And the award for Best Choral Performance goes to… the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus for the NAXOS recording of Richard Danielpour’s ‘The Passion of Yeshua’!
That was the big news for Buffalo at the 63rd GRAMMY Awards ceremony, as Maestro JoAnn Falletta and the BPO musicians, Adam Luebke and the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus singers, James K. Bass and the UCLA Chamber Singers, and composer Richard Danielpour rose through the ranks to beat out some stiff competition.
“The musicians, singers, Richard and I are truly humbled and honored by this award,” commented Falletta, who is a former schoolmate and longtime friend of Richard Danielpour. “’The Passion of Yeshua’ was an incredible project that brought together hundreds of musicians and voices in a simply unforgettable performance. We thank the Recording Academy for this prestigious honor, and all the other remarkable nominees for their outstanding work.”
^The BPO, under the direction of Falletta, last won a GRAMMY Award in 2008 for “Best Contemporary Composition” for its recording of John Corigliano’s ‘Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan.’ Falletta most recently took home a GRAMMY in 2019 for “Best Classical Compendium” for the recording of ‘Fuchs: Piano Concerto ‘Spiritualist’; Poems Of Life; Glacier; Rush,’ which she recorded with the London Symphony.
‘The Passion of Yeshua’ is Richard Danielpour’s dramatic oratorio, the personal telling of the final hours of Christ on Earth. The work incorporates Christ’s Jewish faith in Hebrew passages, and also includes the seldom-heard voices of Mary Magdalene and Mary the Mother of God for the first time in a work of this form.
The recording also features Hila Plitmann, soprano; J’Nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano; Timothy Fallon, tenor; and baritones Matthew Worth, Kenneth Overton, and James K. Bass.
Conductor JoAnn Falletta considers ‘The Passion of Yeshua’ to be “a classic for all time.”
Don’t miss out on this one. Now is your chance to pick up a copy (CD) of the Grammy Award-winning recording at bpo.org. Or call the Box Office at (716) 885-5000.