JPL Chorus JOins Donald Brinegar Singers in Concert at Pasadena City College Tonight

Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory may be best known for its unparalleled scientific endeavors such as landing the Curiosity Rover on the surface of Mars, but tonight, January 7, another side of the organization will be on display. The JPL Chorus joins the Donald Brinegar Singers for a choral celebration of winter with Epiphany. This free concert takes place at Pasadena City College's Westerbeck Recital Hall at 8pm.

The chorus is comprised of nearly fifty employees coming from a wide variety of roles within JPL, including scientists, engineers, administrators, software, business people, and more. They rehearse each week, trading lab coats for chorus folders. The JPL Chorus debuted last year, and performed with the Pasadena POPS in their highly-acclaimed summer concert series at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden.

Sharing the stage with the JPL Chorus will be Pasadena City College's Donald Brinegar Singers. The Donald Brinegar singers have recorded more than ten CDs and received nominations for seven GRAMMY first-ballot awards.

Epiphany, a Choral Celebration of Winter will feature the Pasadena Symphony Association's JPL Chorus and the Donald Brinegar Singers on Tuesday, January 7 at 8:00 p.m., Pasadena City College, 1570 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, Calif. Cost: Free. For additional information, contact the Pasadena Symphony Association at 626.793.7172 or online at PasadenaSymphony-Pops.org.

PROGRAM:

The JPL Chorus

Donald Brinegar, conductor

Christmas Hymn..................................................................................... Arr. Hugo Jüngst

Love Be Ours.......................................................................................... William M. Owen, Jr.*

What Child is This................................................................................... arr. Todd J. Barber

Todd J. Barber, piano Jennifer Kennedy, flute

Fum, Fum, Fum....................................................................................... arr. Alice Parker

Still, Still, Still.......................................................................................... Norman Luboff

O Holy Night........................................................................................... arr. Todd J. Barber*

Nancy Holland, conductor

*Featured composer and arrangers, William M Owen, Jr. and Todd J. Barber are JPL employees and chorus members. Mr. Owen, Supervisor, Optical Navigation Group/Mission Design and Navigation Section, has been with JPL 33 years and served on navigation teams for Voyager, Galileo, NEAR, Cassini, Deep Impact, Stardust/NExT, EPOXI, and New Horizons. Mr. Barber, Senior Propulsion Engineer, has been with JPL 22 years, and has worked on mission operations for Galileo, Cassini, Deep Space One, Deep Impact, MER, and MSL. He has a B.S. and M.S. degrees, with a humanities concentration in music, all from MIT. His published worked are "What Child is This" with Augsburg and "O Holy Night" with Morning Star.

The Donald Brinegar Singers

Allen Andrews, piano

O Magnum Mysterium............................................................................ Morten Lauridsen

Away in a Manger................................................................................... arr. Grant Cooper

Lullaby.................................................................................................... Ralph Vaughan Williams

There is No Rose..................................................................................... William Mathias

Combined Choirs

Caroling Sequence

Ding Dong Merrily on High............................................................ trad. French Carol

Dormi Jesu..................................................................................... Edmund Rubbra

Lullay My Liking........................................................................... Gustav Holst

Coventry Carol........................................................................................ J. Edmund Hughes

Peace, Peace............................................................................................ Fred Bock

Kimberly Shepard and Kimberly Lievense, soloists

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Donald Brinegar is Professor of Music, Coordinator of the Music Department and Director of Choral Studies at Pasadena City College and adjunct Professor of Graduate Choral Conducting at the University of Southern California. He directs the Three Summer Masters in Choral Conducting at CSULA where over one hundred graduate conducting students from seven countries and twenty-one states have studied with Brinegar in the last ten years.

He has a distinguished career as a tenor soloist, conductor, educator and clinician. His ensemble, the Donald Brinegar Singers, has sung to critical acclaim internationally and has over ten compact discs to their credit. They were nominated for seven Grammy first-ballot awards in their highly acclaimed performances of Morten Lauridsen's Madrigali and Ubi caritas.

He has prepared choruses for performances in the Hollywood Bowl, Disney Hall, Ambassador Auditorium, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Pasadena Auditorium with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Pasadena Pops Orchestra and the California Philharmonic. He has been a tenor soloist for Robert Shaw, Roger Wagner, Helmuth Rilling, Gerard Schwarz and Murry Sidlin to name a few and has collaborated with Henry Mancini, Barry Manilow, the Chieftains, and Marvin Hamlish.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Pasadena Symphony and POPS: Are proud to present the JPL Chorus, led by Donald Brinegar, Director of Choruses at the Pasadena Symphony and POPS. The JPL Chorus represents The Combined efforts of two of Pasadena's oldest and most vibrant institutions to serve the community through art, education, and science. Once a week, the minds behind a world leader in science and technology meet to share a love of music, performance and community. The JPL Chorus performs several times throughout the year, often free of charge, as a part of both organization's dedication to enhancing the community of Pasadena and beyond.

JPL, operated by Caltech for NASA, is the world leading laboratory in exploring the Solar System, Earth System, and the Cosmos.

Pasadena Symphony and POPS: Formed in 1928, the Pasadena Symphony and POPS is an ensemble of Hollywood's most talented, sought after musicians. With extensive credits in the film, television, recording and orchestral industry, the artists of Pasadena Symphony and POPS are the most heard in the world.

The Pasadena Symphony and POPS performs in two of the most extraordinary venues in the United States: Ambassador Auditorium, known as the Carnegie Hall of the West, and the luxuriant Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Internationally recognized, Grammy-nominated conductor, David Lockington, serves as the Pasadena Symphony Association's Music Director, with performance-practice specialist Nicholas McGegan serving as Principal Guest Conductor. The multi-platinum-selling, two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy Award-nominated entertainer dubbed "The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook," Michael Feinstein, is the Principal Pops Conductor, who succeeded Marvin Hamlisch in the newly created Marvin Hamlisch Chair.

A hallmark of its robust education programs, the Pasadena Symphony Association has served the youth of the region for over five decades through the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Pasadena Young Musicians Orchestra comprised of more than 250 gifted students from more than 50 schools all over the Southern California. The Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestra often performs on the popular television show GLEE.

The PSA provides people from all walks of life with powerful access points to the world of symphonic music.