The ensemble, cooked up in 1983 at a now-defunct Italian restaurant, celebrates its 30th birthday and the composer's 200th with concerts this weekend. Large classical music ensembles are no strangers to economic challenges, but the Santa Monica-based Verdi Chorus may be the only one whose existential crisis came when an Italian restaurant went out of business.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM on April 17, 2013