Singer

The Verdi Chorus’ 39th season culminates with  A Verdi Puccini Fest, for two performances only at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica on November 12 and 13.  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 says  includes “some of the most exciting moments from two of the greatest operatic composers who ever lived,” will feature selections from four Verdi operas – I Lombardi, Don Carlo, Rigoletto, and La traviata, and sequences from Puccini’s Turandot, La bohème, Suor Angelica, Tosca, La fanciulla del West, and La rondine.
Conductor Anne Marie Ketchum says, “Both Verdi and Puccini were masters of writing operatic music that was extremely theatrical. Verdi is known for melody, and Puccini is known for dramatically writing for the orchestra with his striking use of colors and rhythm in a rich theatrical style. They are truly deserving of being referred to as two of the greatest opera composers that ever lived.  In terms of the opera chorus, Verdi wrote for the chorus as an actual character and force in what the leading characters were saying and doing, and Puccini wrote musical tones and hues for the chorus to illustrate more deeply the story being told.”

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A Verdi Puccini Fest

First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica

The great diva has it all: beauty, talent, friends in high places, love, and an unshakeable faith in God.  She lives a charmed life, blissfully unaware of the dystopia that surrounds her.  All that will change in one harrowing day and night, in Puccini’s nail-biting melodrama.
Soprano Eleni Calenos last seen in OSB’s Madama Butterfly in 2019 returns to the Granada stage to sing the titular diva. The painter Mario Cavaradossi will be portrayed by Adam Diegel who thrilled Santa Barbara audiences at our 25th anniversary Gala concert. The imposing chief of police, Baron Scarpia will be sung by Wayne Tigges, who sang John Proctor in our production of The Crucible in 2019. Layna Chianakas returns to direct our season opening after a successful double bill of Il Tabarro/ El amor brujo last season at the Lobero. The scenic and projection design for our unique production is created by Yuki Izumihara who wowed audiences with her designs in our production of Semele earlier this year. Artistic and General Director Kostis Protopapas conducts his first Tosca with our Opera Santa Barbara Orchestra and Chorus in full force.

Tosca

Granada Theatre

POP returns to the 800-seat Aratani Theatre in Little Tokyo for a very special production of Tchaikovsky’s fairytale opera, Iolanta. Cristina Jones, AKA “The Blind Soprano”, stars in the opera’s title role about a princess who is unaware that she is blind. The cast also includes POP favorites Andrew and Megan Potter as King René and Martha and Adam Cioffari as Ibn-Hakia. POP will partner with low-sight organizations for this production to encourage awareness and to amplify their efforts. Special arrangements will also be made for low-sighted audience members, including braille programs. Iolanta will be POP’s first opera presented in Russian and will feature a 32-piece orchestra conducted by Isaac Selya.

Iolanta

Aratani America Theatre

Join Opera SB for the perfect Halloween Double Bill! In De Falla’s El Amor Brujo, Candela is haunted by her late husband’s ghost as she tries to move on from her past obsession, and find love with the young Carmelo. This flamenco opera ballet will feature Santa Barbara native, Nina Yoshida Nelsen (Fricka, Das Rheingold ’21), and dancers from State Street Ballet.  Broken dreams, a fateful love affair, and a murder onboard a barge on the seine are accompanied by a haunting score in Puccini’s taut 60’ operatic thriller. Opera Santa Barbara favorites Todd Thomas (Falstaff, ’14) and Harold Meers (Pinkerton, Madama Butterfly ’19) return with director Layna Chianakas, making her mainstage directorial debut with Opera SB in this thrilling double bill. Soprano Alaysha Fox will be making her Opera SB debut in the role of Giorgetta. Scenic designer Steven C. Kemp (Crucible, Eugene Onegin) returns and Maestro Kostis Protopapas takes up the baton.

Ben Lowe

Bass

Events

12 - 13 Nov, 2022

A Verdi Puccini Fest · Verdi Chorus

Oct 1, 2022

Tosca · Opera Santa Barbara

20 - 27 Mar, 2022

Iolanta · Pacific Opera Project

29 - 31 Oct, 2021

Il Tabarro/El Amor Brujo · Opera Santa Barbara

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