Written by Mary Dan Eades on July 1, 2016
Four Talented Soloists traveled to Italy with SBCS to perform Lauridsen
On June 14, Conductor JoAnne Wasserman took a combined chorus of singers from Santa Barbara Choral Society and Berkeley’s University of California Alumni Chorus to Italy for concerts in Naples, Rome, Florence, Pisa, and Lecco. Traveling with the group was the legendary composer, Morten Lauridsen, arguably America’s finest living composer and his works were featured in both concert repertoires.
With Nova Amadeus Orchestra in Naples and Pisa, Ms. Wasserman conducted the chorus and these four talented soloists in performances of Mozart Requiem and Dr. Lauridsen’s signature work, Lux Aeterna.
In Rome, Florence, and Lecco, the group delighted Italian audiences with an acappella and keyboard accompanied repertoire concert, A World of Song, featuring the work of mainly American composers, including American Spirituals, Aaron Copland, Stephen Paulus, and a set of Lauridsen favorites, including his O Magnum Mysterium, Dirait-on from the suite Les Chansons des Roses, and Sure on this Shining Night. On the latter two pieces, Dr. Lauridsen accompanied the chorus on keyboard. The Italian audiences welcomed Dr. Lauridsen with great gusto.
The trip was the fourth International Performance Tour for Santa Barbara Choral Society and Ms. Wasserman, with previous tours to Austria, Czech Republic, and Hungary in 2005; Italy and Bavaria (including Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican) in 2007, and Spain in 2011 (the latter also with members of UCAC Berkley chorus.)
We were delighted to serve as cultural ambassadors of the vibrant Santa Barbara arts scene to the wider global community and to introduce these audiences to the works of Dr. Lauridsen and other great American composers.
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.