By Cris Franco
If you’re like me, your music-loving, Spanish-speaking parents had more than a few LP’s of zarzuelas. Originating in Spain in 1630, the españoles introduced these light operas to all their colonies, which quickly adapted these hyper-romantic musical tales to their own cultural heritage – most notably Cuba and the Philippines.
Similar to opera, zarzuelas evolved over time and grew to inhabit all theatrical genres from comedy to tragedy. Often grand in scope, they brought rich story-driven songs underscored by lush orchestrations to the stages of Latin-America for near 400 years. And on Sunday, 8 November 2020, this tradition continues, but this time streaming online.
All this thanks to Anne Marie Ketchum, founding Artistic Director of The Verdi Chorus, who was faced with an unimaginable dilemma as she planned for the group’s 37th annual Fall Concert: How to bring these Spanish choral gems to an audience when the pandemic has deemed group singing a super-spreader event?
Her solution? A streaming musical soirée entitled Amor y Odio (Love & Hate), Songs of Spain and New World, featuring the six promising talents of her Fox Singers performing zarzuela highlights. Thus, bringing this traditional art form to a potentially new audience via the Internet. The Fox Singers are sopranos Tiffany Ho and Sarah Salazar; mezzo-soprano Judy Tran; tenors Joseph Gárate and Elias Berezin; and bass Esteban Rivas.
This is not your average Zoom offering, but instead, a series of professionally filmed musical concerts, which are being offered free to the public, produced for optimum listening and viewing enjoyment.
Marketed under the banner Verdi Chorus Presents, other upcoming soirées will present an evening of Neapolitan favorites and Italian art songs and an evening dedicated to the American songbook. These online concerts will be available on the Verdi Chorus website at https://www.verdichorus.org
So, to take a mini-vacay from the confines of your living room and relax to the glorious masterpieces that have for centuries entertained audiences from Madrid to Mexico City – streaming of Amor y Odio, Songs of Spain and New World begins: SUNDAY, 8 NOVEMBER 2020 @ 10:30 PST.