Pauline Adamek
An ancient legend first popularized in sixteenth-century Germany, the Faustian bargain warns of trading one’s soul or moral integrity for power, beauty, or success, only to pay a terrible price later. It remains one of the most enduring ideas in Western imagination because it captures the tension between ambition and restraint, between what we desire and what it costs to achieve it. The story emerged from German folk tales about scholars and magicians who allegedly made pacts with the devil, and in nearly every version the bargainer’s triumph proves ruinous.
The Verdi Chorus launches its 42nd season this fall with a thrilling program inspired by one of literature’s most enduring tales of temptation and redemption. The Fall 2025 concert will feature a deep dive into Goethe’s Faust with operatic sequences from Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, Gounod’s Faust and Boito’s Mefistofele.
This program will be presented for two performances only, on November 15 and 16 at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica.
Priority seating is $50, general admission $40, seniors $30, and students aged 25 and under with ID $10.00.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit: https://www.verdichorus.org
Under the direction of Anne Marie Ketchum, and celebrating forty-two consecutive years as Artistic Director, the Verdi Chorus remains the only choral group in Southern California dedicated primarily to the dramatic and varied repertoire of the opera chorus. This concert brings together highlights from three monumental nineteenth-century works.
The performances will feature three outstanding guest soloists: soprano Jessica Tivens-Schneiderman, praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a singer of considerable gifts”; tenor Alex Boyer, hailed by The New York Times as “a firm lyric tenor”; and multiple Grammy Award-winning baritone Gabriel Manro, described by San Francisco Classical Voice as “a knock-down baritone.”
Ketchum was inspired to design this program after visiting Goethe’s birthplace in Frankfurt. Reflecting on the enduring power of Faust, she notes that the legend’s transformation, from the dark folklore of a man who sells his soul to Goethe’s tale of ultimate redemption, offered a perfect theme for the Chorus’s next project.
“Gounod’s Faust is beloved for its melodies and sweeping ensembles. Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust contains some of the most beautiful choral writing I’ve encountered, and Boito’s Mefistofele culminates in an awe-inspiring finale where heaven triumphs over the devil. Together they tell an extraordinary story through music.”
Anne Marie Ketchum, Artistic Director of The Verdi Chorus
Every Monday night, more than fifty singers from across Southern California gather for rehearsals that blend the energy of a master class with the joy of collective artistry. Members range in age from 20 to 87 and come from all walks of life, united by their passion for singing and the emotional intensity of opera.
The Verdi Chorus also nurtures the next generation of performers through two key initiatives. The Fox Singers—sixteen emerging professionals named in honor of long-time member Walter Fox—serve as section leaders, rehearsal coaches, and featured soloists. The Sahm Foundation Apprentice Singers program, founded in 2015, offers college-level vocal students the chance to rehearse and perform with the Chorus while receiving scholarships to support their musical development.
Supported by the Sahm Family Foundation, the Colburn Foundation, Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, and the City of Santa Monica Arts Commission, this concert promises a powerful and inspiring start to the Verdi Chorus’s 42nd season—an unmissable celebration of the passion, drama, and glory of opera.
From the press release:
Music Director and Founding Artistic Director ANNE MARIE KETCHUM has been the conductor of the Verdi Chorus since its beginning in 1983. Well recognized as a singer, conductor, stage director and educator, she taught on the voice faculty of Pasadena City College for 34 years until her recent retirement. During her tenure at Pasadena, she created an opera program in which she directed a fully realized opera each spring. The program was so successful, former students who had gone to four year universities returned year after year to participate in these productions, which became more ambitious and elaborate as time went on. As a singer, she has appeared internationally and is well known for her performances of contemporary art music, vocal chamber music, solo recitals, and opera. Her recordings of Morten Lauridsen’s Cuatro Canciones and of Aurelio De La Vega’s Recordatio were both honored with Grammy nominations. She has premiered numerous works by such composers as Ernst Krenek, Aurelio De La Vega, Schulamit Ran, and Hans Werner Henze. Among Ms. Ketchum’s creative activities is This and My Heart: A Portrait of Emily Dickinson in Text and Song – a concert/theater piece which she co-wrote and performs with actress Linda Kelsey and pianist Victoria Kirsch. This was first presented as part of Grand Performances in Los Angeles and made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Cultural Affairs Department of Los Angeles. She has also served on the faculty of OperaWorks, Angels Vocal Art and at California State University, Northridge. Ms. Ketchum and the Chorus have received commendations on several occasions from the county of Los Angeles and from the city of Santa Monica.
Pianist WENDY CALDWELL, a native of Canada, has been a Lecturer/Vocal Coach and collaborative pianist at UCLA for the last nine years. She has also coached at California State University Long Beach, Acadia University, University of Illinois Chicago and the California Institute of Technology. She was on staff at Pasadena City College and served as Music Director and Principal Pianist for PCC Opera for over ten years. Productions there included The Tales of Hoffmann, The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, Die Fledermaus, Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica, and The Old Maid and The Thief. Ms. Caldwell is also a very busy freelance accompanist in the Los Angeles area, performing regularly in recital with both student and professional musicians. She has been a Guest Artist at Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, Alaska and at Cal State Summer Arts in Monterey and Fresno. Ms Caldwell holds degrees in Piano Performance from the University of Toronto and Acadia University.
About the Soloists:
Jessica Tivens-Schneiderman soprano, most recently performed the role of the villainous Thatcher in The Mighty Casey with Lyric Opera OC (West Coast premiere). Additionally, she was Mother Superior/Featured Soloist in Source/Filter Music Collective’s production of Hindemith’s Sancta Susanna, and she portrayed the title role in The Merry Widow with Mission Opera. Other recent performances include Olympe in Girondines at Mission Opera (West Coast premiere and Broadway World LA Award nominee), Leonore in Fidelio (excerpts) and Beethoven’s 9th with the Symphony of the Vines. She has been a soloist at Carnegie Hall, and has performed leading roles with Festival Opera Walnut Creek, Harrisburg Opera, Bronx Opera, and has been a guest soloist with the New West Symphony, Burbank Philharmonic, and Garden State Philharmonic.
Tenor Alex Boyer has been busy at the Metropolitan Opera from 2023 to the present in La Rondine, Tosca,
Moby Dick, Fidelio, Salome and Pique Dame. He made his Met stage debut as Captain Ahab in Moby Dick where Bachtrack said “With weighty and beautiful tone, Boyer convincingly conveyed the maniacal captain’s vehemence and anguish…” Upcoming engagements: World premiere, Robert Kennedy in Dolores, West Edge and Southwest Opera. Bacchus: Ariadne auf Naxos, Pacific Opera Northwest.
Multiple Grammy Award winning baritone Gabriel Manro has been called “a new kind of baritone…a knock-down baritone” (SF Classical Voice) with a “striking, sinister baritone that remains strong, even and sonorous throughout the range” (Opera News). He debuted in Dead Man Walking with Frederica von Stade and has created roles in numerous contemporary and world-premiere operas and musicals: Muscovite Trader in The Ghosts of Versailles (Grammy–Best Opera Recording); Mousling in the LA Philharmonic’s Alice in Wonderland; Commentator in Wang’s Scalia/Ginsburg; Original Off-Broadway cast of Orations; Original Cast of Séance on a Wet Afternoon by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked); Original telecast and tour of A Death in the Family (Opéra Grand D’Avignon); the Computer in The Fly by Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings); Original Cast of Il Postino (Sony Classical); President Lincoln in original cast of Lincoln and Booth; original cast and recording of De Rosa’s Alice in Wonderland; Jafar in Disney’s original Zambello production of Aladdin. As a concert soloist, Manro sings at Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the Berlin Philharmonie and most recently at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Turandot and Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder with the LA Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta. Mr. Manro is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and resides in Los Angeles with his opera directing wife, Justine Prado, and their two children.
About The Verdi Chorus:
The Verdi Chorus is a Southern California nonprofit organization dedicated to presenting opera choruses in concert and to providing career development opportunities for young professional singers. As the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music of the opera chorus, The Verdi Chorus gives talented amateur singers the unique opportunity to sing side-by-side with professional singers in rehearsals leading up to performances held to the highest artistic standards. Under the direction of its remarkable Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum, each rehearsal is like a vocal master class.
The Verdi Chorus was founded in 1983 at the Verdi Restaurant in Santa Monica. When the restaurant closed in 1991, The Verdi Chorus continued. In 1999, the chorus incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Under the continuous direction of Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum, the Chorus presents four concerts each year as well as other collaborative events. Its repertoire includes over 300 choruses from 81 operas in seven languages.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit: https://www.verdichorus.org
The Verdi Chorus Fall 2025 Concert Faust – Berlioz, Gounod and Boito
Venue: First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica, 1220 2nd Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401.
Performance Schedule: Saturday, November 15 at 7:30 pm; Sunday, November 16, 2025 at 4:00 pm.
Priority seating is $50, general admission $40, seniors $30, and students aged 25 and under with ID $10.00.
