Los Angeles Master Chorale Opens 49th Season with Organ and Choral Extravaganza October 21, 2012

The Los Angeles Master Chorale launches the 2012|13 season, its 49th, on Sunday, October 21, 2012, 7 p.m., at Walt Disney Concert Hall, with a sublime organ and choral music extravaganza led by Music Director Grant Gershon that showcases the majesty and power of the venue’s iconic pipe organ. Special guests include organists Paul Meier and Kimo Smith and the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, under the direction of Anne Tomlinson.

The program features two West Coast premieres – Nico Muhly’s choral tapestry, A Good Understanding, performed with the Los Angeles Children's Chorus, and Judith Weir’s Ascending Into Heaven, a soaring journey into the clouds. In addition, Gershon conducts a second Muhly piece, Bright Mass with Canons, which received its West Coast premiere by the Chorale in 2010. Both Muhly works are featured on the Chorale’s CD A Good Understanding recorded in Disney Hall and released to tremendous critical acclaim by Decca in 2010.

The repertoire also includes mystic Arvo Pärt’s The Beatitudes, Tarik O’Regan’s Dorchester Canticles, Kurt Weill’s Kiddush, Gerald Finzi’s gloriously thundering God Is Gone Up, and Sr. David Willcocks’ Psalm 150 performed by the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus (LACC) and conducted by Tomlinson. A pair of royal anthems rounds out the concert – British composer Hubert Parry’s I Was Glad, conducted by LAMC Associate Conductor Lesley Leighton, as well as noted contemporary Welsh composer Paul Mealor’s Ubi caritas, composed for the April 2011 nuptials of His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales and Kate Middleton. The Telegraph proclaimed Meaolor’s motet “the real hit of the Royal wedding music.”

Gershon, KUSC’s Brian Lauritzen and composer Paul Mealor participate in Listen Up!, the pre-concert talk at 6 pm. For the 20th consecutive year, BNY Mellon is sponsoring a post-concert gala, which will be held in BP Hall, with entertainment provided by the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Tony Award-winning composer/pianist/playwright Jason Robert Brown.

Tickets range from $29 - $134. Group rates are available. Gala tickets are $500 per person (concert ticket is separate). For tickets and information, please call (213) 972-7282, or visit www.lamc.org. (Tickets cannot be purchased at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office except on concert days starting 2 hours prior to the performance.) The Walt Disney Concert Hall is located at 111 South Grand Avenue at First Street in downtown Los Angeles.

Official Website: http://www.lamc.org