The Verdi Chorus
- Street:
- 1008 Eleventh Street
- ZIP:
- 90403
- City:
- Santa Monica
- State:
- CA
Description
There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of choruses in the Los Angeles area, but the Verdi Chorus is unique. Founded 26 years ago, the Verdi Chorus is the only choral ensemble that focuses solely on performing works written specifically for opera choruses. Of its most recent performance featuring Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers, Verdi’s Joan of Arc and Puccini’s La Boheme, the Beverly Hills Outlook wrote, “Music Director and Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum is a masterful programmer, presenting a banquet of operatic offerings…a delightful program.” For the Ring Festival LA, the Chorus will present Wagner and Verdi: Opposing Roads to Greatness. “Verdi and Wagner lived at the same time but never met,” explains Music Director Anne Marie Ketchum. “Audiences were often militant about which composer they liked more. You were either a Wagner-lover or a Verdi lover. But we’re not taking sides. Both composers wrote glorious music we are thrilled to share with our audiences.”
Works the Chorus will perform include excerpts from Tannhauser, Parsifal, Die Meistersinger and Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) by Wagner, as well as Don Carlo, Il Trovatore, and Aida by Verdi. Soloists joining the 50-member chorus for Ring Festival LA include soprano Erin Wood, mezzo-soprano Cynthia Jansen, tenor Shem von Schroeck and baritone in Joon Jang.
"The high standards of their sound and artistry have mede the Verdi Chorus a Los Angeles musical institution," says tenor Robert MacNeil, who appeared as soloist with the ensemble in 2009. Adds mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzman, "This is one amazing group powered by passion... Lifting your voice up to be a part of something bigger than youself is magic, and the Verdi Chorus celebrates that kind of magic."
http://www.verdichorus.org
Directions (map & route)
Events
