Verdi Chorus Spring Concert to Hold Auditions February 26

Celebrating its 39th Season, The Verdi Chorus, announced today auditions will be held on Saturday, February 26, 2022, at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica for The Verdi Chorus Spring 2022 Concerts.

Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum says, "I am so excited to be presenting at long last the very program we were forced to abandon two years ago due to the pandemic. This concert will include some of the most dramatic moments from some of the most powerful operatic works ever written. It will feature selections from two Verdi operas - Ernani and Macbeth, Beethoven's Fidelio, as well as sequences from Ponchielli's La Gioconda and Giordano's Andrea Chénier. There will also be a special preview of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, which we are planning on presenting in its entirety next season."

Ketchum continues, "The Verdi Chorus is a group of passionate amateur and professional music lovers from many walks of life who love to sing and are devoted to performing opera choruses in concert. If you are an opera lover and want to get more inside the music and all that great operatic drama, if you want to learn more about the art form, or if you just love to sing and are looking for a good musical family to harmonize with one night a week, come join us!"

The program will feature three guest soloists: soprano Julie Makerov whom The Huffington Post declared "triumphant" in her performance of Senta in Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer with Los Angeles Opera; tenor Todd Wilander, praised by The New York Times for his "brave, vocally assured portrayals" and who has returned for eight seasons thus far with The Metropolitan Opera; and renowned baritone Roberto Perlas Gómez who, with over 100 roles to his credit, has performed extensively throughout the United States.

These performances are made possible, in part, through the generous support of the Sahm Family Foundation and the Green Foundation, and by grant funding from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, and the City of Santa Monica through the Santa Monica Arts Commission.

The Verdi Chorus prepares for concerts with rehearsals every Monday night. There, an amazing thing happens as over 50 singers gather from every walk of life to become the Verdi Chorus. This wide swath of people includes singers from 18 to 80 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 under the direction of Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum. Each rehearsal is like a vocal master class.

Raising their voices together they become everything from the eerie witches of Macbeth to the hardworking villagers of Cavalleria Rusticana.

Positions are open for all voice types. To request an audition for Saturday, February 26 please visit www.verdichorus.org/audition-for-chorus/ or call 661-418-7882.

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