Seattle Opera Chorus Offers Festive Program In One-of-A-Kind Holiday Chorus Concert

This holiday season, audiences will have the rare opportunity to hear the renowned Seattle Opera Chorus in a fun and festive new Holiday Chorus Concert. This special program of seasonal tunes, opera gems, and choral favorites will showcase the chorus's impressive range and set the mood for a holiday season of operatic proportions.

“This is a unique chance to see the chorus outside of a production and to get to know these artists more intimately,” said Chorus Master Michaella Calzaretta, who is in her second full season with the company. “Our program offers a range of music that highlights the chorus's power and dynamism and that won't be heard anywhere else in Seattle. An opera chorus offers a truly distinct sound world—I think we might surprise some people with the breadth of emotions and styles we're capable of producing.”

The program, which runs for four performances December 6–10 in Tagney Jones Hall (and two of which are already sold out), will feature a diverse mix of sacred and secular repertoire, from rarely heard opera choruses to well-known holiday carols, from irreverent medleys to rousing sing-alongs. Highlights include Ottorino Respighi's Lauda per la natività del Signore, the choral prelude to Pietro Mascagni's Zanetto, “Laudi alla Vergine Maria” from Giuseppe Verdi's Quattro pezzi sacri, “There Is No Rose” by local composer Melinda Bargreen, choruses from Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, the “Sleep” chorus from Kevin Puts's Silent Night, and selections from A Consort of Choral Christmas Carols by P.D.Q. Bach.

 

“These concerts are a wonderful opportunity to shine a spotlight on a different side of Seattle Opera,” said General Director Christina Scheppelmann. “We have a stellar Chorus Master who has put together a delightfully engaging program, and I'm eager for our audiences to hear it. It's not often that you get to hear an excellent opera chorus in such an intimate setting, without the greater distance that comes with a full production.”

Scheppelmann also emphasized that the Holiday Chorus Concert will feature audience participation in the form of a sing-along: “So warm up your voices before you come!”

In the wake of the Holiday Chorus Concert, the Seattle Opera Chorus will embark in January on its first-ever tour of the Puget Sound region, with concerts at McIntyre Performing Arts & Conference Center in Mount Vernon on Friday, January 26, and at Vashon Center for the Arts on Vashon Island on Sunday, January 28.

Calzaretta says these tour concerts will illustrate the many different faces the opera chorus inhabits on stage: “They're sailors, they're townsfolk, they're witches, they're soldiers—they play all these different characters throughout opera's history. And each role is so pivotal because it embodies the community in any given show, grounding it in time and place. The result has been some of the most spectacular music in the operatic repertory.”

That musical and dramatic heft will be showcased through remarkable choruses from works such as Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Benjamin Britten's Gloriana, Aaron Copland's The Tender Land, and Charles Gounod's Faust.

For Calzaretta, this tour will spark new ways of envisioning opera beyond the walls of the opera house. “It's thrilling to go out into our community and perform for people who love and support opera. I believe it will inspire us to think about new ways of performing and serving our community through this art form.”

 

Established in 1963, Seattle Opera is committed to serving the people of the Pacific Northwest through music, storytelling, and programs for people of all ages. Each year, more than 50,000 people attend the company's performances, and more than 100,000 people are served through school performances, radio broadcasts, and more. The organization brings opera to life in a number of different ways, offering artistic excellence through national and international collaborations. Seattle Opera strives to create an environment where artists, staff, behind-the-scenes workers, and members of the community feel a strong connection to the company, and to the art of opera. Follow Seattle Opera on Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud, and on Classical KING FM 98.1.

Holiday Chorus Concert: Performance Information

• Works by Giuseppe Verdi, Ottorino Respighi, Melinda Bargreen, Pietro Mascagni, Gian Carlo Menotti, Kevin Puts, P.D.Q. Bach, and more
• Conducted by Michaella Calzaretta

• Run time approx. 90 minutes with intermission
• Tickets $65 general public, $50 subscribers; 1 Flex Pass credit

Tagney Jones Hall (363 Mercer Street, Seattle, WA 98109)

Wednesday, December 6, at 7:30 PM
Friday, December 8, at 7:30 PM (limited availability)
Saturday, December 9, at 2:00 PM (SOLD OUT)

Sunday, December 10, at 2:00 PM (SOLD OUT)

Tickets and information at seattleopera.org/holiday.

Seattle Opera Chorus Tour: Performance Information

• Works by Ruggero Leoncavallo, Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland, Charles Gounod, and more
• Conducted by Michaella Calzaretta

• Run time approx. 90 minutes with intermission

McIntyre Performing Arts & Conference Center
(2501 East College Way, Mount Vernon, WA 98273)
Friday, January 26, at 7:30 PM
Tickets $35–45; student and senior discounts available

Vashon Center for the Arts (19600 Vashon Hwy SW, Vashon, WA 98070)
Sunday, January 28, at 2:30 PM
Single tickets on sale October 2