Los Angeles Children's Chorus, Led by Artistic Director Anne Tomlinson, Announces 2015-16 Season

Los Angeles Children’s Chorus (LACC), led by highly regarded Artistic Director Anne Tomlinson and acclaimed for its agile bel canto sound that has made it one of the nation’s most in-demand children’s choirs, announces its 2015-16 season, entitled “New Horizons,” featuring works new to the chorus as well as beloved LACC repertoire from its extensive musical archives developed over the past three decades. During its 30th Anniversary Season, the chorus appears in a number of high profile engagements, continuing to build upon its longtime partnerships with such leading music organizations as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Pasadena Symphony, and also presents an array of notable concerts, recitals, workshops and special events with leading artists from the choral world. LACC, which serves children ages 6 to 18 from 50 Southland communities, is described as “hauntingly beautiful” (Los Angeles Times) and lauded as “one of the world’s foremost children’s choirs” (Pasadena Star News), “astonishingly polished” (Performances Magazine), “extraordinary in its abilities” (Culture Spot LA), and “one heck of a talented group of kids” (LA Weekly).

Among numerous season highlights, LACC joins LA Opera for three opera productions at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion: Franco Zeffirelli’s epic production of Puccini’s Pagliacci, conducted by Plácido Domingo (Sept. 12, 20, 24, 17 and Oct. 3, 2015); Mozart’s The Magic Flute, conducted by James Conlon (February 13, 20, 24, 28 and March 2 and 6, 2016); and LA Opera’s original production of Puccini’s La Bohème, led by Speranza Scappucci (May 14, 19, 22, 25, 28 and June 5, 2016) and Gustavo Dudamel (June 10 and 12, 2016). It performs Bach’s popular Cantata No. 140, “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme,” (“Sleepers Awake”) with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, led by Jeffrey Kahane, for the Orchestra’s popular “Discover” concert at Ambassador Auditorium (January 23, 2016); sings Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Dudamel, at Walt Disney Concert Hall (March 3, 4, 5 and 6, 2016); rings in the holiday season as part of the Pasadena Symphony’s popular “Holiday Candlelight” at Pasadena’s All Saints Episcopal Church (December 19, 2015); and performs at the National Kodály Convention in Long Beach (March 10, 2016).

Additionally, LACC opens its anniversary season with a recital by rising opera star and LACC alumna Lauren Libaw at Zipper Hall, heralded for her “warmth of tone and intensity of expression” (The New Yorker), (September 19, 2015); presents its signature Winter Concert, featuring an eclectic array of art songs, folksongs and classical works from around the globe (December 6 and 13, 2015); and hosts a special 30th Anniversary celebratory Spring Concert, including a guest appearance by LACC Founding Music Director Rebecca Thompson and an alumni chorus comprised of former choristers from across the country, at Pasadena Presbyterian Church (May 21, 2016). The chorus also honors five-time Academy Award-winning film composer John Williams, with whom LACC has long enjoyed a fruitful relationship, for his immeasurable contribution to the arts, at its annual Gala Bel Canto fundraiser (March 16, 2016). In addition, LACC hosts the American Boychoir, recognized as the finest boys’ choir in the country, (October 21, 2015), and presents a workshop with famed choral conductor Maria Guinand, Artistic Director of Venezuela’s Schola Contorum, (October 11, 2015), and a masterclass with USC Thornton School of Music’s influential Christian Grases, who himself studied under Guinand, among others, (March 6, 2016) at Pasadena Presbyterian Church. The season concludes with LACC’s first tour to Japan.

“LACC is proud to be part of such a diverse range of compelling artistic collaborations with some of the world’s leading conductors,” says Tomlinson, currently in her 23rd season with the organization. “We are also pleased to showcase the chorus’s artistry at our own concert series celebrating our 30th Anniversary Season. These appearances serve to enhance LACC’s comprehensive music education program that encourages a deeper appreciation of the choral art and the shared experience of creating fine choral music.”

The chorus’s level of excellence is particularly notable because, unlike adult choirs, each fall marks a new beginning – literally – for LACC as its members advance through LACC’s training ensembles to its premier Concert Choir, elite Chamber Singers and innovative Young Men’s Ensemble.

Los Angeles Children’s Chorus is recognized throughout the country for its exceptional artistic quality and technical ability. Founded in 1986 and led by Tomlinson since 1995, LACC serves more than 400 children through six choirs and a First Experiences in Singing program. LACC, recipient of Chorus America’s 2014 Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence, the nation’s highest choral honor, has toured North and South America, Africa, China, Australia and Europe. It appears on the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s critically acclaimed Decca recording A Good Understanding, and Plácido Domingo’s Deutsche Grammophon recording Amore Infinito (“Infinite Love”). The subject of a trilogy of documentaries by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Freida Mock, LACC is featured in the Academy Award-nominated Sing!, about a year in the life of the choir; Sing Opera!, documenting the production of the LACC-commissioned family opera Keepers of the Night; and Sing China!, chronicling its groundbreaking tour to China just prior to the Beijing Olympics. LACC has performed with John Mayer on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” and has also been featured on PBS’s “Great Performances,” BBC Radio, and Public Radio International’s nationally syndicated show “From the Top,” among other credits.

PERFORMANCES DETAILED CHRONOLOGICALLY

Launching its 30th Anniversary Season and celebrating one of its own, Los Angeles Children’s Chorus (LACC) presents rising opera star/noted alumna Lauren Libaw (’05) in recital on Saturday, September 19, 2015, 7 pm, at Zipper Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Libaw, a soprano praised for her sparkling, “bright-toned” voice (New York Times) as well as her “warmth of tone and intensity of expression” (The New Yorker), performs an array of art songs and arias with accompanist Dan Schlosberg. With members of LACC’s Chamber Singers, she also sings Mozart’s “Laudate Dominum” from the Vespers, considered one of the most beautiful arias ever written. Proceeds benefit LACC.

LACC joins LA Opera for the first of three opera productions this season at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion – Franco Zeffirelli’s epic production of Puccini’s Pagliacci conduct by Plácido Domingo on Sept. 12, 20, 24, 17 and Oct. 3, 2015. The 18 LACC choristers featured in the production include Grant Anderson, Caelan Carter, Mateo Coleman, Sophie David, Jack Fagan, Jamie Felix-Toll, Cameron Ito, Beckett Ledahl, SE Lee, Rachel Loh, Micah Luna, Reese Owen, Mia Patzakis, Drew Quishenberry, Allison Rayer, Sofia Robert, Soren Ryssdal and Sarah Wong.

Famed choral conductor María Guinand, Artistic Director of Venezuela’s Schola Contorum and leading interpreter and champion of Latin American choral music of the 20th and 21st centuries, leads a workshop on Latin American music hosted by LACC on Sunday, October 11, 2015, at Pasadena Presbyterian Church. For more than three decades, she has served as Associate Conductor and Advisor of Choral Symphonic Performances and Activities for El Sistema, the world-renowned music-training program in Venezuela. She has also been a professor and conductor for 28 years in the Masters Degree Program for Choral Conductors at the University Simón Bolívar and is a recipient of the Helmuth Rilling Preis (2009), the Robert Edler Preis für Chormusik (2000), and the Kulturpreis of the InterNationes Foundation (1998), three of the most distinguished prizes in choral music conducting.

Building upon its long history of presenting other children’s choirs from the U.S. and abroad, LACC hosts a choral exchange and concert with the illustrious American Boychoir, recognized as America’s premier boys’ choir and noted for its blend of musical sophistication, spirited presentation, and ensemble virtuosity, on Monday, October 21, 2015, 7 pm, at Pasadena Presbyterian Church. The concert also includes performances by LACC’s Concert Choir and Young Men’s Ensemble.

LACC presents its popular annual Winter Concert, “Let Beauty Awake,” on two consecutive Sundays, December 6 and 13, 2015, 7 pm, at Pasadena Presbyterian Church, the chorus’s home venue. The program features Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Let Beauty Awake, part of a song cycle of nine songs set to poems by Robert Louis Stevenson and the inspiration for the concert’s theme, and the inspiring Choose Something Like a Star set to the beloved poem by Robert Frost by American composer Randall Thompson. Other works include a selection of holiday favorites as well as Misa Pequena by highly regarded composer/conductor Francisco Nunez of the Young People’s Chorus of New York and sung in Spanish, the Cuban lullaby Ciclo Coral infantil “Desde mi alegra jardin” by Enrique Feliu, Mozart’s Solemn Vespers, and Claude Debussy’s moving art song Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maison, with a text highlighting the despair and challenges of French children living through WWII.

For additional information on LACC, its auditions or programs, please call (626) 793-4231 or visit www.lachildrenschorus.org.