Verdi Chorus presents its Spring Concert

As The Verdi Chorus – the only ensemble in Southern California devoted solely to performing great choruses from opera – prepares for its Spring Concert on Saturday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 29 at 4 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica, Music Director Anne Marie Ketchum is justifiably proud.

After all, Ketchum was there in the beginning. In 1983, she was one of a number of professional opera singers performing at Verdi, Ristorante di Musica in Santa Monica when its owners asked her to take a small group of customers who loved opera and had always dreamed of singing onstage and turn them into a full fledged chorus.

Ketchum agreed and got to work. Today, the Verdi Chorus is now a successful nonprofit organization – the restaurant closed in 1991 – with over 50 members, a repertoire of nearly 200 opera choruses, and a reputation as a first rate semi-professional chorus that has, in the words of longtime member Robina Mapstone, "come of age."

"The quality of the sound that we´re able to produce and the complexity of the music I´m able to choose to give to the Chorus to sing is very different from when we started out, and really quite marvelously so," explains Ketchum, a choral director and member of the Music faculty at Pasadena City College. "Now we do full scenes, very big finales from opera – complex music. I can divide the group into eight parts, if I want to, and have double choirs and pull small solos from the chorus."

Among those who admire the progress the Verdi Chorus has made under Ketchum´s tutelage is internationally renowned mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzmán, who first appeared with the Chorus as a guest soloist in the 1980s. "The Verdi Chorus is an astonishing success story," says Guzmán after hailing Ketchum as "a force of focus."

"This is one amazing group powered by passion," Guzmán continues. "I have enjoyed every single opportunity I have had to sing with the group from the last century to this. Lifting your voice up to be a part of something bigger than yourself is magic, and the Verdi Chorus celebrates that kind of magic."

Nor is the high quality of the performances accompanied by a high ticket price – good news for opera buffs on a tighter budget during these grim economic times. "The Verdi Chorus allows you to experience wonderful opera at very affordable prices," says Tom Redler, President of the Chorus. "It´s also a great way to introduce yourself to opera if you´ve never been before. You hear highlights from great operas written not only by Guiseppe Verdi but a vast array of composers from Beethoven to George Gershwin."

On the program for the Spring Concert are excerpts from Maria Stuarda and Don Pasquale by Donizetti, Verdi´s Un Ballo in Maschera, Cavaleria Rusticana by Mascagni and Candide by Leonard Bernstein.

Scenes the chorus will enact include the events taking place in Maria Stuarda just before the beheading of the Queen, servants gossiping about the intrigues taking place in Don Pasquale, and "Make Our Garden Grow" from Candide. The Chorus will also perform the "Easter Chorus" – a Verdi Chorus favorite, says Ketchum – from Cavaleria Rusticana. Helping to bring these scenes to life are guest soloists Lori Ann Fuller, soprano; tenor Hak Soo Kim; and baritone Eugene Chan.

Soprano Lori Ann Fuller has performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the BBC Proms and BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Portland Opera Repertory Theater, Pacific Repertory Opera, and Los Angeles Opera, where she most recently appeared in Il Tabarro and Suor Angelica, as part of LA Opera's Il Trittico production in 2008. "Some [principals] broke free, to give communicative performances - notably...Lori Ann Fuller as Angela. [She] knew how to put numbers across," said London´s Opera magazine after Fuller´s performance with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Tenor Hak Soo Kim, currently in his first year of the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program at LA Opera, has performed in the company´s most recent productions of Carmen and Die Zauberflote and will appear as Gastone in La Traviata in May 2009, in which he will also cover the lead role of Alfredo. Kim has participated in apprentice performances at Santa Fe Opera and in various productions of Opera Colorado´s Outreach Ensemble as well and was the Second Place Winner of the Rocky Mountain Region in the 2008 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Hailed by Bob Thomas of the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group as a baritone "to keep watching" and by Robert Machray of Blog Critics Magazine as having "one of the loveliest baritone voices I have ever heard," Chan has appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera Center and the Sacramento Opera as well as at New York´s Carnegie Hall and the Shanghai National Grand Theatre in China. He was also featured as a soloist in the PBS televised performance of the Charpentier Te Deum with the San Francisco Boys Chorus.

In addition, Chan has won numerous awards and prizes, including First Place/Audience Choice in the Washington International Competition and Second Place in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Western Region Finals. He was also a national finalist in the Liederkranz and Houston Opera´s Eleanor McCollum competitions and the recipient of an Encouragement Award from the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition.

Tickets for the upcoming Spring Concert are available for $30 for general seating; $40, for reserved; $25 for seniors; and $10 for students 25 and younger, with student ID. For more information, visit The Verdi Chorus at www.verdichorus.org or call 310.684.3024. The First United Methodist Church is located at 1008 11th Street in Santa Monica.

ABOUT THE VERDI CHORUS

Twenty-six years ago, Verdi, Ristorante di Musica in Santa Monica offered its customers far more than dinner, drink and dessert. As its name implied, music figured prominently on the menu…and not just background music either. Young professional opera singers performed – among them, soprano Anne Marie Ketchum.

Shortly after the restaurant opened, owners Sheila and Bernie Segal found a way to please their opera loving customers even further. Any patron who had ever dreamed of singing onstage was invited to become part of an opera chorus, which would also perform at the restaurant. Meanwhile, Ketchum, who also held a degree in choral conducting, agreed to teach and guide the ensemble as Music Director of the chorus.

The Verdi Chorus was an instant success and, in 1991, after Verdi, Ristorante di Musica closed, reorganized as a nonprofit corporation. The group held auditions, began to restrict its membership and focus on the quality of its sound. Today, the Verdi Chorus – the only ensemble in Southern California devoted solely to performing great choruses from opera – is still under the direction of Anne Marie Ketchum and, under her guidance, has mastered a repertoire of nearly 200 choruses. The Chorus has also taken part in a full-scale production of Cavalleria Rusticana, and served as the chorus for the USC production of La Clemenza di Tito. Future plans include a performance in Pasadena, as part of the LA Opera "Ring Festival" in April 2010.

Over the years, more than 60 top opera professional singers have performed with the Verdi Chorus, including soprano Shana Blake Hill; mezzo sopranos Cynthia Jansen and Suzanna Guzmán; tenors Daniel Montenegro, Roberto Gomez, Gregorio Gonzalez and Robert MacNeil; baritone Nmon Ford; and bass-baritones Dean Elzinga and Cedric Berry. The Chorus also supports the Metropolitan Opera National Council by offering performance opportunities to the Metropolitan Western Region audition finalists.

"Our guest artist program extends to our section leaders," adds Ketchum, "who are fine singers in their own right and add a richness and professionalism to our sound."

Currently, the Verdi Chorus numbers over 50 voices, with virtually every profession represented – artists, scientists, dentists, doctors, lawyers, teachers, homemakers, architects, accountants, business owners, and network administrators.

"The chorus members are people who have one thing in common, a true love of opera," says Tom Redler, retired dentist and the group´s president. "Plus they can sing."