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THE VERDI CHORUS PRESENTS "LOVE AND ROMANCE OPERA STYLE"

The theme for the Verdi Chorus' spring 2012 concerts will be LOVE AND ROMANCE OPERA STYLE. Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum has planned a beautiful evening to start out our 29th season, featuring selections from Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore (The Elixir of Love), Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, and the finale to Act II's party scene of Johan Strauss' "Die Fledermaus". Joining the chorus are soloists Ms Ani Maldjian, soprano, Mr Daniel Montenegro, tenor, and Mr Gregorio Gonzalez, baritone.

Ms Maldjian has been steadily amassing some very impressive credits. Mark Swed, writing for the Los Angeles Times said "Big things are predicted of her" and called her recent performance as the lead in Janacek's opera, The Cunning Little Vixen, for Long Beach Opera, "radiant". She's been performing Grigory Frid's chamber opera The Diary of Anne Frank to great acclaim both internationally and throughout the United States. Ms Maldjian has also become a favorite of innovative Long Beach Opera, with recent performances there as Dirce in Cherubini's Medea and the vocally treacherous role of Madame Mao in John Adam's Nixon in China.

Daniel Montenegro returns to the Verdi Chorus after having made both his Paris Opera debut as Mario in Daniel Catans Il Postino, and his San Francisco Opera debut as Rodrigo in Verdi's Otello. Having been invited by the San Francisco Opera to join their prestigious young artists Merola program, he has sung a variety of supporting roles including performances as the tenor lead, Nemorino, in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore.

Rounding out our trio of talented soloists will be baritone, Gregorio Gonzalez. Well on his way to an international career, Mr Gonzalez has sung many roles with LA Opera and recently made his debuts in Vienna and at the famed Concertegebauw in Amsterdam. He has sung with Placido Domingo on several occasions, including the recent world premier of Daniel Catan's Il Postino, where he created the role of Di Cosimo. We eagerly await his rendition of Donizetti's palpitating aria, "Bella siccome un angelo" from Don Pasquale.