Choral Spectacular!

Sunday, May 3, 2026, 3:00 PM
Rancho Campana Performing Arts Center
4235 Mar Vista Dr., Camarillo, CA 93010

Tickets: $20 advance / $25 at the door
Students and children attend free

Join us for the final concert of our season, an inspiring afternoon of choral and orchestral music. The program opens with the beloved “Gabriel’s Oboe” from The Mission, a piece many will recognize for its hauntingly beautiful melody, before moving into the luminous choral works of Morten Lauridsen and the timeless elegance of Schubert’s Ave Maria.

The second half of the program features Mozart’s joyful Exsultate, jubilate and his radiant “Coronation Mass,” performed by chorus, orchestra, and an outstanding roster of soloists: Soprano Ida Nicolosi, Mezzo-soprano Kathleen McVicker, Tenor Lwazi Hlati, and Baritone Brian Hotchkin.

This special performance brings together singers from Nordhoff Junior High & High School and the CSU Channel Islands University Chorus, alongside the Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra, creating a powerful collaboration across generations of musicians.

With moments of quiet reflection, lyrical beauty, and uplifting celebration, Choral Spectacular offers a rich and memorable close to the season.

Ida Nicolosi, soprano, is recognized for her command of a great breadth of repertoire that encompasses opera, oratorio, early music, musical theater, and new music. Nicolosi made her debut at Carnegie Hall in 2012 and has sung with the Spoleto Festival USA, Lincoln Center Festival, Kansas City Puccini Festival, OPERA Iowa, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, The Gotham Chamber Opera, The Des Moines Metro Opera, and the Kansas City Civic Opera.

Ms. Nicolosi has taught voice at Pepperdine for 16 years and is the vocal area coordinator of the music department where she teaches private voice as well as vocal directs the musical productions and the contemporary musical theater troupe. Ida previously taught voice at the University of Missouri-Kansas City after pursuing an Artist Diploma in Opera Performance and holds both her Bachelors in Music Education and her Masters in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College. Ida Nicolosi resides in Malibu, California with her husband and two boys, Nicholas and James. She is thrilled to be singing again with the Chamber Island Chamber Orchestra, where she made her debut last May as the soprano soloist in Sir Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time.

Kathleen McVicker, alto, received her Master of Music from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, studying with Dr. Tod Fitzpatrick. At UNLV, she performed the title role in Carmen, Florence Pike in Albert Herring, and appeared with the Opera Las Vegas Young Artist Program. She currently continues her studies in Southern California with bass Reid Bruton.

In Ventura County, Ms. McVicker has appeared as a soloist with the Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Shores Philharmonic Foundation, and El Coro Maestro. Recent highlights include the alto solo in Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, the world premiere of Judith Vander’s Darwin Cantata, L’Opinion Publique in Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers, and Arnesen’s Magnificat. She remains active performing with local organizations throughout Ventura County.

A Southern California native, Kathleen McVicker began studying voice as a teenager in Ventura County with sopranos Susan Colla and Linda Ottsen, and appeared in productions with local community colleges and theaters. She earned her Bachelor of Music from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, studying with Janice McVeigh, where she performed in productions including Don Giovanni and Summer and Smoke. After graduating cum laude, she continued vocal study with Dr. Kathleen Roland-Silverstein.

Lwazi Hlati, tenor
South African tenor Lwazi Hlati is rapidly gaining recognition as one of the most compelling voices of his generation, celebrated for his ringing high notes, velvety lyricism, and deeply expressive storytelling. His operatic roles include Rodolfo in La bohème, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Fenton in Falstaff, Prunier in La rondine, and Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Most recently, Hlati appeared as Thomas Havens in a workshop of Lincoln in the Bardo, a new opera by Missy Mazzoli commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera and Chautauqua Opera. In concert, he has been featured as the tenor soloist in Mozart’s orchestration of Messiah with the Columbus Symphony under Rossen Milanov and in Saviour: A Modern Oratorio in Fort Worth.

A prize-winning artist, Hlati earned first place in both the American Opera Idol Competition and the Duncan Williams Voice Competition, presented by New York City Opera and Manhattan School of Music. He holds degrees from Tshwane University of Technology, Southern Methodist University, and the University of North Texas, and is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Southern California.

Brian Hotchkin, baritone
Brian Hotchkin has been noted for his "strong and effortless voice" and his "unerring, witty sense of theater,” he has performed with companies around the country, including Virginia Opera, Opera New Jersey, the Aspen Music Festival, and Opera Santa Barbara.

His repertoire includes Filippo in Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda (London debut), and the leading baritone roles in Mozart’s Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte; Puccini’s La bohème and Madama Butterfly; Sondheim’s Company and Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot. His concert repertoire includes Vaughan-Williams's Sea Symphony (Santa Barbara Master Chorale).

As a stage director, Brian has led productions including The Light in the Piazza, Sweeney Todd, Hansel & Gretel, Mystery of Edwin Drood. He is a professor of voice at Ventura College. He recently performed a series of concerts with pianist Armen Guzelimian, cellist Ani Aznavoorian and soprano April Amante. He holds degrees in voice and opera from DePaul University and the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.