Event

SHAKESPEARE IN SONG

PCM's Artes Vocales of Los Angeles (AVOLA) presents SHAKESPEARE IN SONG, Saturday May 30, 2015, at 8:00pm.

The 70-voice ensemble, based at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music, will perform a delightfully eclectic program of choral and vocal settings of texts by the Bard.

Shakespeare's words will be heard in music from many genres, from the pastoral work of Ralph Vaughn Williams, to the sly jazz rhythms and harmonies of George Shearing, and in opera roles from the fairies in Felix Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream to Giuseppe Verdi's powerful men in Otello, Falstaff, and MacBeth. Guiding the audience through the vagaries of mood and situation, from love to dreams, from tragedy to comedy, will be actors Bree Pavey, Brendon Haley and Raymond Donahey. Their contribution will be to illuminate meaning and sometimes step into the action.

The program will feature internationally renowned operatic tenor Eduardo Villa, who has performed in leading opera houses throughout Europe and North America. He is a regular guest of the Metropolitan Opera and has appeared on their stage in the title roles in Don Carlo and Ernani, Radames in Aida, and Don Jose in Carmen. In Europe, he was a regular guest of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.

Also featured will be the world renowned bassist, Abraham Laboriel, Sr., who has recorded and performed with a remarkable array of artists from Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, and Al Jarreau to Ella Fitzgerald, Placido Domingo, and Joe Sample, as well as dozens of movie soundtracks, including most recently Frozen, MI3, and the upcoming Jurassic World. Guitar Player magazine calls him, "the most widely recorded bass player of our times."

General admission tickets are $20.

For further information and directions, see Events at http://pasadenaconservatory.org, or contact the conservatory at 626. 683.3355 or Katherine White at singingsoprano@yahoo.com.