Los Angeles Master Chorale Has Announced Their 2020-21 Season

The Los Angeles Master Chorale, led by Grant Gershon, Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director, today announced its 2020-21 season that showcases the immense power of voices united in song, including monumental testaments to the power of music by Bach, Haydn, and Handel; an exploration of American music; and a program that features newly appointed Swan Family Artist-in-Residence Reena Esmail's inspiring I Rise: Women in Song. This is a season that opens hearts to the glory of singing and celebrates the expression of spirituality through music.

"From our earliest days to modern times, our single greatest unifying force has been the power of our collective voices," says Gershon. "The Los Angeles Master Chorale's 2020-21 season showcases the breadth and impact of the choral repertoire, from the most famous classics to essential contemporary works by today's composers, including our new Swan Family Artist-in-Residence, Reena Esmail. This season offers the opportunity for everyone, whether a first time concert-goer or seasoned patron, to enjoy the versatility of the Master Chorale, and to share our universal connectedness through music."

"The Los Angeles Master Chorale's expansive artistry is truly on display this season, as we present choral masterworks alongside modern expressions that reflect the world today." says Davidson. "We are especially thrilled to welcome composer Reena Esmail to the Master Chorale family as our new and first female Swan Family Artist-in-Residence. Reena is an inspiration, and the Master Chorale's performance of her beautiful work, I Rise: Women in Song, marks the beginning of what will be a very fruitful collaboration."

The Los Angeles Master Chorale begins its 2020-21 season with Haydn's grand oratorio, The Creation, depicting the biblical creation story with texts from Genesis and Paradise Lost. The mysterious opening notes represent the universe before time itself, and what follows is some of Haydn's most beautiful and dramatic music. It all adds up to what Gershon calls "one of the most joyous and literally life-affirming works ever written."

Says Rick Phillips of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir: "The Creation was composed at a time when most people were creationists, before advances in science had presented a credible alternative to the biblical explanation of our roots. As a result, the oratorio is occasionally criticized today for its dated, naïve and simplistic view of the world. But Haydn's genius emerges in how he depicts in music the simple, awestruck wonders of God and Nature. Haydn had a great theatrical sense, with the ability to colour and animate subjects in music, and in no work is this more evident than in The Creation."

The Master Chorale's Lo, How a Rose concert pays tribute to the classic Renaissance Christmas carol by Michael Praetorius, a piece that depicts with delicate grace the beauty and comfort of the nativity. Among several gorgeous arrangements of this carol will be a version by composer Shawn Kirchner, who updates the sound while amplifying the carol's underlying message. The concert also features an interpretation by Argentine composer Ariel Ramirez and new commissions by Los Angeles-based Filipino composer Saunder Choi and American composer Dale Trumbore.

Two distinctive settings of sacred texts show the variety of the spiritual experience that can be expressed through music. Handel's Dixit Dominus, one of the composer's earliest works, is full of vocal fireworks and virtuosity reflecting the composer's youthful passion. Arvo Pärt's Te Deum, based on an early Christian hymn from the late 4th century BCE, is music of profound humility and faith, conveying inner peace through the resonance of the human voice. Gershon notes this is his "single favorite piece of Pärt," and was last performed by the Master Chorale on June 3, 2007.

Guest conductor Rollo Dilworth leads United We Sing, a program that showcases the breadth and vitality of the many shared cultures that make America what it is today. Dilworth, one of choral music's most dynamic leaders, returns to the Master Chorale after appearing as guest conductor in 2018's Big Sing California, the biggest choral event in California history.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale's Associate Conductor, Jenny Wong, leads Reena Esmail's I Rise: Women in Song, which pays tribute to Emily Dickinson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Maya Angelou and Arlene Geller; and James MacMillan's Stabat Mater which received its US premiere at the 2019 Lincoln Center White Light Festival in November, and was the first piece to have been live streamed from the Sistine Chapel. Reena Esmail, the Master Chorale's newly appointed Swan Family Artist-in-Residence, comments: "Each of the movements of I Rise: Women in Song is inspired by the words of a female author who has shaped our world with her thoughts and actions. Some of the movements are sweet, subtle, and nostalgic. Others are fiery and bold. Some coalesce into their shape as they move along, and others unravel towards their ends. Each movement is a reflection on a single facet of the multifaceted experience of being a woman in this world."

The B-minor Mass is a monumental testament to Bach's artistry; its sheer power astounds us, and its beauty brings us to tears. Bach spent his final years composing and compiling a lifetime's worth of his most powerful music into this single work-it's a kind of greatest-hits mass-that today is regarded as what Robert Shaw called "the most remarkable musical allegory of human existence-its pain, aspiration and promises." Gershon notes that this is "the greatest choral piece there is." This performance will feature the Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, "Southern California's most important early music ensemble" (Los Angeles Times).

LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE

2020-21 SEASON IN Walt Disney CONCERT HALL

HAYDN'S CREATION

Sunday, October 18, 2020 - 7 pm

Haydn | Die Schöpfung (The Creation)

Grant Gershon, conductor

Sarah Shafer, soprano

Arnold Livingston Geis, tenor

Justin Hopkins, bass

100 voices, orchestra

HANDEL/PÄRT

Saturday, November 14, 2020 - 2 pm

Sunday, November 15, 2020 - 7 pm

Handel | Dixit Dominus

Arvo Pärt | Te Deum

Grant Gershon, conductor

48 voices, Baroque orchestra

FESTIVAL OF CAROLS

Saturday, December 5 - 2 pm

Saturday, December 12 - 2 pm

From the most spectacular arrangements of traditional carols to today's favorites, Festival of Carols is a delight for all ages.

Grant Gershon, conductor

80 singers, piano, organ

LO, HOW A ROSE

Sunday, December 6 - 7 pm

Music by Abbie Betinis, Shawn Kirchner, Rosephanye Powell, Michael Praetorius, Ariel Ramirez, Elinor Remick Warren, and Judith Weir, and premieres of commissions by Saunder Choi and Dale Trumbore

Grant Gershon, conductor

62 singers, organ, piano, saxophone

This program is made possible with generous support from the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.

HANDEL'S MESSIAH

Sunday, December 20 - 7 pm

It's so much more than the Hallelujah chorus. Almost three centuries since its debut, Messiah still "strikes like a thunderbolt," as Mozart put it. Hear it like never before with the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

Grant Gershon, conductor

48 singers, chamber orchestra, soloists

40th ANNUAL MESSIAH SING-ALONG

Monday, December 21, 2020 - 7:30 pm

Be part of this highly anticipated holiday tradition at the Los Angeles Master Chorale and join the ensemble in singing Messiah in Walt Disney Concert Hall. With a VIP ticket, you'll be able to be a part of the action on stage. You may bring your own score or purchase one in the lobby.

Grant Gershon, conductor

The audience is the chorus, chamber orchestra, soloists

UNITED WE SING

Sunday, January 31, 2021 - 7 pm

Music by Brent Michael David, Rollo Dilworth, Melissa Dunphy, Sidney Guillaume, Rafael Hernández, Al McNeil, Alice Parker, Mary Lou Williams

Rollo Dilworth, conductor

100 singers, piano, percussion

This program is made possible with generous support from the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.

I RISE

Sunday, March 14, 2021 - 7 pm

MacMillan | Stabat Mater

Esmail | I Rise: Women in Song

Jenny Wong, conductor

48 singers, string orchestra

This program is made possible with generous support from the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.

BACH'S B-MINOR MASS

Saturday, May 8, 2021 - 2 pm

Sunday, May 9, 2021 - 7 pm

Bach | Mass in B Minor

Grant Gershon, conductor

Nicholas Phan, tenor

Other soloists TBA

48 singers, soloists, with Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra

2020-21 SUBSCRIPTION TICKET INFORMATION

Subscriptions for the 2020-21 season start at $117 and are available now by phone, 213-972-7282, or online at lamasterchorale.org/subscribe. Single tickets will be available in August 2020.

All programs, artists and dates are subject to change.

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC ENGAGEMENTS

2020

Nov. 19-22

Adams | Nixon in China
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor

Dec. 18-20

Bach | Jauchzet, frohlocket from the Christmas Oratorio

Bach | Cantata No. 6 from the Christmas Oratorio
Ton Koopman, conductor

2021

Jan. 7-10

Berlioz | Romeo and Juliet

Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor

Feb. 26-28

Adams | Girls of the Golden West

John Adams, conductor

Mar. 25-28

Rachmaninoff | The Bells

Gustavo Dudamel, conductor

Apr. 1-3

Verdi | Four Sacred Pieces

Gustavo Dudamel, conductor

At the Hollywood Bowl:

Jul. 7

Orff | Carmina Burana

Gustavo Dudamel, conductor

Jul. 14

Beethoven | "O welche Lust" (Prisoners' Chorus) from Fidelio

Beethoven | Choral Fantasy

Paolo Bortolameolli, conductor