The Verdi Chorus' 40th Anniversary Season Continues With Its Landmark Fall 2023 Concert 40!

The Verdi Chorus' 40th Anniversary season continues with its landmark Fall 2023 Concert 40! for two performances only at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica on November 18 and 19.  

Led by Anne Marie Ketchum, who is celebrating forty consecutive years as Artistic Director of the organization, the Verdi Chorus is the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus. The program will feature selections from three Verdi operas – Nabucco, Don Carlo, and La Traviata, Saint Saëns' Samson and Delilah, and Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. 

The program will also feature four guest soloists: soprano Julie Makerov, who The Huffington Post declared “triumphant” in her performance of Senta in Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer with Los Angeles Opera; award-winning mezzo soprano Audrey Babcock, who is quickly gaining notoriety for her commanding, powerful performances as Carmen and her dark, hypnotic portrayals of Maddalena in Rigoletto; tenor Alex Boyer, hailed by The San Francisco Chronicle for his “large and potent sound;” 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 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.
 
Conductor Anne Marie Ketchum says, “This concert 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 nonprofit force in the Los Angeles classical music scene. Dedicated to performing opera choruses in concert, the Verdi Chorus is made up of young professional opera singers, serious students of opera and non-professional music lovers from all walks of life.  It is diverse in so many ways, including race, age, style, gender, food preferences, religion, favorite color…but the one thing that binds all of these people together is a common love for great classical music and opera, and the desire to make it come alive in concert with the highest standards possible.” 
 
Ketchum continues, “For our 40th anniversary I chose a program that is filled with some of the most beautiful and powerful operatic music written.  It will include works from three of Verdi's masterpieces, most notably, Nabucco and Verdi's most famous chorus “Va pensiero”, the chorus of the Hebrew slaves. I also chose the opera Samson et Dalila by Saint Saens because it is filled with beautiful reverant music along with some wild irreverent excerpts and of course, the beloved aria “Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix” which will be sung by mezzo-soprano Audrey Babcock.    We will also delve into the thrilling world of verismo opera as well. Verismo opera is focused not on mythological figures, or kings and queens, but on the much earthier daily struggles and emotions of men and women, and of the emotionally charged, and sometimes violent situations that can result. We will end our program with selections from the verismo opera that started it all, Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. This is especially exciting, as we will present this opera in its entirety on January 20, 2024, yet another landmark for the Verdi Chorus!”
 
The Verdi Chorus prepares for concerts with rehearsals every Monday night.  There, an amazing thing happens as over 60 singers gather from every walk of life to become the Verdi Chorus.  This wide swath of people includes singers from 18 to 87 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 Nabuuco's weary but fiercely impassioned chorus of Hebrew slaves to the hardworking villagers of Cavalleria Rusticana. 
 
Further demonstrating the organization's mission to provide performance opportunities to young professional singers, sixteen highly promising singers are hired as section leaders and rehearsal coaches. Known as the Fox Singers, named in memory of long-time Chorus and Board member Walter Fox, these singers assist the Artistic Director, provide direction for their sections in rehearsals, and have opportunities to perform as featured singers in performances. The Fox Singers also perform on occasion independently of the full Chorus, serving as a showcase for the singers and as ambassadors for the Verdi Chorus. Performances of special arias and ensembles have been presented at venues in Southern California including the Annenberg Beach House, the Huntington Library, and the Nixon Library.
 
The Chorus is also proud to continue with the Sahm Foundation Apprentice Singers program that was established in 2015 in which talented vocal music students at the college level gain the opportunity to work with the Chorus in rehearsals and sing operatic music in concert. Each receives a scholarship to provide funds with which they can broaden their music studies.  Sahm Foundation Apprentices who successfully complete the program are invited back to sing with the Chorus for subsequent sessions.
 
Apprentices for this session, named in honor of a generous grant from the Sahm Family Foundation, are sopranos Lauryn Jessup and DeAndrea Hargett, mezzo-sopranos Rose Kreider and Polina Davydov, tenor Ted Allen, and baritone Robert Jeffrey.  
 
Performance times are Saturday, November 18 at 7:30 pm, and Sunday, November 19 at 4:00 pm at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica, located at 1220 2nd Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Tickets are now available for purchase 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.  
 
Music Director and Founding Artistic Director ANNE MARIE KETCHUM has been the conductor of the Verdi Chorus since its beginning in 1983. Well recognized as a singer, conductor, stage director and educator, she taught on the voice faculty of Pasadena City College for 34 years until her recent retirement. During her tenure at Pasadena, she directed a full opera each spring to critical acclaim.  As a singer, she has appeared internationally and is well known for her performances of contemporary art music, vocal chamber music, solo recitals, and opera.  Her recordings of Morten Lauridsen's Cuatro Canciones and of Aurelio De La Vega's Recordatio were both honored with Grammy nominations. She has premiered numerous works by such composers as Ernst Krenek, Aurelio De La Vega, Schulamit Ran, and Hans Werner Henze.  Among Ms. Ketchum's creative activities is This and My Heart: A Portrait of Emily Dickinson in Text and Song – a concert/theater piece which she co-wrote and performs with actress Linda Kelsey and pianist Victoria Kirsch. This was first presented as part of Grand Performances in Los Angeles and made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Cultural Affairs Department of Los Angeles.  She has also served on the faculty of OperaWorks, Angels Vocal Art and at California State University, Northridge.  Ms. Ketchum and the Chorus have received commendations on several occasions from the county of Los Angeles and from the city of Santa Monica. 
 
Pianist LARAINE ANN MADDEN has garnered acclaim as one of the most sensitive and experienced collaborating artists in the Los Angeles area. Trained in the Bay Area, she made her solo debut with the Oakland Symphony at age 13 performing Mozart's Piano Concerto in A Major, K. 488. Ms. Madden studied Accompanying at the University of Southern California with its pioneer teacher, Gwendolyn Koldofsky and has accompanied in the master classes of Martin Katz, Geoffrey Parsons, Giorgio Tozzi, Martial Singher, Joan Dornemann, and Peter Pears. She has served as “repetiteur” accompanist under conductors Simon Rattle, Christoph Perrick and Richard Buckley, and has appeared in concert with singers associated with New York City Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, and Los Angeles Opera including Alan Titus, Rod Gilfry, Erie Mills, Young Mi Kim, and Ealynn Voss. Recent engagements include performing on the Jacaranda Concert Series and with the Fox Singers at the Annenberg Beach House in Santa Monica, the Huntington Library in Pasadena, and the Richard Nixon Library for the Marshall B. Ketchum University Shared Visions Gala. This is her twenty-second year as collaborator with the Verdi Chorus.
  
The Toronto Star declares “Julie Makerov as Senta… was every inch the ringing life force Wagner intended.” As winner of the 2010 Dora Award, Canada's most prestigious live theater honor, Ms. Makerov was recognized for her compelling portrayal of Senta in Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer and continues to captivate audiences internationally. This gifted young dramatic soprano's voice has been described as “Gloriously commanding” (La Scena Musicale), “Sumptuous” (ArtsSF.com), and “soaring” (The Oakland Tribune). The New York Times proclaims “Julie Makerov's plush soprano voice and vulnerability were ideal for the goddess Freia,”and of her debut with Los Angeles Opera, The Huffington Post wrote “Julie Makerov is triumphant!”
 
Ms. Makerov's most recent engagements include singing in concert with The Pacific Symphony at the SOKA performing arts center and with The Verdi Chorus. Her previous engagements include making her debuts with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Los Angeles Opera, singing the role of The Mother in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, and Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer. Ms. Makerov's engagements also include returning to Houston Grand Opera in their production of Strauss's Elektra, singing Lady Macbeth in Verdi's Macbeth with Opera Theater Saint Louis, and making her debut with Houston Grand Opera singing Gerhilde in Wagner's Die Walküre under the baton of Patrick Summers. 
 
Ms. Makerov's other engagements include singing Sieglinde in Die Walküre with the American Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leon Botstein, singing the role of Chrysotemis in Elektra with Des Moines Metro Opera and performing the role of the Queen of Hearts in Unsuk Chin's Alice in Wonderland with Opera Theater of Saint Louis. This award winning soprano also performed the role of Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer in Salzburg under the baton of Sir Ivor Bolton. 
 
Ms. Makerov's international career also include singing with Oper Frankfurt, in both the title role of Tosca and the role of Margherita in Boito's Mefistofele, and to the Canadian Opera Company where she sang Senta in Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer. Ms. Makerov also garnered outstanding critical acclaim singing the title roles in Dvořák's Rusalka and Puccini's Tosca as well as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with the Canadian Opera Company. In addition, she reprised the role of Rusalka in the Czech Republic with the Český Krumlov International Music Festival. 
 
Ms. Makerov's other notable international operatic engagements include debuts with Theater Erfurt singing the title role in Tosca, performing in Matsumoto, Japan with Seji Ozawa's internationally acclaimed Saito Kinnen festival. Ms. Makerov also joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera where she covered the roles of Gerhilde, Lady in waiting, The Shopkeeper, and Mme. Peronskaya in the productions of Die Walküre, Macbeth and War and Peace, and toured with them to Japan. She has sung Gerhilde in Die Walküre and Freia in Das Rheingold with Canadian Opera Company, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus with Seattle Opera and Sarasota Opera, the title role in Tosca with Sarasota Opera, Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly with Palm Beach Opera, Sarasota Opera and Opera San Jose. 
 
Genre-bending mezzo soprano Audrey Babcock has captivated audiences worldwide with her mesmerizing performances and versatile vocal and dramatic range, establishing herself as a compelling interpreter in the world of opera. Her exceptional ability to embody character and her passion for craft have earned her a place among the most esteemed vocalists of her generation. Engagements for the 2023-2024 season include her role début as Amneris in Aida and Mrs. Gibbs in Ned Rorem's Our Town with Utah Festival, Flora in Opera Omaha's La Traviata, and her début as Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana.
 
Dedicated to contemporary works, Audrey recently débuted the roles of Toledo in Redler/Dye's new work The Falling and Rising with Arizona Opera and Opera Carolina, Nica in Yardbird with Seattle Opera, and Eva in An American Dream with Opera Santa Barbara, and she has worked closely with Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Ellen Reid and Jorge Sosa. As a producer, writer, and creator, her projects Lily; her life, his music — the story of a queer Jewish heroine who escapes Nazi Germany, told through the music of Kurt Weill — and Beyond Carmen, with flamenco guitarist Andres Vadin, provide audiences an evening of compelling, thought-provoking storytelling with sensational presentation. Additional premieres include Tobias Picker's Thérèse Raquin (NY premiere — Dicapo Opera), With Blood, With Ink (world premiere — Fort Worth Opera), La Reina (American Lyric Theater and Prototype Festival), The Poe Project (American Lyric Theater), and Winter's Tale (Prototype Festival).
 
An accomplished Carmen with more than 200 performances, Ms. Babcock made her French début in the title role with the Festival Lyrique en Mer and has sung it with Florentine Opera, Nashville Opera, Florida Grand Opera, New York City Opera, San Antonio Opera, Knoxville Opera, Opera Delaware, Toledo Opera, Anchorage Opera, Dayton Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Mill City Summer Opera, and Utah Festival Opera, of which The Salt Lake Tribune wrote “Audrey Babcock's performance as Carmen was a spellbinding tour de force...from the moment she took the stage her self-assured characterization was mesmerizing... Babcock's caramel-hued mezzo was a pleasure... her supple tones caressed the notes, radiating earthy allure.” Engaging beyond singing and acting, Ms. Babcock also works as a movement and breath specialist and a dance and fight choreographer skilled in hand-to-hand combat as well as weaponry.
 
Ms. Babcock is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory with a BM in Voice and the California Institute of the Arts with an MFA in VoiceArts with concentrations in Producing and Dramaturgy, and she has a certification in Somatic Voice WorkTM the LoVetri Method. She currently serves on the Voice faculty and teaches movement and sound in the Drama Department at the California Institute of the Arts, the Musical Theatre faculty at California State University, Fullerton, as well as Voice faculty at California State University, Los Angeles. Ms. Babcock's numerous awards include “Artist of the Year” for her portrayal of Jo in Mark Adamo's Little Women (Syracuse Opera), the George London Award, the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Award, and the Opera Index and Sullivan Foundation Encouragement Awards. Recording under the name Aviva, she has released an album of Ladino pieces called Songs for Carmen, a collection of works sung in Ladino and Arabic, inspired by the character Carmen. 
 
Tenor Alex Boyer is steadily gaining recognition for his commanding voice and dramatic portrayals of the lyric and spinto tenor repertoire. Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle for Festival Opera's production of Pagliacci, Boyer “mustered a large, potent sound that brought a welcome measure of anguish and dark menace to the role of Canio; his delivery of the famous showpiece ‘Vesti la giubba' lacked nothing in the way of grit and vocal power.”
 
Most recently, he has been seen as Tichon in Janáček's Káťa Kabanová with West Edge Opera, Cassio in Otello and Cavaradossi in Tosca with Livermore Valley Opera, Cavaradossi with Hawaii Opera Theatre and as Captain Ahab in Jake Heggie's Moby Dick with Chicago Opera Theater. 
 
Other engagements include covering the roles of Pollione in Norma, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, and Ahab in Moby Dick with the Dallas Opera; performing the roles of the Abbot in Andrea Chénier and Remendado in Carmen with San Francisco Opera; Rodolfo in La bohème and the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto with Island City Opera; Marcello in Leoncavallo's La bohème and Alwa in Lulu in the acclaimed West Edge Opera production; Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Livermore Valley Opera; Lenski in Evgeny Onegin with Opera Idaho; and Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Manrico in Il trovatore with Island City Opera. 
 
As a resident principal artist with Opera San Jose, he has performed Manrico in Il trovatore, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Canio in Pagliacci, the title role in Faust, Cavaradossi in Tosca, the title role in Idomeneo, and many others. He is an alumnus of the Merola Opera Program and the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Singers.
 
With over one hundred roles to his credit, baritone Roberto Perlas Gómez has performed extensively throughout the United States. He has performed supporting roles with Michigan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Diego Opera, and San Francisco Opera. He has done multiple leading roles with most of the regional companies in California. 
 
Mr. Gómez made his international debut as Marcello in La bohème with the Shanghai Opera. He was also in Manila, Philippines to create the title role of Jose Rizal in an opera honoring the final days of the Philippine national hero. He was recently at Kennedy Center to perform the role of Elias in the Tagalog opera Noli me tangere.
 
In 2008 Mr. Gómez made his Italian and European debut for the Arena di Verona Foundation as the Chinese Prime Minister Chou en-lai in the Italian premiere of John Adams' Nixon in China, a role he reprised with Long Beach Opera. 
 
Mr. Gómez has done numerous roles to great press including the Verdi baritone leads in La traviata, Un ballo in maschera, Il trovatore, Il finto Stanislao, Don Carlo, Aïda, and Verdi's Requiem. He debuted the leading roles of the kings in Die Kluge, The Emperor of Atlantis, and in its American premiere, Vivaldi's long lost Motezuma with Long Beach Opera. 
 
As an Opera San Jose resident artist, Mr. Gómez performed lead roles in Carmen, La traviata, Il barbiere di Siviglia, and created the role of Drosselmeier in The Tale of the Nutcracker. He has further performed what has become his signature role of Figaro with Nevada Opera, Santa Barbara Opera, Accorde Opera in Mexico, Sacramento Opera, and Opera Idaho. 
 
 
The Verdi Chorus is a Southern California nonprofit organization dedicated to presenting opera choruses in concert and to providing career development opportunities for young professional singers.  As the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music of the opera chorus, The Verdi Chorus gives talented amateur singers the unique opportunity to sing side-by-side with professional singers in rehearsals leading up to performances held to the highest artistic standards.  Under the direction of its remarkable Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum, each rehearsal is like a vocal master class.

The Verdi Chorus was founded in 1983 at the Verdi Restaurant in Santa Monica.  When the restaurant closed in 1991, The Verdi Chorus continued.  In 1999, the chorus incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.  Under the continuous direction of Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum, the Chorus presents four concerts each year as well as other collaborative events.  Its repertoire includes over 300 choruses from 81 operas in seven languages.
 
For more information visit: https://www.verdichorus.org.

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