Los Angeles Children’s Chorus Launches Two-Week Tour to the British Isles with Free Send-Off Concert
Performances to include ten engagements across Northern Ireland, Ireland, England, and Wales.
By: A.A. Cristi Jun. 04, 2025
Grammy Award-winning Los Angeles Children’s Chorus (LACC) is headed overseas this summer with a two-week concert tour across the British Isles, featuring ten performances in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, England, and Wales from June 29 to July 11, 2025.
The tour will feature three of LACC’s acclaimed ensembles: the Concert Choir and Chamber Singers for treble voices, under the direction of Artistic Director Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, and the Young Men’s Ensemble for singers with changing voices, led by Dr. Steven Kronauer. In total, 101 choristers will share their music with international audiences.
To kick off the journey, LACC invites the public to a free send-off concert on Friday, June 27 at 7:00 PM at Pasadena Presbyterian Church. The program will feature highlights from the repertoire that each choir will perform individually and together on tour. Seating is first come, first served. The church is located at 585 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. For more information, visit www.lachildrenschorus.org or call (626) 793-4231.
The British Isles tour begins in Belfast at St. Mark’s Church, Dundela, where famed author C.S. Lewis was baptized. The next stop is Dalkey, near Dublin, for a concert at the historic Church of the Assumption, a Gothic Revival gem built in 1841. In between, LACC’s Chamber Singers will be featured at an Independence Day VIP reception hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Dublin.
In England, the choir will perform at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, one of the world’s foremost pediatric medical centers, followed by concerts at the Old Royal Naval College Chapel in Greenwich, London, and Wesley Memorial Methodist Church in Oxford, a city steeped in academic tradition.
The tour culminates in Wales, where LACC will appear in four performances as part of the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, a six-day global arts festival featuring more than 5,000 performers from around 50 countries. LACC will take part in three performances on July 9, with its final concert on the Oakleigh Stage on July 10. Past festival performers include Luciano Pavarotti, James Galway, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
The Concert Choir’s tour selections include Weep No More by David N. Childs, Laudate Pueri by Felix Mendelssohn, the Japanese children’s song Hotaru Koi, Gloria from György Orbán’s Mass No. 6, and Love is Love is Love is Love by Abbie Betinis. The Chamber Singers will perform a range of music including Apple Tree by Aurora Aksnes, Odd Martin Skålnes, and Magnus Skylstad, Congratulamini Mihi Omnes by Jacob Handl, Lauda Sion by Orbán, Mountain Nights by Zoltán Kodály, and Sigue by Ivette Herryman.
The Young Men’s Ensemble will present traditional folk songs from America and the British Isles, such as Danny Boy, Dear Old Ireland, Loch Lomond, Myfanwy, Shenandoah, The Star of County Down, and Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho. Other selections include Ruach Elohim by Lisa Levine, Si tu supieras by Emilio Grenet, How Can I Keep From Singing? arranged by Gwyneth Walker, Journey Home by pianist and ensemble member Dr. Joshua Tan, O Sole Mio / Funiculi Funicula by Ernesto di Capua and Luigi Denza, O Welche Lust from Beethoven’s Fidelio, and Skye Boat Song by A.C. Macleod.
All three choirs will unite their voices for works such as Cantique de Jean Racine by Gabriel Fauré, a soulful arrangement of Hallelujah from Handel’s Messiah: A Soulful Celebration, City Called Heaven arranged by Josephine Poelinitz, El Grillo by Joaquin des Prez, and Il bianco e dolce cigno by Jacques Arcadelt.
Founded in 1986, Los Angeles Children’s Chorus is internationally recognized as one of the finest youth choral organizations in the world. LACC, under the leadership of Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, performs more than 50 times annually and collaborates with premier arts institutions including LA Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and Pasadena Symphony and POPS. The ensemble received a 2022 Grammy Award for its role in the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.
LACC’s young singers, ages 6–18, come from over 40 communities across Southern California, and the organization reaches more than 500 students each year through seven choirs and introductory singing programs. The chorus is also known for high-profile appearances in film, television, and recordings, and has toured in more than 20 countries on six continents. The organization is the proud recipient of Chorus America’s Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence, the highest national honor for a youth chorus.
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