The Verdi Chorus Reveals 40th Anniversary Season

The Verdi Chorus has announced a yearlong slate of events in celebration of their 40th Anniversary season, which kicks off this October. Led continually since 1983 by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum, Verdi Chorus is the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus. 

The  40th Anniversary season will include This, and My Heart, A Portrait of Emily Dickinson and Her Words Through Text and Song {October 15, 2023), presented by the Verdi Chorus and the Sahm Family Foundation; The 40th Anniversary Fall Concert – “40!” (November 18-19, 2023), featuring Guest Soloists Julie Makarov, Audrey Babcock, Alex Boyer, and Roberto Perlas Gómez; Mascagni’s opera Cavalleria Rusticana (January 20, 2024), which marks the first time The Verdi Chorus is presenting an opera in its entirety; and The 40th Anniversary Spring Concert, (April 27-28, 2024), featuring 4 acclaimed Guest Soloists to be announced, which will end the season. 

All performances will be held at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica, located at 1220 2nd Street.  Tickets  for ALL Verdi Chorus upcoming events will be available for purchase on September 4 at www.verdichorus.org. Priority seating is available for $50, general admission is $40, seniors are $30, and students aged 25 and under with a valid ID are $10.  

Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum says, “Our 40th Anniversary season is such a landmark event, not only for the chorus and audience members who have been with us from the very beginning, but for new opera enthusiasts we are welcoming for the first time on both sides of the concert stage. It’s remarkable to me that the Verdi Chorus, which began as a group of passionate amateur music lovers in 1983 at the old Verdi Restaurant in Santa Monica, has evolved to a major semiprofessional nonprofit force in the Los Angeles classical music scene, featuring singers from all walks of life, devoted to performing opera choruses in concert. Far from being a time to rest on our laurels, this coming season will offer many exciting “firsts” – from the EmilyDickinson theatre/concert piece that launches the season, to our first fully produced opera, Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana which we will present this winter.”
 
These performances are made possible, in part, through the generous support of the Sahm Family Foundation and by grant funding from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, the Creative Recovery LA Initiative through the Federal American Rescue Plan Act, and the City of Santa Monica through the Santa Monica Arts Commission.

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