Santuzza is a woman who has been Turiddu’s (Todd Wilander) lover, but she has been cast aside in favor of Lola. Santuzza doesn’t take too kindly to the snub and informs Lola’s husband, Alfio (Roberto Perlas Gómez), that his wife is being unfaithful. It’s an Italian verismo opera, so you know where this one is headed.

Babcock has performed at Carnegie Hall and with opera companies across America. She is best-known for her performances as Carmen in Bizet’s beloved opera. She is also regularly found in contemporary works having their premieres including Tobias Ricker’s Thérèse Raquin and Winter’s Tale at the Prototype Festival. Babcock regularly works in musical theater having performed lead roles in productions of five Stephen Sondheim musicals.

Last week I spoke with Babcock about her role debut, working with the Verdi Chorus and about another Italian role – in a Sondheim musical – that remains amongst her favorites. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview, please go to our YouTube channel.

Q: What interested you most about making your debut in a concert version of this opera?

It’s the perfect way to make a debut because you really get to focus on the music. It’s a really beautiful way in to just really nail the language, the text and get into the plot points in the melody without having to worry about all the things like props and costumes and direction. To just really dig into the work with the musicians around you.

Does that still require doing the same level of character development? 

Absolutely. And things grow over time. As we grow with the part and continue to perform it, it grows and we get really comfortable. But sometimes those uncomfortable performances are magical, too, because we are on our toes and we are having to think fast, sing fast. Sometimes that’s where the magic is too.

The world premiere of Cavalleria Rusticana took place in 1890. Gemma Bellincioni is the one who who created the role of Santuzza. How do you think your contemporary eyes may be looking at this piece differently than perhaps it was first regarded by the woman who originated this part?

Well, there would be a lot of suppositions coming out of my mouth. Starting now. Considering the time and considering what opera was and what opera has become, I would assume there was a lot more standing and singing, a lot more focus on purely just bel canto and not engaging with your colleagues. This is a traditional sort of park and bark opera, except that it is what started or defined verismo. In verismo we have very real feelings that we’re all trying to heal so that we don’t act like toddlers in public. But these are really unhealed, unhinged humans having visceral reactions in public spaces all about heartbreak and love on such an intense level.

What appeals to you most about who Santuzza is?

What appeals to me most about her is her ability to go directly to the source of her pain. Ask him to stop in a time where that was never done. Women did not have agency. They were told to obey and they accepted a certain level of abuse, physical and otherwise. She fell madly in love with this man and had an out-of-marital affair with him, which she knew was risky. But she believed in their love. Then she got screwed. She just went in and was like, why are you doing this to me? How could you do this to me? She took such a huge risk with her heart and she opened it up for him and she got in trouble. She probably learned a really huge lesson after this and she probably never loved again. But she made some big decisions based on following her heart.

There are varying ways how fans perceive Santuzza in the opera. There are a lot of people who argue that she’s a very simple character or a passive one. There are others who think she’s a far more complex woman than people give her credit for. Do you have an opinion about that and does that opinion influence how you perform the part? 

She’s living in Catholic world and by the rules of the church. She has moved outside of this rule because she believes something true to her heart could not be bad. So she’s a woman who thinks for herself. Now, we don’t always make the best decisions as humans, and this is what we’re discovering with Santuzza. She’s made this decision that did not work out, but she had enough self-actualization to choose something that she was told not to do. So for me, she is a woman beyond her time and who thinks outside the box and who follows her heart. I think she’s got quite the backbone. She’s very strong at the end of the day.

You’re doing this concert with the Verdi Chorus. Does it feel like there’s a learning curve with this, or has their background of performing excerpts from operas given them the ability to just effortlessly go into performing this piece?

I think the Verdi course is a well-oiled machine. They know what to do. This is such a chorus heavy piece, which is why we’re doing it. They’ve learned most of the music prior to this concert. It won’t be the debut of all the pieces within it. So they’ve had a trial run of a lot of it. I think this will be an exciting climax to their time with the Verdi Chorus to actually do an opera, to move around, to memorize the music.

As a soloist, this is what we do all the time. So for us it’s fun too. I’ve sung with Roberto and Todd for years, but we’ve never been able to have full characters fleshed out over an evening together and to emote in the same space over time. So this, for us, is super exciting, and I can imagine for them it’s going to be, too. That space the acoustics are so great, we’re going to surround it with so much sound. We’re going to shake the rafters.

You like to shake the rafters, as you say, about contemporary works as well. What is your opinion of the state of contemporary opera today and what excites you most about it, and what, if anything, concerns you about it?

I love contemporary opera. I love that we’re exploring contemporary issues. I love that things are getting smaller. So we’re having more chamber opera, smaller orchestras, smaller casts, so that it is affordable to produce. What is essential in my mind is that we keep our art from growing. To keep it growing, we need to keep producing it and we need to make it affordable and big. Grand opera is not affordable. But within that it has to be excellent. The composers we’re working with a lot today all know that.

Things are harder to sing now. So we must be better singers and we must figure out how to do this because we are telling really important stories. We are creating new spaces for performing, not just theaters. We’re doing a lot of site specific stuff, which I think is great. Bringing the art form to the people.

You’ve created opportunities for yourself, whether that’s through your shows, Lily or Beyond Carmen. You’re giving yourself an opportunity to be seen apart from opera or on your own terms. How important is it or how necessary is it for you to carve out your own space and not rely just on the opportunities that come to you?

I have this intense drive to create. I didn’t get into opera because of opera. I got into opera because I have a big voice and a lot to say. But it turned out I loved opera. I didn’t know opera before I wound up in one. I’ve always been a theater person and an actor person and a singing person and a musician person. I played the flute forever. It’s absolutely essential for me to create and I love that my career is so varied. I’m doing things that, if you told my eight-year-old self I would get to do, I wouldn’t believe you. It’s so amazing and it makes me feel well-rounded. I’m not one who likes to put all my eggs in one basket. I’m so grateful for all these opportunities.

You’ve done five Stephen Sondheim musicals. One of them is a musical that I hope gets rediscovered at some point the same way Merrily We Roll Along is being rediscovered right now in New York. That’s Passion. What do you think the future might hold for Passion?

I’m a very old soul, I guess. I was born to do these parts that I’m now the right age for. I think people, maybe ten years ago, before Hamilton, went to musical theater to laugh. Sondheim had a mixture of both. But Passion was just drama, straight drama. I think people were disappointed in that. They wanted to go see a musical. If opera companies will take it on, it’ll do well because our audiences are used to seeing sad things where people die all the time.

The composer of Cavalleria Rusticana, Pietro Mascagni, is quoted as having said, “Modern music is as dangerous as narcotics.” What would you tell him about what modern music is today and how his opera is being received in the 21st century?

Well, he gave us a really good gateway drug. There are a million things it could mean, but I see his point. We’re just going further and further away from where we started. We have strayed so far from the rules of counterpoint and harmony, but we still study them. At least in the classical world, we recognize where our traditions come from. I believe, though, as artists it’s our job to push. It’s our job to question. It’s our job to say yes and and move forward. If we stay in the same it’s boring and it’s counter-revolutionary.

We must create more outside the box work and we must create culturally important work so that it matters. If we’re just singing because we like to sing, there’s zero point. If we’re just putting on performances for the actors involved because we want to put on a show, we can’t sustain that. We need to create work that is vital, that is important, that touches people, that has some sort of cultural implication. Then we get to not just do what we love, but have some sort of social and cultural impact that is lasting. I think that’s what fuels new music today. 

To see the full interview with Audrey Babcock, please go here.

Main Photo: Audrey Babcock (Courtesy The Verdi Chorus)

The post Mezzo Soprano Audrey Babcock and a Night of Firsts appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

On tap (no pun intended) is a wonderful tap performance from New York’s Joyce Theater by Ayodele Casel; a musical where popular princesses from animated films imagine a different definition of “Happily Ever After;” the return of Tony Award-winner Lena Hall with some new “Obsessions;” a live performance from The Royal Opera House of work by Brecht and Weill; a concert performance of one of Verdi’s least-performed operas and the first of a two-part live performance of a play adapted from Milton’s Paradise Lost.

My top pick this weekend comes from San Francisco Opera. Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher inspired an unfinished opera by Claude Debussy and a newer work by Gordon Getty. Both operas are being streamed this weekend and their rarity easily makes this the most interesting option for the weekend.

I’ll begin with my top pick for the week and the balance of my Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th are listed in the order in which they are available.

Here are my Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th:

*TOP PICK* OPERA: House of Usher – San Francisco Opera – April 10th – April 11th

Conducted by Lawrence Foster; starring Brian Mullian, Jason Bridges, Antony Reed, Jamielyn Duggan, Jacqueline Piccolino, Edward Nelson and Joel Sorensen. This David Poutney production is from the 2014-2015 season.

You know Cultural Attaché covers operas on a very regular basis. So it’s exciting to let you know about two one-act operas that are rarely performed and have not, to my knowledge, been streamed before this offering from San Francisco Opera.

Composers Claude Debussy and Gordon Getty each wrote operas inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. Poe tells the story of Roderick Usher through the eyes of his friend and reveals what may or may not have happened to Usher’s sister Madeline.

Debussy’s work, La chute de la maison Usher, is an unfinished opera that he worked on from 1908-1917. The opera was completed and orchestrated, based on the composer’s draft, by Robert Orledge in 2004. The premiere of the completed opera was in 2014 paired with Getty’s version at the Welsh National Opera. It is this production that came to San Francisco Opera with different casting.

Philip Glass also composed a work inspired by The Fall of the House of Usher. A film, directed by James Darrah, is available for streaming from Boston Lyric Opera for $10. These two one-act operas, our top pick for the weekend, are available for free but only through Sunday, April 11th.

BALLET: Concerto – Royal Ballet – Now – April 25th

This work by legendary choreographer Kenneth MacMillan was one of two pieces that premiered at the first performance after he was named Director of Berlin’s Deutsche Opera Ballet in 1966. For Concerto he used Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Concert No. 2 in F as his inspiration.

This new post came after his wildly successful years at Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet where he created nine new ballets.

This Royal Ballet performance is from 2019 and features soloists James Hay, Mayara Magri and Anna Rose O’Sullivan. They are joined by principals Ryoichi Hirano and Yasmine Naghdi.

Sarah Crompton, writing in The Guardian, said of this production: “…a plotless piece of sharp geometric angles and airy leaps, danced to Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 2. Set by Jürgen Rose against a perfect pale lemon backdrop, with the dancers in orange, russet and yellow, it has a breezy sophistication, with a delicate cross work of steps for soloists and a large corps de ballet. It seems simple but is devilishly complicated.”

The performance is available now for streaming. The price is £3 which equals $3.47.

PLAY READING: Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous – Broadway’s Best Shows – Now – April 12th

Sisters Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad star in the reading of Pearl Cleage’s 2019 play Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous which is being read as part of the Spotlight on Plays series from Broadway’s Best Shows.

After their production of scenes from August Wilson’s Fences ignited a major controversy actress Anna Campbell and director Betty Samson fled to Amsterdam for what they thought would be short-term assignment. 25 years later they are invited back to the United States where their version, nicknamed Naked Wilson, is going to open a women’s theater festival. But the festival wants to work with a much younger actress than Campbell. You don’t think that’s going to go over well, do you?

Also participating in the reading are Heather Alicia Simms and Alicia Stith. Camille A. Brown directs.

Tickets are $15 with proceeds going to the Actors Fund. The show will remain available through Monday, April 12th.

DANCE: Chasing Magic – The Joyce Theater Foundation – Now – April 21st

Fans of tap dance will definitely want to check out Chasing Magic by Ayodele Casel streaming now from The Joyce Theater in New York. I saw the film and it’s simply amazing.

For this world premiere, Casel has collaborated with director Torya Beard, dancer/choreographer Ronald K. Brown, singer/songwriter Crystal Monee Hall, composer/musician Arturo O’Farrill, percussionist Sent Stoney and composer Annastasia Victory.

Viewers can expect both traditional tap and also a contemporary style of tap – both of which will put a smile on your face, just as it does the dancers performing.

Tickets are $25/household.

BALLET: Carmen – State Street Ballet – Now – April 14th

Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen serves as the inspiration for this work by William Soleau (Co-Artistic Director of State Street Ballet). The work had its premiere in 2014 and this is a film from a performance at The Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara from that year.

For those unfamiliar with the opera, here is the synopsis:

Set in Seville, Spain, Carmen is a gypsy who has caught everyone’s eye. A soldier, Don José, plays coy and gives her no attention. Her flirtation causes troubles for both when Don José’s girlfriend, Micaëla arrives. Tensions escalate between the two women and after a knight fight, José must arrest Carmen. When she seduces him it sets off a series of events that will not end well for the gypsy woman.

Leila Drake dances the title role. Ryan Camou dances the role of Don José. Randy Herrera dances the role of the Toreador Escamillo and Cecily Stewart MacDougall dances the role of Micaëla.

There is no charge to watch the performance which will remain available through midnight on April 14th.

CHAMBER MUSIC: Simone Porter and Hsin-I Huang – Soka Performing Arts Center – Now – June 30th

As part of their Signature Encore Series, the Soka Performing Arts Center is making this 2019 concert by violinist Simone Porter and pianist Hsin-I Huang available through June 30th.

Their performance features works by Mozart (Sonata No. 24 in F Major, K. 376); Leoš Janáček (Violin Sonata, JW VII/7); Esa-Pekka Salonen (Lachen Verlent); Ernest Bloch (“Ningun” from Baal Shem); Maurice Ravel (Tzigane) and Sergei Prokofiev (3 pieces from Romeo & Juliet, Op. 64).

This concert is free to watch on both the Soka website and also their YouTube channel.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: The Heart of the Matter – St. Louis Symphony Orchestra – Now – May 8th

Three of the four pieces being performed in this concert by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra are very well known to classical music fans.

Edward Elgar’s Serenade for Strings; Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Andante cantabile and Giacomo Puccini’s I crisantemi (The Chrysanthemums). The last work was written originally for string quartet, but is rarely heard in that version.

Less known is the first piece on the program: Within Her Arms by composer Anna Clyne.

This work has been compared to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings for the depth of its emotion. It’s a composition that inspired violinist Jennifer Koh to tell the New York Times, “Sometimes things reach you and it’s colorful or intricate or structured in an interesting way or the orchestration is wonderful. But the extraordinary thing about Anna’s music is that it is incredibly moving. And I hadn’t had that reaction for a long time.”

Stéphane Denève leads the SLSO in this performance. Tickets are $15.

MUSICAL: Disenchanted – Stream.Theatre – April 9th – April 11th

Cinderella, The Little mermaid, Pocahontas, The Princess Who Kissed the Frog and Snow White are just some of the princesses who are changing the definition of happily ever after in this musical with book, lyrics and music by Dennis T. Giacino.

Disnenchanted opened off-Broadway in 2014 and was the recipient of numerous nominations including Best New Musical. The production that is streaming this weekend is from England.

The cast or women playing the princesses are Courtney Bowman, Natalie Chua, Allie Daniel, Shanay Holmes, Sophie Isaacs, Aisha Jawando, Grace Mouat, Millie O’Connell, Jenny O’Leary, and Jodie Steele. Tom Jackson Greaves directs.

There are only three performances. The show will be streamed at 2:30 PM EDT/11:30 AM PDT on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are £18 (including service charges) which equals almost $25.

OPERA/DANCE: The Seven Deadly Sins and Mahagonny Songspiel – Royal Opera House – April 9th – 2:30 PM EDT/11:30 AM PDT

The Royal Opera House offers its first live broadcast of the year with this double bill of works by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill.

The Seven Deadly Sins is called a ballet chanté. That means it is a sung ballet. The work had its world premiere in Paris in 1933. As you might imagine from the title, each of the seven deadly sins (envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth and wrath) is explored through the story of two sisters: Anna I and Anna II. The first Anna (Stephanie Wake-Edwards) is a singer and the second a dancer (Jonadette Carpio).

Also in the company are Tenors Filipe Manu and Egor Zhuravskii; baritone Dominic Sedgwick, and bass Blaise Malaba who are joined by dancer Thomasin Gülgeç.    

This is satire at its best and it was also the last significant collaboration between Brecht and Weill.

Mahagonny Sonspiel premiered in 1927 in Baden-Baden, Germany. A perfect companion piece to The Seven Deadly Sins, Brecht and Weill were offering their opinion on the pursuit of pleasure. Amongst the songs in this work is The Alabama Song which many will know from the version recorded by Jim Morrison and The Doors.

For this performance, mezzo-soprano Kseniia Nkolaieva will sing the role of Bessie.

Choreographer Julia Cheng has kept the streaming experience in mind while creating this production.

Tickets are $11.53. The performance will be available for streaming through May 9th.

COCKTAILS AND CONVERSATION: Virtual Halston – Cast Party Network on YouTube – April 9th – 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT

I adore Julia Halston and her Friday soirees have been a staple of my winding down and getting ready for the weekend. So I’m sad that this weekend, her 40th episode, will be her last for the time being.

However, I’m thrilled that she’s going on a hiatus to work on a new theater project.

For this episode Halston will welcome producers Ruby Locknar and Jim Caruso for a look back on those 40 episodes that have featured everyone from Charles Busch to Jane Monheit to Michael Urie and so many more.

The show is free to watch but donations to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation are encouraged.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Lena Hall: Obsessed – April 9th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

When Tony Award winner Lena Hall (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) launched her Obsessed series of EPs in 2018, she offered her versions of both well-known songs and deep-tracks of such artists as Beck, David Bowie, Nirvana, Pink, Radiohead, Jack White and more.

Given her voice, it was probably a surprise she didn’t also record the music of Heart – the duo best known for songs like Baracuda, Crazy on You and Magic Man.

But she’s going to be singing their songs in a live concert on Friday night. This video, from a Broadway Sessions performance at the Laurie Beechman Theatre gives you a taste of what she can do with this music (it does contain some profanity):

Does this foreshadow a second Obsessed series? This is a one-time only concert. There will be no streaming if you can’t see it as it happens. And you should. Lena Hall rocks!

Tickets are $20 and $50. The higher-priced VIP tickets allows for interaction with Hall during the concert.

JAZZ: Claudia Villela: The Music of Jobim – SFJAZZ – April 9th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

There are certain artists who can use just one name and you know immediately who it is. Brazilian composer Jobim is one of them. (For the record his full name is Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim).

Amongst his best-known songs are Corcovado, Desafinado and The Girl from Ipanema.

Singer Claudia Villela will pay tribute to Jobim in this concert from 2019. She is joined by special guest guitarist Chico Pinheiro. Her band includes Celso Alberti on drums and percussion; Gary Brown on bass; Gary Meek on saxophone and flute and Jasnam Daya Singh on piano and keys.

There will be an encore presentation Saturday, April 10th at 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT.

This concert is available to digital members of SFJAZZ. Membership is $5 for one month of programs or $60 for one year.

CHAMBER MUSIC: Beethoven Serioso – Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – Debuts April 9th – 9:30 PM EDT/6:30 PM PDT

As they did with their most recent episode of Close Quarters, the camera moves in and amongst the musicians in this performance of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95 nicknamed Serioso. The orchestration is by Gustav Mahler. Margaret Batjer leads LACO in this performance.

Given the significance the camera plays in this film, I want to give attention to cinematographer Michael Thomas whose deft work breathes new life into ensemble performance. Visual artist Ken Honjo also contributed to this episode.

If you haven’t checked out this terrific series, all previous videos are available for streaming. There’s no charge to watch Beethoven Serioso or any of the other videos.

DANCE: Awakening – Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company – April 10th – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT

For over 30 years, New Jersey’s Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company has been at the forefront of creating works that express through contemporary dance that long history of the Chinese American cultural tradition.

This program will find the company offering two world premieres (Luminescence and Shadow Force) along with two works from 2019 (Truth Bound and Introspection). The works are united in their exploration of ideas we have all probably faced during the pandemic: identity, information, optimism, outside forces that complicate our lives, truth and more.

Tickets are $10 to watch the performance. If you are a member of the South Orange Performing Arts Center, you can watch for free.

THEATER: From Number to Name – East West Players – April 10th – April 11th

Wednesday afternoon I published an interview with the provocative performance artist Kristina Wong who is helming From Number to Name.

Through a series of interviews and over the course of six-and-a-half weeks, Wong and her collaborators have put together this dramatic show that explores the impact of incarceration on the Asian/Pacific Islander community in America. It is a story filled with shame, regret and finds those who are released from prison rarely having a familial support system to reintegrate into society.

There are two performances of From Number to Name. The first is on Saturday at 10:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM PDT. The second is on Sunday at 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT.

Tickets begin at $5 and go up in price based on your ability to include a donation to East West Players.

CHORAL: Amore della Vita, Love of Life – The Verdi Chorus – April 11th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

For those clamoring for all things Italian, this weekend’s virtual concert by The Fox Singers from the Verdi Chorus will delight. They will be performing a program of Italian art songs.

Amongst the composers are Ruggero Leoncavallo (best known for his one-act opera Pagliacci), Pietro Mascagni (best known for Cavalleria rusticana), Gioachino Rossini (best known for the theme song to The Lone Ranger*) and Paolo Tosti (best known for his over 50 art songs).

Featured performers in this concert are sopranos Tiffany Ho, Megan Lindsey McDonald and Sarah Salazar; mezzo-soprano Ariana Stultz; and tenors Elias Berezin and Joseph Gárate. Anne Marie Ketchum leads the ensemble with Laraine Ann Madden accompanying.

If this concert (and perhaps Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy) makes you hungry, The Verdi Chorus is publishing The Verdi Chorus Pandemic Cookbook. How many of the recipes are Italian, I couldn’t tell you. But if they can cook like they sing…. The book is available for pre-order here.

CABARET: Ali Stroker – Seth Concert Series – April 11th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

Ali Stroker won a Tony Award for her performance as Ado Annie in the 2019 revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Oklahoma! She became the first performer in a wheelchair to win a Tony Award. (She was paralyzed in an automobile accident when she was two years old.)

This wasn’t her first Broadway performance. She appeared in the 2015 revival of Spring Awakening. This was the Deaf West Theatre production that was first performed at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

She is Seth Rudetsky‘s guest for this weekend’s concert and conversation.

I saw Stroker in both shows and she is simply amazing. This will be well worth watching.

In addition to the live concert on Sunday afternoon there will be an encore showing Sunday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT. Tickets for either showing are $25.

OPERA: Atilla Highlights in Concert – Lyric Opera of Chicago – April 11th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

Giuseppe Verdi’s Atilla had its world premiere in Venice in 1846. The opera tells the story of Atilla the Hun (how many other Atillas do you know?) and his ill-fated relationship with Odabella, a prisoner whose father died at the hands of Atilla. Foresto and Ezio, having their own reasons for wanting revenge on Atilla, defer to Odabella who will stop at nothing to see Atilla die.

Atilla is not amongst Verdi’s most popular nor the most commonly-performed. In fact, the Metropolitan Opera only staged Atilla for the first time in 2010. The Lyric Opera of Chicago staged their first production ten years earlier.

On Sunday they will premiere a concert of excerpts from Atilla that will feature bass-baritone Christian Van Horn singing the role of Attila, soprano Tamara Wilson singing Odabella, tenor Matthew Polenzani singing Foresto, and baritone Quinn Kelsey singing Ezio. Pianist William C. Billingham and Jerad Mosbey accompany the singers.

Enrique Mazzola leads the concert which will be available on the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: A Tour of Iran – New West Symphony – April 11th – 6:00 PM EDT/3:00 PM PDT

Michael Christie leads the New West Symphony in a performance of work exploring the influence of Iranian poetry and music on the West. Joining the performance are mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and two Iranian instrumentalists: Pejman Hadadi (tombak and dad) and Masoud Rezaei (setar).

The program features a mix of classical works by Mozart (The Magic Flute Overture), Rameau (Suite from Zoroastre), Handel (“Ombra mai fu” from Xerxes) and Gounod(selections from Faust) with works by Iranian composers Khayam (Seven Valleys of Love for Strings), Ranjbaran (Enchanted Garden: Joy) and excerpts from Rezaei’s album Nothingness.

Tickets to stream the concert are $25 per household and will include a post-performance reception with Christie and the guest artists.

CLASSICAL MUSIC/CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC: Jennifer Koh Solo Recital – Shriver Hall Concert Series – April 11th – 5:30 PM EDT/2:30 PM PDT

Violinist Jennifer Koh appears in this very intriguing concert which finds her playing two compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach and peppering the concert with twelve new compositions that she commissioned in 2020 for her Alone Together project.

Bach’s Partita No. 3 and the Sonata No. 3 are sharing space with works by Kati Agócs, Katherine Beach, Hanna Benn, Patrick Castillo, Vijay Iyer, Angelica Negrón, Andrew Norman, Ellen Reid, Darian Donovan Thomas with electronics by Layale Chaker, Ian Chang, George Lewis and Cassie Wieland.

Tickets are $15. The recital will remain available through April 18th.

PLAY: Smokefall – Goodman Theatre – April 12th – April 25th

Critics found themselves searching for superlatives when Noah Haidle’s Smokefall opened in 2013. From the writing to the performances and the production, the acclaim was universal.

In Haidle’s play, Violet is pregnant with twins and anticipating a major shift in her life. What she doesn’t know is that her husband is getting ready to leave her.

Adding to her worries is that her daughter has chosen not to speak and her father is suffering from senility. Just what an expectant mother wants in her life as she’s about to give birth to twins.

Starring in Smokefall are Catherine Combs, Anne Fogarty, Katherine Keberlein, Guy Massey, Mike Nussbaum, Eric Slater. (In case you are wondering, two of the actors play Fetus One and Fetus Two). Directing is Anne Kaufmann.

There’s no charge to stream Smokefall, but you do need to reserve your streaming opportunity.

PLAY READING: Paradise Lost – Red Bull Theater – April 12th – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT

John Milton’s Paradise Lost, an epic poem about temptation and the fall of man seen through the eyes of Adam & Eve and Satan, was probably something you read in college.

It has proven to be catnip for playwrights who want to find a way of putting this extraordinary work on stage.

Enter Michael Barakiva who offered up a 13-hour adaptation in 2013 with Upstart Creatures.

New York’s Red Bull Theater is offering a live reading of the play with the first part on Monday. (I’m betting that the play has been edited since its first presentation eight years ago). The second part will be performed live on Monday, April 26th.

Starring as Satan is Jason Butler Harner. Said Arrika Ekulona is God. The cast includes Stephen Bel Davies, Sheldon Best, Gisela Chípe, Robert Cuccioli, Carol Halstead, Gregory Linington, Daniel José Molina, Sam Morales, Howard Overshown and Cherie Corinne Rice. Barakiva directs.

Tickets are pay what you can. After the initial live performance, the livestream will remain available until 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST the Friday immediately following the live performance.

CABARET AND CONVERSATION: Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party – April 12th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Joining Jim Caruso for this Monday’s Pajama Cast Party are up-and-coming musical theater performer D’Marreon Alexander, Jackie Burns (Wicked), singer Jacob Daniel Cummings and country singers Chase McDaniel and Emily West.

The show is free to watch and if you can’t make it Monday night, the show (and Virtual Halston for that matter) will remain available for streaming on the Cast Party Network on YouTube.

That’s my official list of Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th. But you know I always have a few reminders:

The Metropolitan Opera continues its From Page to Stage series with their 2013-2014 season production of Shostakovich’s The Nose on Friday; their 2007-2008 season production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette on Saturday and their 2017-2018 season production of Verdi’s Luisa Miller on Sunday.

Monday the Metropolitan Opera begins a series of operas based on fairy tales called Once Upon a Time. They start with the 2017-2018 of Massenet’s Cendrillon. I’ll have the full line-up for you on Monday.

This is your last weekend to watch Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike free on Broadway on Demand. The Lincoln Center Theater production stars Billy Magnussen, Kristine Nielsen, David Hyde Pierce and Sigourney Weaver. If you need a good laugh this weekend, this play will offer you many of them. (Use code VANYAFREE on the BOD website)

Also be sure to check with previous Best Bets to find other options that might still be available. As you can see from this week’s list, there are always shows you can watch well after this weekend is over.

That’s officially a wrap on this week’s Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th. Enjoy your weekend!

Photo: An image from House of Usher (Photo by Cory Weaver/Courtesy San Francisco Opera)

*You don’t think I’m serious do you?

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Niv Ashkenazi: Violins of Hope – The Soraya Facebook Page – April 17th – 7 PM EDT/4PM PDT

Violins of Hope is a program celebrating the recovery and restoration of over 60 stringed instruments from the Holocaust. They were restored by Amnon Weinstein, and his son, Avshalom, in Tel Aviv.

The Soraya had scheduled several events around the Violins of Hope, but those have been postponed due to the pandemic. While they have been rescheduled for early 2021, Niv Ashkenazi will give a concert on one of those violins on Friday.

Ashkenazi is the only musician in North America who has been loaned one of these precious instruments. He recently released an album entitled, appropriately enough, Niv Ashkenazi: The Violins of Hope.

For this live streaming event, Ashkenazi will perform the “Theme from Schindler’s List” by John Williams, “The Chassid” by Julius Chajes, an improvisation on Ernest Bloch’s “Baal Shem, II. Nigun” and George Perlman’s “Dance of the Rebbitzen.”

Prior to the performance, The Soraya’s Executive Director Thor Steingraber will conduct a conversation with Ashkenazi about Violins of Hope and his recording.

Celebrating 25 Magical Years of Disney on Broadway – BroadwayWorld – April 17th – 7 PM EDT/4 PM PDT

Last November, Disney celebrated a quarter century of musicals on Broadway with a concert at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York. The event was a fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

That concert, which featured veteran cast members from Disney’s many shows, is being streamed as an additional fundraiser for BC/EFA, but this time for their Covid-19 Emergency Assistance Fund. There is no charge to watch the show, but they are asking for donations.

As you probably know, Disney has had many a blockbuster musical on Broadway. Their shows include Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, AIDA and Frozen.

Amongst the performers at this concert are Sierra Boggess, Norm Lewis and Sherie Renee Scott from The Little Mermaid, Christian Borle and Ashley Brown from Mary Poppins, Kerry Butler and Susan Egan from Beauty and the Beast, Merle Dandrige, Mandy Gonzalez and Adam Pascal from AIDA, James Monroe Iglehart, Adam Jacobs and Michael James Scott from Aladdin plus a reunion of cast members from Newsies.

Additional participants include Gavin Creel (Hello, Dolly!), Whoopi Goldberg (the original film version of The Lion King), Ashley Park (Mean Girls) and more.

Soft Power Listening Party – Public Theater NY YouTube Channel – April 17th – 8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT

When Jeanine Tesori and David Henry Hwang’s musical-within-a-play Soft Power played the Ahmanson Theatre in 2018 it proved to be a wholly unique way of telling a story through both a play and a musical. I loved it.

The show was reworked and opened at The Public Theater in New York and that cast recored the show. Soft Power was just made available on Ghostlight Records in the digital and streaming formats.

To celebrate the release, some of the cast and the creators of the show are holding a listening party on The Public Theater’s YouTube channel. They are also raising funds for both The Public Theater and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

The Phantom of the Opera – The Show Must Go On YouTube Page – April 17th – beginning at 2 PM EDT/11 AM PDT for 48 hours

Andrew Lloyd Webber continues to make performances of his musicals available for 48 hours with this version of his blockbuster musical The Phantom of the Opera.

This production stars Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom, Sierra Boggess as Cristine Daaé and Hadley Fraser Raoul. Nick Morris and Laurence Connor directed this 25th Anniversary performance at the Royal Albert Hall.

Attaca Quartet performs Caroline Shaw’s Orange – The Greene Space YouTube Page

If you aren’t familiar with composer Caroline Shaw, this is a great opportunity to get introduced to her work. Orange, performed here by the Attaca Quartet, is one of Shaw’s highly-acclaimed works. Their recording of Orange won the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Musical/Small Ensemble Performance.

Shaw is the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Partita for 8 Voices.

This performance comes from a 2019 performance at WNYC/WQXR’s The Greene Space.

TCM Classic Film Festival: Special Home Edition – Turner Classic Movies – Now – April 20th

The annual TCM Classic Film Festival had to be canceled due to the ongoing crisis. However, they have moved the festival from Hollywood to your living room. For fans of theatre and jazz there are a few options worth checking out (whether you have never seen them or want a chance to revisit them!) Note that some are not showing at convenient times (unless you are an insomniac) so set your DVR.

Grey Gardens – April 18th 1:30 AM EDT/April 17th 10:30 PM PDT

This is the documentary that inspired the Tony Award-winning musical. The Maysles Brothers (Albert and David) made an utterly compelling film about Jackie Kennedy’s aunt, Edith Bouvier Beale (79) and cousin, Edith ‘Little Edie’ Bouvier Beale (56). They live in a completely rundown mansion on Long Island with no running water that is filled with multiple animals including numbers cats and raccoons in the attic.

The Man with the Golden Arm – April 18th 6:00 AM EDT/3:00 AM PDT

This 1955 film by Otto Preminger makes our list because Elmer Bernstein’s score is so driven by jazz. Not the first film to use jazz as the style of a film score, but certainly one of the best.

Frank Sinatra stars as an ex-junkie who returns home after half-a-year in prison. While in prison he not only got clean, but learned to play drums. Upon his return he has to face the real world and whether or not he has fully recovered from his heroin addiction.

Both Sinatra and Bernstein were Oscar-nominated for their work on this film. Another reason to check out the film is Saul Bass’s amazing title sequence.

Mame – April 19th 3:30 PM EDT/12:30 PM PDT

This is the classic Rosalind Russell film from 1958 that is truly essential viewing. Mame tells the same story as Jerry Herman’s musical (and the subsequent disaster of a film of that musical with Lucille Ball), but Russell’s performance here is superb. Fans of the musical will want to check out this film. In our troubled times perhaps we can all take some sage advice from our dear Auntie Mame.

Singin’ in the Rain – April 19th 6:00 PM EDT/3:00 PM PDT

One of Hollywood’s best musicals ever and recently on the list of best films to watch during the pandemic. Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds star. Watch this film and you’ll be singing “Good Morning” on Monday.

Victor, Victoria – April 20th 3:30 AM EDT/12:30 AM PDT

Blake Edwards’s 1982 film musical was, of course, the basis for the Broadway musical. Julie Andrews stars as a woman, pretending to be a man, pretending to be a woman, who becomes a singing sensation in Paris. But she has to maintain the disguise just as she falls in love with a gangster played by James Garner.

The film also stars a phenomenal Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren and Alex Karras.

The songs were written by Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse.

The Verdi Chorus: The Force of Destiny – The Verdi Chorus Website and Facebook Page – April 18th – 10:30 PM EDT/ 7:30 PM PDT

Forced to cancel their planned April 18th concert, The Verdi Chorus is going to stream their first online concert: The Force of Destiny. This was their 2018 concert that featured selections from Verdi’s La forza del destino, Nabucco and La Traviata. It also included music from Strauss’s Die Fledermaus.

Joining the Verdi Chorus are Shana Blake Hill, soprano, Karin Mushegain, mezzo-soprano, Alex Boyer, tenor and baritone Ben Lowe.

Treasure Island – National Theatre Live’s YouTube Page – Now – April 23rd

Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel has been given a couple twists for this 2014 stage version. First of all, Jim, is played by actress Patsy Ferran. There is music and songs by Dan Jones with additional songs by John Tams.

But the reviews were extraordinary. Arthur Darvill (of Dr. Who) plays Long John Silver. Polly Findlay directed the play. Tim van Someren directed the film. Treasure Island runs 1 hour 50 minutes.

Buyer and Cellar – Broadway.Com – April 19th – 8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT

Actor Michael Urie has performed Jonathan Tolin’s Buyer and Cellar countless times. It’s a perfect role for him as the man who attends to Barbra Streisand’s personal shopping mall in her Malibu home. Of course, this isn’t a true story, but what if it was?

On Sunday Urie will perform the show from his own home as a fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Covid-19 Emergency Assitance Fund. The performance will stream on Broadway.Com.

This is a thoroughly entertaining show and well worth your time.

***Don’t forget there is also Madama Butterfly on April 17th, Adriana Lecouvreur on April 18th and Der Rosenkavalier on April 19th – each available for 23 hours beginning at 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT at the Metropolitan Opera’s website.

Another reminder that WNET is making five different Great Performances available. For details you can go here.

Photo: The company of Treasure Island (Photo by Johan Persson/Courtesy of National Theatre Live)

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Here are edited excerpts from that conversation.

What was your familiarity with the Korngold opera?

Honestly I wasn’t familiar with it. Like most people I’m familiar with Die tote Stadt and it begins and ends with that. When I got a copy and looked through it, I liked it. It’s a wonderful, intimate piece with five characters who all have clearly established wants and needs and are generally likable. The music seems really wonderful as well. It’s unique.

The opera only had its first performance in the United States earlier this year. What’s special about the opera? Why do you think it hasn’t been performed more?

I can address the second first. It’s an awareness problem. I know that Numi Opera is committed to presenting these forgotten works by Jewish composers who had been silenced during the Nazi regime. This is primarily why it is not performed very frequently. The popularity propelled by repeat performances is something Korngold and Alexandre von Zemlinsky (a prolific Austrian composer best known for Die Seejungfrau – The Mermaid) were denied.

Korngold’s musical voice is really really sublime. It’s a very interesting harmonic language which is obviously influenced by Wagner’s tonalities. But it is very much his own voice. It is a comedy. Most people familiar with Korngold are familiar with his work for film and Die tote Stadt – which is decidedly not a comedy. This is light-hearted. You wouldn’t expect his style to jive with comedy, but the comedy is very light but it still very much his language.

Alex Ross, writing in The New Yorker, called Der Ring des Polykrates “overflowing with effortlessly effective writing…Mozart’s youthful pieces lack comparable individuality.” What is so appealing about the vocal writing in this one-act opera?

The vocal writing is very modern in that it is a through-composed piece. There aren’t a whole lot of numbers like there are in Mozart pieces. It’s a writing that sort of captures the way people speak in a more musical way. 

Numi Opera is a new company. What inspired your choice to join them for these two performances?

I mean, I have to pay my bills, too. There is a component of that. People offer me work I generally take it. But I think the mission is an important one. I think there are a lot of composers beyond Korngold and Zemlinsky who have written wonderful music that hasn’t been performed. It is interesting to me academically and if there is an audience we can cultivate, that’s wonderful.

Korngold said, “What differentiates artists from historians, whether in music, painting or any art form – that they create something beyond the more or less photographic image of their era, something that stands above and beyond time and environment.” What did Korngold create with this opera and what do you hope to create before your career is over?

Wow. That is an interesting question. I’m not sure what I can say about myself. I don’t know what I would want to leave behind. I don’t know if I even want to think about it. I suppose what I’d want to leave behind is an exuberance and enthusiasm for the work I do that inspires other people to have the same enthusiasm for music and for hearing something the makes you feel something.

As for Korngold, what did he leave behind with this piece? I think he left behind something very different from the rest of his output, but just as important and unique in that it’s fun. It’s fun to share and fun to watch.

Photo of Alex Boyer in “Carmen” at San Jose Opera (Photo by Bob Shomler/Courtesy of Vox International Artists)

This post has been updated with a new photo provided by Boyer’s management)

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Boyer, who has performed with the Festival Opera, Dallas Opera, Chicago Opera Theatre and more will give local audiences a chance to discover him when he joins The Verdi Chorus for their Sound & Fury concerts this weekend in Santa Monica. These concerts mark a return to the ensemble for Boyer as a guest soloist.

Last month I spoke to Boyer about his rising career, these two concerts and what he’d like to do in the future.

What was your familiarity with The Verdi Chorus prior to first joining as a soloist?

I didn’t have a whole lot of familiarity with them. Shana Blake Hill is a friend of mine and we’re on the same management roster. She put my name in the hat to sing with them. 

What most interests you about The Verdi Chorus and the work they do?

It’s always a great thing to have people excited about opera, which I’ve chosen to make my career in. There are a lot of Verdi operas that aren’t performed. I know the Chorus doesn’t exclusively sing Verdi, but it’s nice to dabble in a few of these things.

Last year we did some numbers from Nabucco. I guess it is reasonably frequently performed, but not terribly frequently. It’s a piece I’m not very familiar with but there is a lot of great music in it and some of these pieces that people don’t get to hear and I don’t get to be involved with are performed. This year there will be some things from Otello, which is a popular Verdi piece, but not one I get to sing very much.

Your resume includes performances in Il Trovatore and Tosca. What are the challenges of getting fully invested in an aria for a concert without having the lead-up to those arias as they play out in an opera performance?

That’s my job. It’s something I can do. There is a fun difference between stage work and concert work. In a concert sometimes all of the things you might not do in a fully-staged version you are musically more open to doing because it is out of context. There are moments you can indulge a lot more which is a lot more fun for me and what an audience expects.

You’ve sung with multiple opera companies. What is the path for getting bigger roles with bigger companies?

You sing at one company and then someone asks who can do [a role you’ve just done.] Someone says “oh my friend did this at this company.” As you get yourself out there people begin to talk.

What are the roles you’d ideally like to do in the future?

I would love to do Andrea Chénier. Lohengrin is also amazing. I’m not quite sure. I’ve done a lot of stuff that’s been all over the map with my voice type and age. I lean away from stuff for older singers – work like Wagner. But I don’t think Lohengrin would be a problem. 

One opera Boyer will soon be tackling is a little-known one-act opera by Erich Korngold called Der Ring Des Polykrates with Numi Opera. The two performances will take place at Zipper Hall at the Colburn School in December. When it gets closer to those performances, we will have another quick chat with Boyer about the opera and what he enjoys most about its music.

Photo of Alex Boyer courtesy of The Verdi Chorus

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Anne Marie Ketchum, Music Director of The Verdi Chorus, has assembled a program with some of the best known operas of all time.

From Verdi come Otello and Il Trovatore. From Puccini come Turandot and Tosca. From Lehár comes The Merry Widow. (There may not be too much fury in that last opera, but there is plenty of beautiful sound.)

There are three soloists joining this weekend’s programs. Shana Blake Hill – soprano, Alex Boyer – tenor and Malcom MacKenzie – baritone are all guest artists. Laraine Ann Madden is the accompanist.

That this group has lasted this long is a testament to two things:  First and foremost, the passion of Ketchum to keep it not just alive, but thriving. Her tenacity is remarkable. Secondly, they wouldn’t be around this long if they weren’t talented and there wasn’t an audience for what they do.

Opera-goers on the West Side don’t have many options to experience opera and The Verdi Chorus gives them their fix. Perhaps people from other parts of town aren’t as inclined to drive to Santa Monica for a concert. To ignore a talented ensemble because it isn’t geographically desirable is to short-change yourself from some great music.

For tickets to either Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon, go here.

Photo of The Verdi Chorus by Tim Bereth/Courtesy of The Verdi Chorus

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Crosscurrents: Zakir Hussain, Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Shankar Mahadevan and The Vijay Iyer Sextet – Walt Disney Concert Hall

April 27

The “crosscurrents” of the title of this event reflect the pairing of jazz and Indian music. Hussain is a master tabla musician and Holland is an incredible bass player. For this show saxophonist Potter and vocalist Mahadevan are in the mix. Also on the bill is one of my favorite jazz musicians (and the man called “Artist of the Year” three times by Downbeat Magazine), the immensely talented Vijay Iyer performing with his sextet. Without question Iyer is one of the most exciting figures in jazz. On Saturday, the Vijay Iyer Sextet will be performing at the Center for the Humanities at UC Merced. On Sunday they will be appearing at the Douglas Beach House on Miramar Beach in Half Moon Bay.

Stomp – Hollywood Pantages Theatre

April 27-29

If you’ve never seen this show which originated off-Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre (where it has run continuously since 1994), you are in for a unique dance/music combination where everyday items are used to create the percussive energy that propels the dancing. If you’ve never considered brooms, trash can lids and inner tubes as both instruments and dance partners, then Stomp has surprises in store for you.

The Joey Alexander Trio – Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University

April 27

Not many teenagers can claim to have three Grammy nominations and four albums released. Bali-born jazz pianist Joey Alexander will be able to claim both when his new release, Eclipse, comes out next week. To support the new work (which primarily features his own compositions), Alexander is on tour. It’s exciting how phenomenally well he plays. The first California stop is Friday at MUSCO. Saturday finds the trio at the Balboa Theatre in San Diego and on Sunday they’ll be at UCSB. We spoke with Alexander about his music. You can read that interview here.

A Shakespeare Jubilee – The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

April 28

This is a celebration of the works of the Bard featuring thirty stars of film, stage and television. Hosting the evening are Joely Fisher and Ioan Gruffudd. Amongst the American and British artists joining in the celebration will be:  Eric Braeden, Jane Carr, Michele Greene, Harry Hamlin,Finola Hughes, Jamison Jones, Nigel Lythgoe, David Melville, Joe Spano, Kitty Swink, Joan Van Ark, Peter Van Norden, Sabra Williams, Sherry Williams, Madeline Wu and Oscar Zhang.

Two Chorus Concerts: Great Opera Choruses (The Soraya at CSUN) and The Verdi Chorus (First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica)

April 28 (both shows) and April 29 (The Verdi Chorus Only)

In a rather ironic coincidence of scheduling, LA Opera is presenting a free concert at The Soraya on Saturday afternoon of Great Opera Choruses. Grant Gershon, who is conducting that show, was also around for the start of what became The Verdi Chorus when he served as an accompanist for them. The Verdi Chorus began when performers at a long-defunct restaurant in Santa Monica. It featured opera singers and they  decided to continue what they were doing in a more formal and professional way after the restaurant closed. 35 years later, they are celebrating their anniversary with two concerts entitled The Force of Destiny. Both of these shows offer incredible opportunities to hear great music performed beautifully. For more information on how The Verdi Chorus began, check out our interview with artistic director Anne Marie Ketchum here.

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This weekend The Verdi Chorus will celebrate its  35^thanniversary with two concerts entitled The Force of Destiny at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica, blocks away from the restaurant that gave the chorus life.

In order to understand the durability of this group, I spoke with Anne Marie Ketchum, the Artistic Director of The Verdi Chorus. She was part of Verdi Ristorante and has been running the chorus since its inception.

“Tom Redler and several buddies in the chorus came to me,” Ketchum recalls. “They didn’t want to quit. They were having such a grand time. They asked if I would continue and I would on two conditions. That you leave all the artistic decisions to me and that you take care of all the financial decisions. We also need to audition people from here on. The restaurant owners [Bernie and Sheila Segal] wanted to leave this open to anyone and everyone who wanted to sing. If we are going to do this, I want the quality of the group to rise and pretty quickly. And we did that.”

It’s rare than an artistic director can do whatever he or she wants to do. But Ketchum was adamant that be part of the deal moving forward.

“It was totally the right decision and important to me,” says Ketchum of her requirement to be made head of the group. “I’m an artist. I create these programs. They aren’t just a conglomeration of this piece and that piece, but there is a sense of how it moves through the concert. There’s music that I love and music that I’m not all that excited about and I want to to do music I love. I also understand singers. I understand how this works and the psyche and I know what people can and cannot handle.”

Ketchum is quick to admit that she had no idea The Chorus would last as long as it has. “Absolutely not. When I first was singing at the restaurant, we weren’t even thinking in terms of a chorus. I was thinking about this as a young person’s church job with a little extra money in it. While at the same time I could have a good time and hand some of this music over to some wonderful people to try it out.  But I had no idea. It turned into something way more than that. It’s way beyond where I thought it would be.”

One person who was at Verdi Ristorante and got a first-hand view of the entire operation is Chef Evan Kleiman, the host of KCRW’s Good Food.

“I remember the opening of the restaurant being particularly fraught because of the collision of a first-time opening chef (me), first time restaurant owners (Bernie and Shelia), the deconstructionist architecture of Morphosis and the complication of the restaurant being an opera venue,” she said via e-mail. “I think running a restaurant is enough of a crap shoot. Adding the music made it more likely to fail unfortunately. So the fact that the Chorus not only survived, but thrived and went on to have such longevity, is extraordinary. It’s a wonderful legacy.”

It’s a legacy that has not gone without its challenges. Ketchum recalls, “For the first years the group was a kind of a rubbing hands kind of thing if you know what I mean. The audience was family and friends. But after a while they have other things to do. Classical music is always going to be a smaller audience than popular music, rock ‘n’ roll, big time sports and all of that. It’s also finances for an arts organization, especially in these days with so many groups shutting down or having a hard time. We are fortunate that we are very strong artistically and financially, but through a lot of hard work.”

When asked if she can pinpoint the linchpin of the success of The Verdi Chorus, Ketchum, for the first time in our conversation, hesitates. “I’m stumbling here because I come off of every concert thinking ‘that was fantastic and everybody loved it and I don’t know why.’ Because I’m a vulnerable musician. I absolutely do believe in The Chorus, but what I’m saying is it’s quite amazing that it’s been strong for so long.”

And then she gets back to her usual confidence. “Choral music is a great way for people to come together, get to know each other and do something artistic they can’t do on their own. Also there is a sense of family in this group. We are the Verdi family. If somebody in the chorus has a problem, the chorus gathers around. It’s really beautiful to see this sense of community and they really mean it. We’ve got someone who is in his late 80s in the chorus and we have 22-year-olds. We’ve got all races and creeds. They are all there. We don’t think about it. We have outgoing people, quiet people and they all stand next to each other, open their mouths and let it out.”

As the 35^thcelebration concert draws closer, does Ketchum have plans in store fifteen years from now when the 50^thanniversary comes about? “I’m having a ball working with this group. There are just so many things that I can do with them. I have some plans in the future which I don’t know whether I’ll be able to do. It depends on how the wind blows and how I feel. Maybe some collaborations in the future. We’ll see. The future is unknown. You just never know.”

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Between Riverside and Crazy – LA Theatre Works at James Bridges Theatre/UCLA

November 17-19

In 2015, playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for this play. The Pulitzer committee called this play “a nuanced, beautifully written play about a retired police offer faced with eviction that uses dark comedy to confront questions of life and death.” This weekend that acclaimed work will be performed by LA Theatre Works at UCLA. These performances of this play will serve as recording sessions for radio broadcasts that will be distributed later. LATW performances, which do not include sets or costumes, celebrate the written word. Between Riverside and Crazy is directed by Diane Rodriguez.

THE UNAUTHORIZED MUSICAL PARODY OF BRIDESMAIDS – Rockwell Table and Stage

November 17-18

This weekend marks the final performances of this parody of the hit comedy Bridesmaids. The Unauthorized Musical Parody series is a regular and popular part of the programming at Rockwell Table and Stage. The show’s creators take the original script for the film, twist and turn it a bit and add popular songs to help tell the same story told in the film – all designed to make you crack up. Right after Thanksgiving will be their parody of Home Alone.

STEVE TYRELL – Catalina Bar & Grill

November 17-19

If you listen to KJZZ 88.1 FM, you known Steve Tyrell not just as a singer, but also the DJ who makes your evening commutes a little easier to manage. He is a regular fixture at the Café Carlyle in New York. This weekend he brings his song stylings to Catalina Bar & Grill for three performances of standards sung his way.

Photo Credit:  Julie Soefer

NOON TO MIDNIGHT: A DAY OF NEW MUSIC – Walt Disney Concert Hall

November 18

Paired with the final two performances of War of the Worlds at Walt Disney Concert Hall, this all-day music festival takes full advantage of the many rooms and spaces at Frank Gehry’s building to showcase new music. The list of performers is extensive and includes LA Signal Lab, wild UP, USC Percussion Group, red fish blue fish, Jacaranda Music and more. There are 16 world premieres and also music by composers Steve Reich, John Adams, Andrew Norman and David Lang. The best part of this 12-hour event is that it is only $10 for as many hours as you can handle. Ticketholders for War of the Worlds can join for free.

VERDI CHORUS – First United Methodist Church, Santa Monica

November 18-19

If you are a fan of opera you are well aware of Verdi’s choruses. But are you also aware that this year marks the 35th anniversary season of The Verdi Chorus? The Santa Monica-based group hones in on dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus. This concert, “Love’s Passions and Potions,” features music from Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco and Un Ballo in Maschera, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Massenet’s Manon and more. This unique combination of amateur and professional singers began in 1983 at the Verdi Restaurant in Santa Monica.

LAST CHANCE: This weekend marks your last chance to see Bright Star at the Ahmanson Theatre. You might think that a blue-grass musical isn’t your thing (frankly, I wasn’t sure it was mine), but if you love watching someone give a thoroughly convincing and moving performance, I urge you to see Carmen Cusack in her Tony-nominated role as Alice Murphy. Bright Star was written by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell.

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