Sunday, August 14, 2022, 5:00 pm
at Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa
Presented in Association with Segerstrom Center for the Arts,
Concert is Free, But Tickets Are Required
Performance Features 265-Voice Community-Based Festival Chorus
Comprising 178 Singers from 66 Cities in 7 States,
Representing 113 Community Choruses,
Joined by 72 Pacific Chorale Members and 15 Alumni
COSTA MESA, CA – Pacific Chorale, the Grammy-winning resident choir at Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts, presents a free community Choral Festival concert, conducted by Artistic Director Robert Istad, on Sunday, August 14, 2022, 5 pm, at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa. The concert offers the opportunity for the public to experience the power of choral music in one of the country’s foremost music venues. The 265-voice Festival Chorus, comprised of singers from across the Southland and beyond, will be joined by soprano Rebecca Hasquet, baritone Jared Daniel Jones, organist Jung-A Lee, and pianist David Clemensen. Pacific Chorale’s Choral Festival is presented in association with Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The event is free, but tickets are required and are available on a first come first served basis at pacificchorale.org.
The program features three luminous works by National Medal of Arts recipient Morten Lauridsen, hailed as an “American Choral Master” by the National Endowment for the Arts and the most frequently performed American choral composer in modern history. They include Lux Aeterna, composed in 1997, which reveals Lauridsen’s mastery of conveying through music the profound depth of human emotion. Also featured are Two Songs on American Poems — Prayer (On a Poem by Dana Gioia) and “Sure on This Shining Night” from Nocturnes, a setting of James Agee’s poem. Lauridsen states, “Prayer was written in memory of Michael Jasper Gioia, Dana and Mary Gioia’s infant son, whose brief life was tragically ended by SIDS.” The concert opens with “Hommage à Lauridsen,” an organ prelude improvisation inspired by Lauridsen, composed and performed by Jung-A Lee.
“We are delighted to throw open our doors to the public to showcase the Pacific Chorale Festival Chorus,” says Istad. “It provides a vital opportunity for Pacific Chorale to engage with the broader community in an impactful way to share the power and artistry of the human voice raised in song. We welcome people of all ages to the concert hall, especially those who may not have previously had the opportunity to hear live music in the extraordinary Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.”
This marks Pacific Chorale’s 14th annual Choral Festival, which returns after a two-year hiatus due to the global pandemic. It features a two-day choral workshop for community-based choirs led by Istad culminating with the performance. The 2022 Festival Chorus comprises 178 community singers hailing from 66 cities in 7 states, representing 113 community choruses, church choirs, and schools. Of this year’s participants, 117 have sung in multiple festivals, and 13 singers have performed in the community-based Festival Chorus each year since its inception. For the performance, the singers will be joined onstage by 72 Pacific Chorale members and 15 alumni.
Pacific Chorale’s 2022-23 Season is made possible by generous support from Platinum Season Sponsor Phillip N. and Mary A. Lyons, and Silver Season Sponsor Charles and Ling Zhang.
The concert is free but tickets are required. The Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall is located at 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. To reserve tickets and for information, visit www.pacificchorale.org or call 714-662-2345.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
ROBERT ISTAD, a Grammy Award-winning conductor who “fashions fluent and sumptuous readings” (Voice of OC) with his “phenomenal” artistry (Los Angeles Times), was appointed Pacific Chorale’s Artistic Director in 2017. Under his leadership, the chorus continues to expand its reputation for excellence for delivering fresh, thought-provoking interpretations of beloved masterworks, rarely performed gems and newly commissioned pieces. His artistic impact can be heard on two recent recordings featuring Pacific Chorale, including the 2020 Grammy Award-winning “Mahler’s Eighth Symphony” with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel on Deutsche Grammophon (2021), for which he prepared the chorus. It won Best Choral Performance and also garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album, Classical. Additionally, Istad conducted the Pacific Chorale’s recording “All Things Common: The Music of Tarik O’Regan” released on Yarlung Records (2020). Istad has prepared choruses for such renowned conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Williams, John Mauceri, Keith Lockhart, Nicholas McGegan, Vasilly Sinaisky, Sir Andrew Davis, Bramwell Tovey, Carl St.Clair, Eugene Kohn, Giancarlo Guerrero, Marin Alsop, George Fenton, and Robert Moody. He regularly conducts and collaborates with Pacific Symphony, Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, Sony Classical Records, Yarlung Records, Berkshire Choral International, and Long Beach Symphony Orchestra. An esteemed educator, Istad is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at California State University, Fullerton, where he was recognized as CSUF’s 2016 Outstanding Professor of the Year. He conducts the University Singers and manages a large graduate conducting program, in addition to teaching courses on conducting and performance practice. Istad, who is on the Executive Board of Directors of Chorus America and serves as Dean of Chorus America’s Conducting Academy, is in demand as guest conductor, lecturer, and clinician.
PACIFIC CHORALE, a Grammy Award-winning Orange County “treasure” with a “fresh viewpoint” that “can sing anything you put in front of it, with polish, poise and tonal splendor” (Orange County Register) has “risen to national prominence” (Los Angeles Times) since its inception in 1968. Hailed for delivering “thrilling entertainment” (Voice of OC), the resident choir at Segerstrom Center for the Arts is noted for its artistic innovation and commitment to expanding the choral repertoire. It has given the world, U.S., and West Coast premieres of more than 35 works, including numerous commissions, by such lauded composers as John Adams, Jake Heggie, James Hopkins, David Lang, Morten Lauridsen, Ravel, Tarik O’Regan, Karen Thomas, Frank Ticheli, András Gábor Virágh, and Eric Whitacre. In addition to presenting its own concert series each season, Pacific Chorale enjoys a long-standing partnership with Pacific Symphony, with whom the choir made its highly anticipated Carnegie Hall debut in 2018. The chorus also regularly appears with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with which it won the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance as well as a Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album, Classical, for its contribution to the live classical recording of “Mahler: Symphony No. 8, ‘Symphony of A Thousand,’” conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, featuring Leah Crocetto, Mihoko Fujimura, Ryan McKinny, Erin Morley, Tamara Mumford, Simon O’Neill, Morris Robinson and Tamara Wilson; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, Los Angeles Master Chorale, National Children’s Chorus and Pacific Chorale. The choir has performed with such leading orchestras as the Boston Symphony, National Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and Musica Angelica, among others. Pacific Chorale has garnered international acclaim as well, having toured extensively to more than 19 countries in Europe, South America, and Asia, and through collaborations with the London Symphony, Munich Symphony, L’Orchestre Lamoureux and L’Orchestre de St-Louis-en-l’Île of Paris, National Orchestra of Belgium, China National Symphony, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Estonian National Symphony, and Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Argentina, among others. Deeply committed to making choral music accessible to people of all ages, the organization, which has a discography of 14 self-produced recordings and an extensive collection of exceptional free digital offerings, places a significant emphasis on choral music education, providing after-school vocal programs for elementary school students, a choral summer camp for high school students, and an annual community-wide singing event at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. www.pacificchorale.org
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