Friday, April 15, 2011, 1:00 p.m., at Walt Disney Concert Hall

FREE Concert Features Massed Choir of 900 Students from 24 Southland High Schools and Special Performance by 80-Voice Festival Honor Choir

Twenty-two years ago, long before television shows about choirs became all the rage and Walt Disney Concert Hall was merely a sketch on a napkin, one celebrated local institution, the Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC), made a commitment to mentor and train hundreds of young singers and their choir directors each year through the Los Angeles Master Chorale High School Choir Festival. This yearlong mentoring program, now a model for other choirs and one of the largest choral festivals in the nation, culminates with a free public concert that has also become a leading showcase for the next generation of singers. The 22nd Annual Los Angeles Master Chorale High School Choir Festival continues this storied tradition with a free concert on Friday, April 15, 2011, at 1:00 p.m., at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The remarkable talents of 900 students from 24 Southland high schools will be showcased in a massed choir. There will also be a special performance by the 80-voice Festival honor Choir, comprised of students from all 24 participating schools. Grant Gershon, music director of the LA Master Chorale, conducts both choirs.

The 900-voice massed choir performs Alexandra Pascanu’s Chindia, Sure on this Shining Night by Samuel Barber, and Alma Llanera composed by Pedro Gutierrez and arranged by Angel Sauce. Also on the program are Ola Gjeilo’s Ubi caritas, William L. Dawson’s Ain’ –a That Good News, and Hallelujah from Handel’s Messiah.

The 80-voice Festival Honor Choir joins forces with the LAMC’s professional Chamber Singers to sing Laudamus te from Francis Poulenc’s Gloria, David Dickau’s Stars I Shall Find, and the traditional Swahili spiritual Wana Baraka arranged by Shawn Kirchner. Students participating in the Honor Choir were nominated for the prestigious group by their choir directors. To prepare for the performance, they attended separate rehearsals with Mr. Gershon.

“The High School Choir Festival is one of the highlights of the Chorale’s season,” said Gershon. “These students and their choir directors work so hard to prepare for the festival and they are amazingly talented."

Participating choirs include Arroyo High School, Chamber Singers (El Monte), Jennifer Stanley, director; Bassett High School, Chamber Choir (La Puente), Nona Watson, director; Central Los Angeles High School #9, Concert Choir (Los Angeles), Desiree Fowler, director; Culver City High School, AVPA Chamber Singers (Culver City), Dr. Tony Spano, director; El Monte High School, A Cappella Choir (El Monte), Joel Whisler, director; Glendale High School, Chamber Choir (Glendale) Grace Sheldon-Williams, director; Glendora High School, Royal Stewarts (Glendora) Dr. Brian Trevor, director; Granada Hills Charter High School, Highlander Honor Choir (Granada Hills), Craig Gruenberg, director; Knight High School, Travel Ensemble (Palmdale) John Crocker, Jr., director; Lakewood High School, Madrigal Singers (Lakewood) Ralph Siemsen, director; Loyola High School, Choir (Los Angeles), Steven Speciale, director; Mark Keppel High School, Aztec Singers (Alhambra), Tony Azeltine, director.

Also participating are: Marymount High School, Marymount Singers, (Los Angeles) Rebecca Florido, director; Montebello High School, Golden Keys (Montebello), Nancy Schwartz, director; Narbonne High School, Vocal Ensemble/Honor Choir (Harbor City), Carol J. Levin, director; Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, Varsity Voices (Palos Verdes Estates), Daniel Doctor, director; Pioneer High School, Titan Tones (Whittier), Evan Mooney, director; Rosemead High School, A Cappella Choir (Rosemead), Ruth Gray, director; South High School, Southland Singers (Torrance), Elizabeth Turner, director; Susan Miller Dorsey High School, Dorsey Dons Choir (Los Angeles), Crystal Nichols, director; Sylmar High School, Spartan Chorale (Sylmar), Greg Broadous, director; Venice High School, Allegros (Los Angeles), Wendy Kornbeck, director; Wilson Classical High School, Chamber Singers (Long Beach), Curtis Heard, director; and Woodrow Wilson High School, Choir (Los Angeles) Daniel Safford, director.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale High School Choir Festival is one of the largest high school choir gatherings in the nation. The yearlong in-school program presented by the Chorale has five components. Several months prior to the festival, all participating Choral Directors meet with Mr. Gershon to review the repertoire, selected by Mr. Gershon. Directors then work in the classroom with their choirs on the music. During the spring, members from the LA Master Chorale Chamber Singers, the Chorale’s outreach ensemble, visit participating choirs and leads the students and directors in masterclasses. A month before the festival, each school attends one of two joint rehearsals conducted by Mr. Gershon, who works with the singers on their musicianship, musical interpretation and tone balance. The joint rehearsals also provide an opportunity for the students to sing as part of a much larger choir in preparation for the festival, which is the final component of the outreach program. On the day of the festival, all of the schools join together for the first time and Mr. Gershon conducts a final dress rehearsal and concert.

Event sponsors include the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs; the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; Metropolitan Associates; the Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation; the Lon V. Smith Foundation; the John and Beverly Stauffer Foundation; the Charitable Foundation, Agent Community Outreach of Prudential California Realty; and the Weingart Foundation. The Los Angeles Master Chorale High School Choir Festival was founded in 1989 by the Los Angeles Master Chorale Associates, under the leadership of Phyllis Rothrock.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale’s High School Choir Festival is FREE and seating is first come, first served. The Walt Disney Concert Hall is located at 111 South Grand Avenue at First Street in Los Angeles. For information and to order free tickets for the concert, please call (213) 972-7282 or visit www.lamc.org/HSCF.

EDITORS: Please note Calendar Listing

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Giving a voice to Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Grammy-nominated LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE (LAMC), considered one of the world’s leading choirs, is led by Music Director Grant Gershon. The Los Angeles Times proclaims, “Under Gershon, the Master Chorale seems to be able to master anything,” The New York Times calls the choir “inspired,” and The New York Observer declares it “a superb vocal ensemble.” The Chorale is currently in its 47th season as a resident company of the Music Center of Los Angeles County and its 8th as the resident chorus at Disney Hall. Presenting its own concert series each season, it has performed more than 480 concerts, featuring choral music from the earliest writings to the most recent contemporary compositions. The choir has commissioned 25 and premiered 63 new works, of which 41 were world premieres, and has been awarded the ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming three times – in 1995, 2003 and 2010. Additionally, the Chorale has performed in more than 280 concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at both Disney Hall and the Hollywood Bowl and has also appeared at the Ojai Festival, the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center, and at Overture Center in Madison, Wisconsin, as well as in leading venues throughout the Southland. Its discography includes three CDs under Gershon’s baton, including Daniel Variations by Steve Reich, released in spring 2008 on Nonesuch Records, You Are (Variations) by Steve Reich, released in September 2005 on Nonesuch Records, and an RCM recording featuring Esa-Pekka Salonen’s first choral work, Two Songs to Poems of Ann Jäderlund, and Philip Glass’ Itaipu. In June 2010, Gershon conducted recording sessions at Disney Hall for his fourth CD with the choir, which will be an all-Nico Muhly album to be released by Decca later this season. LAMC previously released three CDs under Music Director Emeritus Paul Salamunovich on RCM, including the Grammy-nominated Lauridsen-Lux Aeterna. The Chorale is also featured with Gershon on the soundtracks of such major motion pictures as Charlie Wilson’s War, Lady in the Water, License to Wed, and Waterworld. Serving more than 40,000 audience members of all ages annually, the Los Angeles Master Chorale also provides education outreach to approximately 6,000 children each year. In 2008, the Chorale’s highly successful outreach program “Voices Within” earned the coveted Chorus America Education Outreach Award.

GRANT GERSHON was named Music Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale in 2001 and also serves as LA Opera Associate Conductor/Chorus Master. The Los Angeles Times proclaims that the Chorale "has become the most exciting chorus in the country under Grant Gershon." During his tenure with the Chorale he has led over 75 performances at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, including virtually all of the major choral works. Also well known as a champion of new music, Gershon has led world premiere performances of works by Louis Andriessen, Christopher Rouse, Meredith Monk, Steve Reich, and Chinary Ung among many others. His discography includes two Grammy Award-nominated recordings: Sweeney Todd (New York Philharmonic Special Editions) and Ligeti’s Grand Macabre (Sony Classical); as well as four CDs with the Chorale: Glass-Salonen (RCM), You Are (Variations) (Nonesuch), Daniel Variations (Nonesuch), and A Good Understanding (Decca), which the Chorale recorded in Disney Hall in June for release later this season. In New York he has appeared on the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center and on the Making Music series at Zankel Hall. Other major appearances include performances at the Ravinia, Aspen, Edinburgh, Helsinki and Vienna Festivals. He has worked closely with many leading conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Gustavo Dudamel, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Simon Rattle and Esa-Pekka Salonen. In 2007, Gershon conducted the Minnesota Opera’s world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s opera The Grapes of Wrath, which was recorded live for PS Classics. In 2008, he made his highly acclaimed Los Angeles Opera debut leading eight performances of Verdi’s La Traviata. In September 2010. This fall he conducted LA Opera’s critically acclaimed production of Daniel Catán’s Il Postino featuring Plácido Domingo, and he will make his Santa Fe Opera debut in 2011, conducting Peter Sellars’ new production of Vivaldi’s Griselda. Gershon was named Outstanding Alumnus of the USC Thornton School of Music and is a member of the Board of Advisors for the Thornton School and the Board of Directors of Chorus America.

As a virtuoso whose natural flair is matched by a probing intellect, violinist JENNIFER KOH is committed to exploring connections between the pieces she plays, searching for similarities of voice between different composers, as well as within the works of a single composer. Since she came to international attention in 1994 as winner of the top prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition, Koh has gone on to perform as guest soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, National Symphony of Washington, D.C., the Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, the Moscow Radio Symphony, and the Helsinki and Czech Philharmonics. A prolific recitalist, Koh appears frequently at major music centers and festivals including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Marlboro, Wolf Trap, Spoleto, and The Festival International de Lanaudiere in Canada. She regularly records for the American Cedille label and her most recently released recording “String Poetic” was nominated for a Grammy in 2009. Born in Chicago of Korean parents, Koh currently resides in New York City. She is a graduate of Oberlin College and an alumna of the Curtis Institute, where she worked extensively with Jaime Laredo and Felix Galimir.

Artists, program and ticket prices subject to change.

03/27/11