Pacific Symphony Finally Replaces Canceled Bill

More than 2 months after it canceled a performance of Verdi’s Requiem, and just 1 week before show time, the Pacific Symphony has announced a replacement program in which soprano Aprile Millo will sing Verdi arias and the orchestra will offer Anton Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony.

For the April 26-27 concerts, outgoing music director Keith Clark will lead Millo and the orchestra in such Verdi excerpts as the Overture to “Luisa Miller”; “Tacea la notte placida” from “Il Trovatore”; Ballabile, the Willow Song and “Ave Maria” from “Otello,” Prelude to Act III of “La Traviata”; and “Pace, pace, mio dio!” from “La Forza del Destino.”

The Bruckner symphony will provide the second half of the program.

The Verdi Requiem, which would have enlisted soloists Millo and Dolora Zajick, plus the Pacific Chorale, was cut in February as a budget-balancing move that saved about $75,000, according to the orchestra’s executive direcor, Louis G. Spisto.

Officials said the Requiem will be rescheduled for the 1990-91 season. There is no confirmed date for an alternate appearance by mezzo-soprano Zajick, although officials have said that she will return during the 1990-91 season.

Orchestra leaders said the long delay in settling on the substitute program stemmed from difficulties in coordinating repertory between soloist and orchestra.