Verdi Chorus To Present VERDI IN ESPAÑA Spring Concert In Santa Monica

The Verdi Chorus will continue its 42nd season with VERDI IN ESPAÑA, presented for two performances April 18 and 19 at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica. The concert will be led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum, who is marking 42 consecutive years with the organization.

The program will feature operatic selections from Verdi’s Don Carlo, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, and Ernani, as well as Bizet’s Carmen. The concert will also include music by Spanish composers including Daniel Catán, Enrique Granados, Gerónimo Giménez, Federico Moreno Torroba, and Manuel De Falla.

Guest soloists for the program include soprano Leela Subramaniam, mezzo-soprano Audrey Babcock, baritone Roberto Perlas Gómez, and guitarist Andrés Vadin.

Subramaniam has appeared with companies including the Metropolitan Opera, Bavarian State Opera, LA Opera, and Irish National Opera, and has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall. She is also active in contemporary music and has appeared in several world premieres.

Babcock is known for her performances of the title role in Carmen, which she has sung more than 200 times in the United States and Europe. Her recent roles include Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd with Utah Opera, Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana with Opera Orlando, and Amneris in Aida with Utah Opera and Anchorage Opera.

Filipino-American baritone Roberto Perlas Gómez has performed more than 100 roles with opera companies across the United States. His credits include performances as Marcello in La Bohème in Shanghai, Chou En-lai in the Italian premiere of John Adams’ Nixon in China at Arena di Verona, and the title role in Vivaldi’s Motezuma in its American premiere with Long Beach Opera.

Ketchum said the program brings together music inspired by Spanish culture with selections from Verdi operas set in Spain. “There is so much really marvelous music that has come out of the Spanish tradition and culture,” she said. “Two of the main composers of operatic Spanish music are De Falla and Granados. Both the pieces we are presenting from Granados and De Falla are rich with Spanish dance rhythms and color. For the first time, we are also doing excerpts from Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, whose sounds, rhythms, and atmosphere are very different from what the Verdi Chorus has presented in the past.”

The Verdi Chorus rehearses weekly with more than 50 singers ranging in age from 20 to 87 who come from a variety of professions. The ensemble performs alongside professional opera singers and emerging artists as part of the organization’s mission to provide opportunities for developing performers.

Sixteen young professional singers also participate as section leaders and rehearsal coaches through the Fox Singers program, named in memory of longtime board member Walter Fox. The chorus also offers the Sahm Foundation Apprentice Singers program, which provides scholarships and performance opportunities for college-level vocal students.

Founded in 1983, The Verdi Chorus is the only choral group in Southern California dedicated primarily to performing opera choruses in concert. Under Ketchum’s leadership, the organization has presented more than 300 choruses from 81 operas in seven languages.

Performances will take place Saturday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 19 at 4:00 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica, located at 1220 Second Street.