Written by Mary Dan Eades on January 13, 2014
In January, the Choral Society will join the SB Symphony, under the baton of Maestro Nir Kabaretti, for a celebration of Verdi’s greatest opera hits. During this 200th anniversary of Verdi’s birth, what musical season would be complete without a performance of favorites! Maestro Kabaretti has carefully selected talented soloists– Angel Joy Blue, Soprano and John Pickle, Tenor–to complement the full symphony orchestra and chorus for some of Verdi’s greatest overtures, choruses, and arias from Rigoletto to Traviata to Aida. And the Santa Barbara Symphony and Opera Santa Barbara will join in providing educational experience for members of the community. It’s a program filled with emotion, passion and excitement! Whether you are an opera fan or not, you will love Verdi. The evening’s repertoire includes:
- Nabucco: Sinfonia “Va pensiero”
- Macbeth: Preludio, “Patria Oppressa”
- Traviata: Sinfonia, ” È strano, è strano,” “Zingarelle,” “Mattadori”
- Rigoletto: “Caro Nome”, “La donna è mobile”
- Trovatore: Aria con Coro “Di Quella Pira”
- Vespri siciliani: Overture
- Otello: Duetto, “Già nella notte densa”
- Aida: Triumphal March and Chorus
Principal Concert Sponsors Chris and David Chernof
Concert Sponsors Dick and Marilyn Mazess
Performances at the Granada Theater:
Saturday, January 25 at 8 pm
Sunday, January 26 at 3 pm
or through the Granada Box Office
(805) 899-2222
American baritone, Ralph Cato has travelled the world extensively, telling stories in song with his warm, clarion baritone voice.
Tenor, Benjamin Brecher has performed over fifty operatic roles with many of the world’s most prestigious opera companies, specializing in the high lying lyric tenor repertoire. He has performed 16 roles with New York City Opera alone. Career highlights include performances with Opera Orchestra of New York, L’Opera de Nice, Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, L’Opera de Montreal, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, among many others. His orchestral solo repertoire includes Mozart, Handel, Orff, Bach, Haydn, as well as many performances of Britten. In 2000 he began performing the great Irish Tenor songs in a concert produced for him entitled A Celtic Celebration, Twenty years later, the show has become a North American hit with performances with 45 Symphonies in North America. Ben continues his discography having added his twelfth recording in 2016 Forgotten Liszt, with pianist Robert Koenig, and will record a new release in 2022 entitled “Three Centuries of Thomas Moore” including the music of Britten, Berlioz, and Sarah Gibson on MSR Classics. He is a Professor of Voice at University of California Santa Barbara, where he has served as the Head of Voice.
Tracy Van Fleet is pleased to return to the Santa Barbara Choral Society. As a soloist, she has performed with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Lüneburg Symphony in Germany, Orquesta Filarmónica de Boca del Río in Mexico, Pasadena Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, Los Angeles Bach Festival, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Colorado Philharmonic, USC Symphony and Chorus, and others. She has had many appearances with the Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Opera Pacific, San Diego Opera and Opera Colorado.
Born and raised in Southern California, April Amante is a versatile soprano with expertise and facility in repertoire spanning from early music to contemporary musical theater.