Rod Gilfry News

The holiday season is one of joy, warmth, and togetherness . . . but it can include some other emotions that choirs never seem to sing about! We're taking an honest and humorous musical look at the a?oemost wonderful time of the yeara?? with a program that combines the music of community and celebration with works about everything from the winter doldrums to the overabundance of Facebook posts on Christmas morning. Hear works by Cécile Chaminade, Joan Szymko, Eleanor Daley, Daniel Pinkham, and more! The concerts will take place at Newport Harbor Lutheran Church, 798 Dover Drive, Newport Beach on Saturday, December 7, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. and at St. Wilfrid of York Episcopal Church, 18631 Chapel Lane, Huntington Beach on Sunday, December 8, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. Please join us for a reception after each performance.

Composer, conductor, writer, pianist, and 2018 MacArthur Fellow Matthew Aucoin is a?oeone of the most sought-after young voices in classical musica?? (Wall Street Journal). Next February, he conducts the world premiere production of his third opera, Eurydice, in six performances at LA Opera, where he has served since 2016 as the inaugural Artist-in-Residence.

Boston Court Pasadena continues their 2019 Music Season with the Fall Music Series featuring offerings curated by Artistic Director Mark Saltzman. The Fall Series commences with the return of Piano Spheres with Susan Svrček (September 20) and concludes with Après un Rêve with Josh Nelson, Lilian Sengpiehl, Kathleen Grace (October 26).

On July 26, 2019, Santa Fe Opera presented R. B. Schlather's rambunctious production of W. A. Mozart's dramma giocoso Così fan tutte. His first act started with Don Alfonso as a cowboy and the two couples, Fiordiligi with Gugliemo and Dorabella with  Ferrando dressed in tennis whites. Amanda Majeski, who has sung several leading roles at Santa Fe,  showed herself to be a capable Fiordiligi whose top notes bloomed with silver magic as she romped around the stage. For a?oeCome Scoglioa?? (a?oeLike a rocka??), she was comedically impassive and for a?oePer pietàa?? (a?oeFor pitya??) she truly begged for forgiveness as she used every note in her wide range to encompass the  scope of Mozart's writing.  whose top notes bloomed with silver magic as she romped around the stage.

Something old, something new…there's still plenty going on for fans of opera and classical vocal music in the Northeast now that summer is upon us. Here's a taste of what to look for.

The 36th season of the Verdi Chorus continues with the Walter Fox Singers in Love is Timeless for one night only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on May 4, at 7:30pm.  Led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum, the Walter Fox Singers comprise the professional ensemble of the Verdi Chorus, which is the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus. This program, devoted to the timeless nature of love in all of its intricacies, will feature best loved arias, duets and emsembles from the world of opera, as well as favorite songs from the canon of mid-century American musical theater

The 36th season of the Verdi Chorus continues with the Walter Fox Singers in Love is Timeless for one night only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on May 4, at 7:30pm.  Led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum, the Walter Fox Singers comprise the professional ensemble of the Verdi Chorus, which is the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus. This program, devoted to the timeless nature of love in all of its intricacies, will feature best loved arias, duets and emsembles from the world of opera, as well as favorite songs from the canon of mid-century American musical theater

This Spring marks the start of the 36th season of the Verdi Chorus, who will present their Spring Concert, L'Amore e la Vita (Love and Life) for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on April 6 and 7. Led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum, the Verdi Chorus is the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus. This program, which Ketchum humorously calls the Rom-Com of opera, will feature selections from two Verdi operas I vespri siciliani and Ernani, three Donizetti operas - Don Pasquale, La fille du r giment and L'elisir d'amore, as well as operatic sequences from Bizet's Les p cheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers), Delibes' Lakm , and Puccini's La rondine.

On February 22, 2019, Los Angeles Opera presented David Lang's one-man opera, THE LOSER. Lang, who won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for his LITTLE MATCH GIRL PASSION, not only wrote the music, he also fashioned the English libretto after the 1983 German novel by Thomas Bernhard.

This Spring marks the start of the 36th season of the Verdi Chorus, who will present their Spring Concert, L'Amore e la Vita (Love and Life) for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on April 6 and 7. Led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum, the Verdi Chorus is the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus. This program, which Ketchum humorously calls the Rom-Com of opera, will feature selections from two Verdi operas I vespri siciliani and Ernani, three Donizetti operas - Don Pasquale, La fille du r giment and L'elisir d'amore, as well as operatic sequences from Bizet's Les p cheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers), Delibes' Lakm , and Puccini's La rondine.

LA Opera Off Grand presents the West Coast premiere of 'the loser,' a new work by composer David Lang.

Birdland Jazz Club will present vocalist Lorna Dallas for one night only in Stages, an all new show at The Birdland Theater (315 West 44th Street) on Monday, February 11, 2019 @ 8:30 pm.

Los Angeles Opera and Pacific Opera Projects have a number of interesting offerings for late winter and spring of 2019. LA Opera presents performances of the classic film, THE LOSER, on February 22 and 23, 2019, at The Theatre in the Ace Hotel. It will feature the West Coast premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang's compelling new score.

Embarking on its 36th Season, The Verdi Chorus (Anne Marie Ketchum, Founding Artistic Director), announced today that auditions will be held on Saturday, January 12, 2019 at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica for The Verdi Chorus Spring 2019 Concert.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica presents Red Hen Press: An Afternoon of Poetry and Performance at The East Wing at The Broad Stage on Sunday, December 16 at 2:00pm. The spiritual depth of Morten Lauridsen's music, paired with the stunning voices of Rod Gilfry and Carin Gilfry, in conversation with the lyric poetry of Amber Flora Thomas and the works of California State Poet Laureate Dana Gioia, will make for a thrilling venture into the radiant beauty of soul language.

San Francisco Opera presents the West Coast premiere of It's a Wonderful Life by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer in nine holiday-season performances from November 17 through December 9. The two-act work, a co-commission and co-production between San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, is based in part on Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life and The Greatest Gift, a story by Philip Van Doren Stern.

Boston Court Pasadena will bring another daring year of theater and music events to Southern California for their 2019 season, and welcomes the S. Mark Taper Foundation as sponsor of the 2019 theater season. Artistic Directors Jessica Kubzansky, Michael Michetti and Mark Saltzman have programmed more than 100 performances of music and theater on two stages, continuing the company's dedication to new work, reimagined classics, and both emerging and established artists.

San Francisco Opera presents the West Coast premiere of It's a Wonderful Life by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer in nine holiday-season performances from November 17 through December 9. The two-act work, a co-commission and co-production between San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, is based in part on Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life and The Greatest Gift, a story by Philip Van Doren Stern.

The Verdi Chorus 35th anniversary season culminates with its Fall 2018 concert Passione! Opera! for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on November 10 and 11 led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum. As the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus, this program, which marks the end of a landmark year for the company, will feature selections from three Verdi operas - Aida, Don Carlo, and the famed chorus "Va, pensiero," from Nabucco, as well as operatic sequences from Boito's Mefistofele, Saint-Saens' Samson and Delilah, Catalani's La Wally and Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann.