Danielpour: The Passion of Yeshua UCLA Chamber Singers, Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra & JoAnn Falletta

• Richard Danielpour (b. 1956):
• 1 The Passion of Yeshua: I. Prologue 05:30
• 2 The Passion of Yeshua: II. Pesach 05:14
• 3 The Passion of Yeshua: III. Ritual. Duet 04:32
• 4 The Passion of Yeshua: IV. Betrayal 06:46
• 5 The Passion of Yeshua: V. Intermezzo. In the Valley of the Shadow of Death 06:04
• 6 The Passion of Yeshua: VI. Gethsemane 13:02
• 7 The Passion of Yeshua: VII. Interlude 03:59
• 8 The Passion of Yeshua: VIII. In the Palace of the High Priest 06:13
• 9 The Passion of Yeshua: IX. Kefa's Denial 10:10
• 10 The Passion of Yeshua: X. Yeshua Before Pilate 09:57
• 11 The Passion of Yeshua: XI. Behold the Man 08:38
• 12 The Passion of Yeshua: XII. Via Dolorosa 12:09
• 13 The Passion of Yeshua: XIII. Darkness over the Land 05:51
• 14 The Passion of Yeshua: XIV. Epilogue 04:56
• Total Runtime 01:43:01

Info for Danielpour: The Passion of Yeshua

Richard Danielpour’s dramatic oratorio The Passion of Yeshua—a work which has evolved over the last 25 years—is an intensely personal telling of the final hours of Christ on Earth. It incorporates texts from the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Gospels inspiring extraordinarily beautiful music that stresses the need for human compassion and forgiveness. Danielpour returns to the scale and majesty of Bach in this oratorio, creating choruses that are intense and powerful, and giving both Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene a central place in a work of glowing spirituality. Conductor JoAnn Falletta considers The Passion of Yeshua to be “a classic for all time.”

"The Passion of Yeshua was composed as a result of a very long contemplation of the subject over many years. As an American born of Middle Eastern, Iranian parentage, I was exposed to both the Jewish and Christian strands that existed within my family.

I wanted to write a passion oratorio that would bring the story of the last 12 hours of the life of Jesus of Nazareth back to its Jewish origins because I wanted to give Christians in America the opportunity to more fully understand how deeply the root of their Christian faith is steeped in Judaism. I was also hoping to allow for the possibility of Jewish people in America to see the person of Jesus without the presence of all of the European accretions, and outrageous acts that were committed in the name of European Christianity over the last 2000 years.

Ultimately one of the goals of this piece has been to bring people together in a constructive intelligent, and civilized dialogue about faith." (Richard Danielpour)

Hila Plitmann, soprano
Matthew Worth, baritone
Kenneth Overton, baritone
J'Nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano
Timothy Fallon, tenor
UCLA Chamber Singers
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
JoAnn Falletta, conductor

Hila Plitmann
A glittering jewel on the international music scene, Grammy Award-winning soprano Hila Plitmann is known worldwide for her astonishing musicianship, light and beautiful voice, and the ability to perform challenging new works. She has been described by The New York Times as possessing a “radiant sound, even during passages of sky-high vocal writing.” Plitmann regularly premieres works by today’s leading composers while maintaining a vibrant and extraordinarily diverse professional life in film music, musical theater, and song writing. Described as a performer with “tremendous vocal and physical grace,” and “a vocal instrument that is simply unreal in its beauty,” Plitmann has appeared as a headliner with numerous ensembles in the U.S. and abroad, such as the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and she has worked with many of today’s leading conductors, including Leonard Slatkin, Kurt Masur, Robert Spano, Marin Alsop, Esa Pekka Salonen, Andrew Litton, Giancarlo Guerrero, Steven Sloane, and Carl St. Clair.

In constant demand as a singer of new and contemporary music, Plitmann has been involved in a great many world premieres, including Paul Revere’s Ride with the Atlanta Symphony, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Del Tredici; Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Wing on Wing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of the composer; Mr. Tambourine Man written by Oscar and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Corigliano with the Minnesota Orchestra; the world premiere of Gerard Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Two Awakenings and a Double Lullaby, a song cycle written for her by Pulitzer Prize winner Aaron Jay Kernis; Richard Danielpour’s Towards a Season of Peace with Pacific Symphony; and Frank Zappa’s orchestral staged version of 200 Motels with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

When originating the role of Exstasis in Eric Whitacre’s groundbreaking electro-musical Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings at the Boston Court Theatre in Pasadena, Plitmann sang, acted, danced, and fought in long martial arts battles nightly for a seven-week sold-out run, a tour-de-force performance that prompted Backstage West to call her “brilliant, eliciting strong empathy and singing gorgeously,” and Theatre Mania to declare she “fights like a warrior and sings like the angel she portrays.” For her work in the show she received nominations for Best Actress in a Musical from the Los Angeles Ovation Awards and The L.A. Ticketholder Awards.

Other notable performances include Philip Glass’ The Civil Wars with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Grant Gershon conducting); Thomas Adès’ The Tempest Suite with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Adès conducting); David Del Tredici’s Final Alice with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra (all conducted by Leonard Slatkin). Other collaborations include performances of Salonen’s Sappho Songs with the Stockholm Symphony Orchestra (Salonen conducting); selections by Bernstein and Golijov with the Seattle Symphony (Joana Carneiro conducting); Paola Prestini’s Oceanic Verses with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Singers at the Barbican Centre; a selection of Barbara Streisand songs with the Hamburg Symphony (Stuart Barr conducting), the New York premiere of Eric Whitacre’s Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings at Carnegie Hall; a recording of Xiaoyang Ye’s Symphony No. 3, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (José Serebrier conducting); George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill as part of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center (composer conducting); the world premiere of Mark Adamo’s opera Becoming Santa Claus with the Dallas Opera; Michael Daugherty’s Labyrinth of Love with the University of Michigan symphonic band, and the world premiere of Paola Prestini’s opera Gilgamesh in Boston, as part of the Ouroboros Trilogy Opera Project.

Plitmann has accumulated an impressive catalogue of professional recordings, appearing on the Decca, Telarc, Naxos, Signum, CRI, Reference Recordings, and Disney labels. Some of her latest discography encompasses Richard Danielpour’s Toward A Season of Peace (Pacific Symphony) and John Corigliano’s Conjurer/Vocalise (Albany Symphony), both released to critical acclaim on Naxos; The Ancient Question…A Journey Through Jewish Songs was released to critical acclaim in December 2012 (Signum Classics); both David Del Tredici’s Paul Revere’s Ride (Telarc), and Hans Zimmer’s The Da Vinci Code (Decca) received Grammy nominations, and in 2009 Plitmann won the Grammy for Best Classical Vocal Performance for her work on the Naxos recording of Corigliano’s song cycle Mr. Tambourine Man with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Plitmann can also be heard on the soundtrack of the film New York, I Love You, singing a song written by composer Paul Cantelon.

Born and raised in Jerusalem, Plitmann received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, with high honors, from The Juilliard School of Music, and has been awarded the coveted Sony ES Prize for her outstanding contribution to the vocal arts. She also has a Black Belt in Taekwondo.

JoAnn Falletta
Grammy-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center and Artistic Adviser of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. Hailed for having “Toscanini’s tight control over ensemble, Walter’s affectionate balancing of inner voices, Stokowski’s gutsy showmanship, and a controlled frenzy worthy of Bernstein”, she is a leading force for the music of our time.

Ms. Falletta has guest conducted over a hundred orchestras in North America, and many of the most prominent orchestras in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. In 2019-20 she will guest conduct orchestras in Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Mexico, Brazil and across the US.

Galway and Falletta Galway & Falletta, 2004 Upon her appointment as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Falletta became the first woman to lead a major America ensemble. Celebrating her 20th anniversary with the Buffalo Philharmonic this season, she has been credited with bringing the Philharmonic to an unprecedented level of national and international prominence. The orchestra has become one of the leading recording orchestras for Naxos and returned twice to Carnegie Hall, first in 2004 after a 20-year absence, and again in 2013 as part of the Spring for Music Festival. In 2018, the BPO made their first international tour in three decades, to perform at Warsaw’s prestigious Beethoven Easter Festival where Falletta made history as the first American women conductor to lead an orchestra at the Festival. She and the BPO have been honored with numerous ASCAP awards, including the top award for Adventurous Programming, Other accomplishments include the establishment of the orchestra’s Beau Fleuve label, the founding of the JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition in partnership with WNED, four successful tours of Florida, and the national and international broadcast of concerts on NPR’s Performance Today, SymphonyCast, and the European Broadcasting Union. ...

Richard Danielpour
a Grammy Award-winner, is one of the deans of contemporary American composition. His list of commissions include some of the most celebrated artists of our day, including Yo-Yo Ma, Jessye Norman, the Guarneri and Emerson String Quartets, the New York City Ballet, the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia, Stuttgart Radio, and Vienna Chamber Orchestras. Danielpour is on the composition faculties at the Manhattan School of Music and Curtis Institute.

Danielpour's composition of The Passion of Yeshua is a personal 'braiding' of two faiths, Judiasm and Christianity. He has assembled texts in Hebrew (from the Tanakh: Isaiah, Psalms, Lamentations) combined with the Messianic prophecies from the Book of Isaiah. The narrative texts of the Passion of Jesus are an amalgamation of all four Gospels.

Situated in the historical musical legacy of Bach’s St. Matthew and St. John Passions, The Passion of Yeshua creates space for voices traditionally silent/silenced in retellings of the Biblical narrative, specifically highlighting the voices of Mary, Mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene.

Booklet for Danielpour: The Passion of Yeshua