“VOTRE TOAST” TO THE VERDI CHORUS
The Verdi Chorus’s 41st season begins with its Fall 2024 show, We Are Verdi Bizet, led by Anne Marie Ketchum, who is has been, well, very busy as the Artistic Director for 41 consecutive years. The Verdi Chorus is the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus. The program at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica on November 16 and 17, 2024 will feature operatic sequences from Verdi’s I Lombardi, Don Carlo and Rigoletto and Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers and Carmen, written in 1875, the year he died.
Four guest soloists join the concert: soprano Shana Blake Hill (“visually and vocally voluptuous” per the alliterate Opera News); mezzo soprano and commanding Carmen Audrey Babcock; tenor Todd Wilander (nine seasons thus far with The Met); and dramatic baritone Malcolm MacKenzie who I’ve seen many times, so I can speak to his scintillating, striking squillo (take THAT, Opera News!). In her 23rd year with the Chorus, the extraordinarily sensitive Laraine Ann Madden will be at the piano.
A recent rehearsal for We Are Verdi Bizet.
Here’s a little secret: I’m not an opera queen. Sure, I love a well-presented, well-sung production (see my review of the recent Madame Butterfly at LA Opera), but it isn’t close to being my go-to music. And yet, I have been consistently dazzled by the Verdi Chorus concerts. First, it’s a treat to have an opera chorus being the stars of the show, as they are normally buried onstage (or sometimes backstage) behind the vocalists; it’s marvelous to really get the harmonies and understand the lyrics (well, I don’t understand French or Italian, but you get what I mean). And you can sense love and dedication from the members. Indeed, my husband Jeff just got a job working 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, and still manages to study and rouse enough energy for rehearsals (I’m so proud!). Second, the soloists are astounding, yes, but at close range they will make even non-lovers of opera think again about this art form.
A recent rehearsal for We Are Verdi Bizet.
So why Verdi? Ketchum says, “I have always loved Verdi for the fact that he treats the chorus as a character in his stories – giving them beautiful melody, exciting drama, and arresting theatre. We hear it in I Lombardi. In fact, O Signore is a very famous piece in Italy, taught to school children alongside Va, Pensiero, and like Va, Pensiero, O Signore is a piece that looks back on a beloved homeland. Both Verdi and Bizet were towering masters of the 19th-century opera scene. They were writing some of their greatest masterpieces at the same time, and both were exquisite composers of melody. We program excerpts from Verdi’s operas for almost every concert we present, since his output was so great.”
The Verdi Chorus prepares for concerts with rehearsals every Monday night. There, an amazing thing happens as over 60 singers gather from every walk of life to become the Verdi Chorus. This wide swath of people includes singers from 18 to 87 who come from a variety of professions, and yet have one thing in common: the desire to sing side by side each week and delve into the rich, dramatic world of opera. They in turn are joined by up-and-coming opera singers at the beginning of their careers, and college students who have just begun to realize their operatic gifts, as all of them become one. Each rehearsal is like a vocal master class. Apprentices for this session, named in honor of a generous grant from the Sahm Family Foundation, are soprano Sabrina Dominguez, soprano Brenda Osorio, and tenor Ted Allen.
photos of Verdi Chorus by Tim Berreth We Are Verdi Bizet
The Verdi Chorus Fall 2024 Concert
First Presbyterian Church, 1220 2nd Street in Santa Monica
Saturday, November 16 at 7:30; Sunday, November 17 at 4
for tickets ($10-$50), visit Verdi Chorus
