The Verdi Chorus will make a comeback on April 26 and 27, 2025 at the Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica to present “Bella Bellini.”

The concert will feature operatic sequences from “La Sonnambula,” “Norma,” and “I Puritani.” As a bonus, the performance will also include a segment from Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino.”

Guest soloists include soprano Jamie Chamberlin, mezzo soprano Christina Pezzarossi, baritone Roberto Perlas Gómez, and bass Colin Ramsey.

“’Bella Bellini’ seemed to be the obvious title for this concert. Bellini was part of the Italian Bel Canto style along with Rossini and Donizetti, and in the Bel Canto style there was a focus on the beauty of the voice. Often what you hear in this style is coloratura, melody that is greatly embellished,” said Conductor Anne Marie Ketchum per an official press release. “Bellini does this also, but in a particularly beautiful way. Wagner, who rarely complimented anyone else, was a big fan. What he admired in particular was the way Bellini combined music and text, so that the music had great depth and meaning in the way it depicted the ideas of the text.  This is especially evident in ‘Ah dolor’ from ‘I Puritani,’ one of the pieces we are presenting in this concert that demonstrates how Bellini used music to depict the emotion of the text.”

The ensemble canceled its previous performance due to the wildfires that swept across LA County earlier this year.

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