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LOS ANGELES CHILDREN’S CHORUS ANNUAL WINTER CONCERT
FEATURES VIBRANT MIX OF CLASSICAL, FOLK AND CONTEMPORARY WORKS
FROM LATIN AMERICA, SPAIN AND CALIFORNIA

Sunday, December 6 and Sunday, December 13, 7:00 P.M.,
at Pasadena Presbyterian Church

(Pasadena, CA) November 25, 2009 – Los Angeles Children’s Chorus (LACC) presents a vibrant mix of classical, folk and contemporary works from Mexico, Spain, Venezuela, China and California at its popular annual Winter Concert on Sunday, December 6 and Sunday, December 13, 2009, 7:00 P.M., at Pasadena Presbyterian Church.

LACC Artistic Director Anne Tomlinson conducts the chorus’s renowned Concert Choir and Chamber Singers. Associate Artistic Director Mandy Brigham leads the Intermediate Choir and Assistant Artistic Director Amy Brehm leads the Apprentice Choir. The choirs will perform separately and combined.

The program begins with Cuncti Simus, a 15th Century Latin work from the Montserrat monastery in Spain that tells of the coming of the birth of Christ in a dance-like setting. Playing on the work’s setting, student dancer Margo Heston serves as a terpsichorean pied piper, leading the choir into the venue, where the singers will surround the audience and envelop it in sound. The work features soloists, small ensembles, choirs and instruments.

Other pieces include James Mulholland's spirited Come Let's Be Merry on an anonymous 17th Century text that heralds the season, Rachmaninoff's The Angel, set to a poem by Mikhail Lermontov, and John Adams’ haunting lullaby from El Nino entitled "A Palm Tree" with choreography by Peter Sellars.

The choir also performs Winter by Zhou Long, an internationally acclaimed composer noted for blending ancient Chinese musical traditional with modern Western instruments and ensembles. The multi-tonal piece, in which the choir sings in both A Major and A Minor simultaneously, features a student reading a portion of the poem upon which the text is based. The program continues with David Conte's lively Alleluia; Lullaby, written in 1977 for treble choir and organ by noted American composer Henry Mollicone; and Michael Haydn's Dixit Dominus, set to Psalm 110, featuring strings and LACC soloists Rachel Anacker, Ivy Beech and Caroline Olsen.

Concluding the concert are Brahms' Sonntag, an art song speaking of young love; the 16th Century Spanish Villancico Riu, riu chiu, made famous by Chanticleer; and the spiritual Go Where I Send Thee, which recounts various Biblical stories, each written in a different key.

About Los Angeles Children’s Chorus
Los Angeles Children’s Chorus – described as “astonishingly polished,” “hauntingly beautiful,” “a homogenous blanket of sound that is smooth, silky” and “one heck of a talented group of kids” – is recognized throughout the country for its exceptional artistic quality and technical ability. Under Artistic Director Anne Tomlinson, LACC is recognized throughout the country for its exceptional artistic quality and technical ability. Founded in 1986, LACC performs frequently with leading music ensembles including the LA Phil, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Calder Quartet and Pasadena Symphony. LACC also assists Los Angeles Opera by training and providing children for its opera productions that require children’s chorus or child soloists. The Chorus’ roster includes more than 350 children aged 6-18 from 60 communities across Los Angeles in six choirs and a program of “First Experiences in Singing” classes for young singers. LACC’s intensive training program includes weekly or twice weekly rehearsals, individual vocal coaching and comprehensive musicianship classes. LACC has toured Brazil, Great Britain, Italy, Australia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, as well as many parts of the United States and Canada. In 2008, Concert Choir performed at the China International Arts Celebration for Young People during its tour to China prior to the Beijing summer Olympics. Among its numerous accomplishments, LACC produced a commissioned world-premiere opera, Keepers of the Night, by composer Peter Ash and librettist Donald Sturrock in 2007 and appears on "Amore Infinito" ("Infinite Love"), a Deutsche Grammophon CD of songs based on poems by the late Pope John Paul II and performed by Pl·cido Domingo, which was released worldwide in March 2009. LACC is also featured in the Academy Award-nominated documentary, “Sing!” and sequel documentary “Sing Opera!” by award-winning Santa Monica filmmakers Freida Lee Mock and Jessica Sanders. “Sing!” documents a year in the life of the choir and is shown frequently on PBS stations nationwide. “Sing China!,” a third documentary premiering in fall 2009, chronicles the choir’s groundbreaking tour to China. LACC has appeared twice on NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” including, in June 2009, with Grammy Award-winning pop artist John Mayer, and was featured on Public Radio International’s acclaimed nationally syndicated radio show “From the Top,” hosted by acclaimed pianist Christopher O’Riley. On a local outreach level, LACC continues its long-standing commitment to the community by performing frequently in retirement homes, community centers and public schools, and for various civic organizations throughout the year.

LACC’s 2009-2010 concert season and core educational program are made possible in part by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the Pasadena Arts & Culture Commission and the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division, Bank of New York Mellon, Mattel Children’s Foundation, Meet The Composer's MetLife Creative Connections program, and NestlÈ USA. LACC is also deeply grateful to generous lead patrons Helen and Peter Bing and the hundreds of individual, foundation, corporate and government donors whose dedicated support sustains the Chorus’ annual choral music program for children.
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CALENDAR LISTING

Los Angeles Children’s Chorus – Annual Winter Concert
Anne Tomlinson, Conductor/Concert Choir/Chamber Singers
Mandy Brigham, Conductor/Intermediate Choir
Amy Brehm, Conductor/ Apprentice Choir

DATES:
Sunday, December 6, 2009, 7:00 PM
and
Sunday, December 13, 2009, 7:00 PM

PROGRAM:
Montserrat Monastery (Spain) Cuncti Simus
JAMES MULHOLLAND Come Let’s Be Merry
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF The Angel
JOHN ADAMS “The Palm” from El NiÒo
ZHOU LONG Winter
HENRY MOLLICONE Lullaby
DAVID CONTE Alleluia
MICHAEL HAYDN Dixit Dominus
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Sonntag
Spanish folksong Riu, Riu Chiu
Spiritual Go Where I Send Thee
+ other works to be announced

LOCATION:
Pasadena Presbyterian Church
585 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91101

TICKET PRICES:
$42, $36 and $24; _ price for students

INFORMATION & TICKETS:
(626) 793-4231
www.lachildrenschorus.org

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program and artists subject to change

11/25/09