The Verdi Chorus is set to launch its 2025-26 season with a performance of scenes from “Faust.”

The concert will feature music by Berlioz, Gounod, and Boito with such soloists as Jessica Tivens-Schneiderman, Alex Boyer, and Gabriel Manro.

Conductor Anne Marie Ketchum noted that her inspiration for the program was derived from visiting the birthplace of German writer and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Frankfurt.

“It occurred to me then that Goethe’s ‘Faust,’ one of the all-time greatest pieces of literature, should be my next Verdi Chorus project,” she noted. “The character Faust was an actual person who lived in the 16^th century and was thought to have evil magical powers. He eventually became part of German folklore.  When Goethe took the story into his own hands, he changed it in a masterful way by having Faust finally redeemed the end, which was not the case originally. Gounod, Berlioz and Boito, three great 19^th century composers, have written operas from this legend, and I realized how fascinating it would be to tell this story through these three geniuses.”

The performances are set for Nov. 15 & 16 at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica.

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