LA Children's Chorus Receives Nations Highest Choral Music Award & Announces Spring Concert

The Los Angeles
Children’s Chorus (LACC), considered one of the world’s leading children’s
choirs, has received Chorus America’s 2014 Margaret Hillis Award for Choral
Excellence, the nation’s top award for choral music.  This extremely
prestigious, one-time award is
presented annually to an ensemble that demonstrates artistic excellence, a
strong organizational structure and a commitment to outreach, educational and
culturally diverse activities.  Music
Director Anne Tomlinson, who studied with Hillis at Northwestern University,
will accept the award on behalf of LACC at a luncheon in Washington, D.C., June
12.  News of the award comes in
conjunction with the chorus announcing the details of its Spring Concert on May
11 and 18, 7 pm, at Pasadena Presbyterian Church.

Tomlinson, who served as an intern under Hills
from 1976 to 1978, says, “Los Angeles Children’s Chorus is extremely honored to
receive this incredible award.  It is
also particularly meaningful to me on a personal level because of my close
relationship with Ms. Hillis, who was both a thoroughly professional musician
and a female pioneer in the choral music field.  Her approach to learning
music and her determination to achieve her goals serve as deep inspirations to
me.  If LACC and I in some way pay tribute to her ideals of musical and
personal excellence, I am ever humbled. 
To have this award announced just prior to our Spring Concert adds
special significance to the upcoming performance.”

In additional news, two
world premieres highlight Los Angeles Children’s Chorus popular Spring Concert,
which features a vibrant mix of music both contemporary and traditional on May
11 and 18, 2014, 7 pm, at Pasadena Presbyterian Church.  The new works are by Shawn Kirchner, Los
Angeles Master Chorale Swan Family Composer in Residence, heralded as “a major
choral composer” (Examiner) who is
setting “a new standard for American chorale music” (Culture Spot LA), and prolific Canadian composer Eleanor Daley,
noted for her remarkable gift for melody and for sensitively interweaving text
and music.  Daley’s piece, an arrangement
of the traditional French-Canadian Folk Song A la Claire Fontaine, was commissioned by LACC in honor of
Associate Artistic Director Mandy Brigham’s 10th Anniversary with
the chorus.  Kirchner wrote A Mother’s
Lament For the Death of Her Son, based on Robert Burns’ poem of the same
name, on a commission from Antoinette Adams and Frederic Cohen for LACC’s Young
Men’s Ensemble (YME).  Kirchner has also
set the Burns poem Ca' The Yowes To The Knowes for YME.

In preparation for its
tour to England and Germany this summer, the Concert Choir also performs
several works by German composers, including J.S. Bach's "Bist du bei
mir," a beautiful unison work, the text of which carries the spirit of
comfort and peace at the close of life; and Mendelssohn's Op. 39 No. 2, a
striking motet for three-part treble voices. 
Other repertoire includes Brahms’s
Op. 37 No. 3, a demanding setting for 4-part treble chorus with eloquent
soprano and alto solos; "Liebe," a three-part round in praise of
music by Haydn; and Gamelan
by
Canadian composer Murray Schafer inspired by the sounds of the Javanese
Gamelan.

Tomlinson conducts
the chorus’ renowned Concert Choir and Chamber Singers.  Brigham leads the Intermediate Choir, Diana
Landis leads the Apprentice Choir, and Dr. Steven Kronauer conducts the Young
Men’s Ensemble.  The choirs will perform
separately and combined.

LACC's Spring Concert is
made possible, in part, by the Pasadena Arts & Culture Commission and the
City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division. 

Tickets are $26, $38 and
$44; children 17 and under are half price. 
For tickets and information, please call (626) 793-4231 or visit www.lachildrenschorus.org.  Pasadena Presbyterian Church is located at
585 East Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101.