Requiem

Featuring the combined orchestras and choruses of San Francisco Opera and Teatro di San Carlo of Naples.

This concert was presented as part of the worldwide Verdi bicentennial celebration, in recognition of 2013: The Year of Italian Culture in the United States, an initiative held under the auspices of the President of the Italian Republic.

The concert was preceded by remarks from San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee and Naples Mayor Luigi de Magistris.

This concert was the largest assemblage of performing artists on the War Memorial Opera House stage, a feat accomplished by raising the orchestra pit floor to stage height and the construction of special platforms for the chorus and shell above the chorus.

Personnel: 1 conductor, 4 soloists, 161 choristers, 146 orchestra members; 312 total.

San Francisco Opera Concertmaster Kay Stern officially served as the concertmaster for the concert, however after the Dies Irae, all principal string players switched places as a symbolic gesture of the two orchestras playing as one.

There were 81 San Francisco Opera Orchestra members and 65 Teatro di San Carlo Orchestra members. The breakdownwas as follows: 5 flutes (2 principals, 2 seconds, 1 piccolo), 4 oboes (2 principals, 2 seconds), 4 clarinets (2 principals, 2 seconds), 8 bassoons (2 principals, 2 seconds, 2 thirds, 2 fourths), 8 horns (2 principals, 2 seconds, 2 thirds, 2 fourths), 8 trumpets (2 principals, 2 seconds, 2 thirds, 2 fourths), 6 trombones (2 principals, 2 seconds, 2 bass trombones), 2 tubas (1 is playing cimbasso), 1 timpani, 2 bass drums; 26 first violins, 22 second violins, 18 violas, 15 cellos, 13 basses. There were also 4 offstage trumpets, all local players contracted by San Francisco Opera; they perform in pairs from the anterooms of Boxes A and Z. In most instances, the orchestras of San Francisco Opera and Teatro di San Carlo were interspersed evenly: i.e. in the string sections, on each stand a San Francisco Opera orchestra member sat next to a Teatro di San Carlo orchestra member. In the woodwinds and horns, the two orchestras sat close to one another, but they were grouped by company: i.e. the San Francisco Opera horn section sat as a group in front of the Teatro di San Carlo horn section. In the rest of the brass, the principal trumpets of each company sat next to one another and the sections of each company fan out from there.

Instrumental solos were divided between San Francisco Opera and Teatro di San Carlo Orchestra members by movement.

There were 90 San Francisco Opera (SFO) choristers and 71 Teatro di San Carlo (TSC) choristers, for a total of 161. The breakdown by voice type and company follows:

First Sopranos:
22
(SFO: 12; TSC: 10)

Second Sopranos:
18
(SFO: 12; TSC: 6)

Mezzo-Sopranos:
18
(SFO: 9; TSC: 9)

Contraltos:

17
(SFO: 9; TSC: 8)

First Tenors:

26
(SFO: 14; TSC: 12)

Second Tenors:
18
(SFO: 10; TSC: 8)

Baritones:

23
(SFO: 14; TSC: 9)

Basses:

19
(SFO: 10; TSC: 9)
The choruses of San Francisco Opera and Teatro di San Carlo were interspersed evenly: i.e. a San Francisco Opera chorus member sat next to a Teatro di San Carlo chorus member.