La Muse: Viva Verdi with Romanian accents

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La Muse choir under the direction of Ioana German, will present its Viva Verdi concert in both Montreal and Ottawa.

Supported by sopranos Chantal Dionne, Marina Negruta and Anca Maria Grigoriu; mezzo-soprano Antonela Barnat; tenor Jaime Sandoval; bass Dan Popescu and an orchestra, the choir will perform some of Verdi’s greatest choruses, including excerpts from the Requiem, Il Trovatore, La Traviata and Nabucco. This large-scale concert promises a burst of Verdian joy.

Barnat has been a regular singer at the Bucharest State Opera since her debut as Rosina in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville in 2006. She made her debut in the title role in Bizet’s Carmen last June at the Iasi National Opera in Romania.

Barnat will perform for the first time in Canada at the invitation of Maestra German. “Ioana and I have known each other since we were 15,” says the mezzo-soprano. “We sang in the same choir. Two years ago, we sang together again and I sang operatic arias. She liked it and she invited me to join La Muse choir for Viva Verdi.”

What motivates the artists in this concert is a true dedication to music. “It’s the joy of responding to a call full of energy and passion,” Barnat says. “It’s the love of music that drives each person on stage, the feeling that this sweet madness called music makes us rejuvenate a little more each day.”

German transmits this contagious enthusiasm to everyone she meets. Born in Romania to a family of musicians, journalists and historians, she felt a great love for classical music from a very young age. To transmit classical music as a universal language, she founded the choir La Muse, whose name is a nod to the musical revue La Muse Roumaine. She wants to put music at the service of cultural diversity.

German appreciates Verdi’s Requiem particularly for its operatic side. It therefore seemed completely natural to include excerpts in a program dedicated to Verdi’s great operatic choruses.

This sturdy program is a challenge for the members of the choir who are guided by the enthusiasm of their leader. Viva Verdi!