Works by Whitacre & Part to Close LA Master Chorale Season, 5/16-17

The Los Angeles Master Chorale wraps its 51st season with a compelling program showcasing the boundless harmonic imaginations of American composer Eric Whitacre, a noted pioneer who has embraced the artistic potential of social media, and the music of Estonian "mystic minimalist" Arvo Pärt, celebrated for his beautifully sensuous and reflective chant-like compositions, on Saturday, May 16, 2 pm, and Sunday, May 17, 2015, at 7 pm, at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Accompanied by piano and featuring Szymon Grab on Disney Hall's iconic pipe organ, the 115-voice Chorale, led by Artistic Director Grant Gershon, performs Whitacre's Lux Aurumque, Cloudburst, Sleep, Water Night, The City and the Sea, and Sainte Chapelle. Gershon also conducts Pärt's Morning Star, Missa Syllabica, Cantate Domino, Veni Creator, and The Beatitudes.

"No one writes more beautifully and more soulfully for voices than Arvo Pärt and Eric Whitacre, two composers who the LA Master Chorale has championed in recent years," explains Gershon. "We end the season as we began, with music of today that resonates with timelessness."

Whitacre, who grew up in Nevada with no formal music training before college, exploded onto the choral music scene in the new millennium with the release of his internationally acclaimed album Cloudburst. As a pioneer who embraced the artistic potential of social media, Whitacre has created a phenomenon with his Virtual Choir series, layering audio from thousands of singers around the world into ecstatic online choral performances. Pärt, raised in Estonia behind the Soviet Iron Curtain, developed his own pure musical style: a reflective, chant-like approach to compositions he calls "tintinnabuli," more popularly referred to as "mystic minimalism."

Tickets range from $29 - $129. Group rates are available. 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.

GRANT GERSHON is currently in his 14th season as the Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and also serves as Resident Conductor of LA Opera. The Los Angeles Times declares that the Chorale "has become the most exciting chorus in the country under Grant Gershon" and Opera News proclaims him "a first-rate conductor." During his tenure with the Chorale, he has led more than 100 performances at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, including virtually all of the major works in the choral repertoire. A champion of new music as well, Mr. Gershon has led world premiere performances of major works by John Adams, Esa-Pekka Salonen, David Lang, Louis Andriessen, Christopher Rouse, Steve Reich, Morten Lauridsen, Ricky Ian Gordon, Gabriela Lena Frank 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); five commercial CDs with the Chorale: Glass-Salonen (RCM), You Are (Variations) (Nonesuch), Daniel Variations (Nonesuch), A Good Understanding (Decca), and Miserere (Decca); and a digital recording featuring some of the Chorale's signature a cappella works available online-only at LAMC.org, iTunes and Amazon.com.

Giving a voice to Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Grammy-nominated LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE is led by Artistic Director Grant Gershon. Proclaimed "the nation's most pioneering major chorus" (Los Angeles Times), it has also been hailed as "inspired" (The New York Times), "magnificent" (Chicago Tribune) and "a superb vocal ensemble" (The New York Observer). The Chorale is currently in its 51st season as a resident company of The Music Center of Los Angeles County and its 12th as the resident chorus at Disney Hall. Presenting its own concert series each season, it performs choral music from the earliest writings to the most recent contemporary compositions. To date, the choir has commissioned 45 and premiered 92 new works, of which 62 were world premieres, and has been awarded three ASCAP/Chorus America Awards for Adventurous Programming as well as Chorus America's prestigious Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence. The Chorale has performed in more than 300 concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at both Disney Hall and the Hollywood Bowl, and has toured with the orchestra to Europe and New York City. It has also appeared at the Ojai Music Festival, the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center, the Ravinia Festival and the Overture Center in Madison, Wisconsin, as well as in leading venues throughout the Southland. Its discography includes five commercial CDs under Gershon's baton. The latest, released in 2012 on Decca, features three works by Polish composer Henryk Górecki. In addition, in 2013, as part of its 50th anniversary season celebration, the Chorale released a digital recording featuring signature a cappella works available online-only at LAMC.org, iTunes and Amazon.com. LAMC previously released three CDs under former Music Director 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 Lady in the Water and License to Wed. Serving more than 30,000 audience members of all ages annually, the Los Angeles Master Chorale also provides education outreach to 6,000 students each year.

Photo by Steve Cohn