the Eugene (OR)

Symphony in 199, the leaders of the or-

chestra said she could perform any work

she wanted, and there was no doubt as

to what she wanted to do: Bernstein’s

virtually forgotten

Mass

. At the time, she

recalls, there was not even any readily

available edition from the publisher.

Since then, she has conducted it nearly a

dozen additional times across the world,

becoming one of the work’s best-known

champions.

And her efforts, along with those

of other conductors like Kent Nagano,

another Bernstein protégé, who re-

corded the piece in , have helped

changed perceptions of the piece. Nearly

three decades after the composer’s

death, Alsop says, people are finally able

to separate the composer’s music from

his bigger-than-life persona. In addi-

tion, musical boundaries have become

more porous, and audiences in the 1st

century are used to works that cross

genres and combine multiple styles as

Mass

does. “To have a rock band in the

middle of an orchestra is not that for-

eign to us today,” she says, “but in 1971,

it seemed absurd to people.”

in

mounting any perfor-

mance of

Mass

is finding

a singer who can meet

the daunting musical

and theatrical demands

of the Celebrant, its main

soloist. Baritone Alan

Titus made his name

with his debut in the role

in 1971. “We have Paulo Szot, who is just

a marvel,” Newbury says. “He is going to

be amazing. There are very few people

who can get through it. You read a lot of

stories of people dropping out right be-

fore it starts or getting replaced, because

it’s a real tour de force.”

When Kauffman and Alsop put their

minds together about the performance

five years ago, just as quickly as they de-

cided to present

Mass

in the first place,

they agreed that Szot, a Tony Award–

winning Brazilian singer who has

excelled both in opera and on Broadway,

would be Ravinia’s Celebrant. “I knew

the piece from years ago when I first lis-

tened to a recording, and I was amazed

by it,” Szot says. “So when Marin wrote

me an email and asked, ‘Hey, do you

want to do this piece?’ I said, ‘Absolute-

ly, yes.’ ” The two had worked together

previously on another Bernstein work,

and he was sure there was no better

conductor to introduce him to

Mass

.

Subsequently, when Alsop was engaged

to lead a performance of the work at

London’s Southbank Centre in April of

this year, she brought Szot into the fold

to give him another chance to don the

Celebrant’s vestments.

Szot, who will be making his Ravinia

and CSO debuts, was attracted to the

HIROYUKI ITO/GETTY IMAGES

RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JULY 23 – AUGUST 5, 2018

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