Written by Mary Dan Eades on January 18, 2016
The 275th Anniversary Year Tribute to Handel’s Messiah on March 18 and 19 at 7 pm!
SATURDAY MARCH 19TH PERFORMANCE IS SOLD OUT!
Though long associated with the Christmas season, the first performance of Handel’s best-known and most-beloved oratorio occurred at Easter, on April 2, 1742 in Dublin, Ireland. In fact, it was never performed at Christmas for the first hundred or so years of its existence. This April marks the beginning of the landmark 275th anniversary year of that first performance and in commemoration we will perform Handel’s Messiah in the Spring, as originally done, in tribute to the genius of its composer and its longevity!
Conductor JoAnne Wasserman will lead the Santa Barbara Choral Society and Orchestra and a quartet of fine soloists–Dru Daniels, Soprano; Laurel Semerdjian, Mezzo; Christopher Yoon, Tenor; DeAndre Simmons, Bass–all Music Academy of the West Summer Festival Alumni hand-selected by the legendary Ms. Marilyn Horne in this landmark 275th year commemorative concert, featuring Part I (the Nativity) and the generous selections from the more rarely performed Parts II and III (covering the Life, Works, Passion, and Resurrection of Jesus.)
The warm acoustic and intimate space of Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall is perfectly suited for this music. You will want to secure your tickets early, since Hahn Hall is a small space and seating is limited.
Friday March 18, 2016 at 7 pm
Saturday March 19, 2016 at 7 pm
Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall
Tickets: $10 (rows AA, A, B, and C) and $35 (rows D through N) (Children ages 7 to 17 with adult $10)
*Please note, these performances are both evening performances on FRIDAY evening and SATURDAY evening at 7 pm.
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.