Verdi’s Requiem with the Boston Philharmonic

“While it was featuring the mezzo, Verdi’s score “hid” the soprano soloist, having her join ensembles and contribute a well-placed high note here and there, but never step forward with an individual statement. But all that changed in the work’s closing passage, “Libera me,” a scena in several sections for soprano and chorus.

On Sunday, soprano Meade delivered the work’s closing prayer with unforgettable eloquence, passionate one moment and serene the next, meeting the composer’s vocal demands, especially for soft, high entrances, with little apparent effort.

Meade’s uplifting rendition sent the piece out literally on a high note, touching off a prolonged ovation that also recognized the sincerity, seriousness of purpose, and manifold beauties of this performance.”

— David Wright, Boston Classical Review

“Zander is known for working magic, but much of it must have been conjured at the last minute, since Soprano Angela Meade was only original vocal quartet member. She stunned in the requiem’s final movement, Libera me, and when in Agnus Dei, her long duet with mezzo Marianne Cornetti was sublime. These two seemed, quite simply, meant to sing together.”

— Susan Miron, The Boston Musical Intelligencer

“A late winnowing of soloists — only soprano Angela Meade remained from the originally-announced lineup — added extramusical last-judgment overtones; the survivors made persuasive arguments for being among the elect… Meade turned her “Libera me” into an anthology of soprano stage sorrow, launching high-note salvos from a platform of controlled restraint.”

— Matthew Guerrieri, The Boston Globe