Vocal focus from CCMN*
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA VOCAL EVENTS
Lauri D. Goldenhersh’s Weekly Highlights
This week, let’s try a new way of organizing things, starting with the ton of choral music going on all over SoCal. Just pick your favorite era and click away:
Baroque
Bach rules! Lent is the perfect time to enjoy some of the master’s larger choral works, and J.S. is everywhere this week! On Sunday afternoon, how about a birthday celebration at Trinity Episcopal Church, Santa Barbara, or the glorious B Minor Mass from CANTORI DOMINO in Santa Monica?
The LONG BEACH CAMERATA SINGERS also continues their annual Long Beach Bach Festival tradition with St. John’s Passion on Sunday night, led by conductor ROBERT ISTAD, with DAVID CLEMENSEN on continuo, orchestra and some of our favorite soloists: tenor JON LEE KEENAN as the Evangelist; baritone STEVE PENCE as Pilate; bass ABDIEL GONZALEZ as Jesus; plus solos from ALLISON TYLER, I-CHIN BETTY LEE, and DANIEL BABCOCK. Click here for details
Classical
Mozart’s Requiem is one of the most treasured choral works in history, and the folks at PACIFIC PALISADES PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH are performing this and three additional short works as part of a special Lenten concert. The concert features choir and orchestra led by music director JAMES VAIL, with FRANCES NOBERT at the organ, and soloists MARIANA RAMIREZ (soprano), LAURA SANDERS (alto), JONATHAN MACK (tenor) and MICHAEL MCCLISH (baritone). The concert is free, and the area is spectacularly beautiful this time of year. Start planning your lovely Sunday afternoon by clicking here
Romantic
Spring has officially sprung, and love is in the air. Explore the multi-colored warmth of Brahms with the composer’s lush Neue Liebeslieder Waltzen, plus a selection of smaller works. This program from ANGELUS CHORALE is titled “Romancing the Soul: An intimate evening of Johannes Brahms“, and will be performed twice: Saturday night in Pasadena and Sunday, March 30, in Northridge. Click for details
Modern / Contemporary
VOX FEMINA celebrates the power of women worldwide, with “Half the Sky: Hear Our Voices“, a concert inspired by the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. The program features a new commission by local composer JENNI BRANDON: “We Are Home”, a setting of texts from the “women of Vox”. It all take place at Zipper Hall in Downtown LA on Saturday night. Learn more
Finally PASADENA MASTER CHORALE shows us “The Voice of California” on Sunday afternoon, with selections from composers Morten Lauridsen, Eric Whitacre and more. Click here
Opera A-plenty
Lucia di Lammermoor and The Death of Klinghoffer continue at LA OPERA and LONG BEACH OPERA, respectively, and both to excellent reviews. (See the Singerpreneur blog for our weighing-in on both.) As if conductor JAMES CONLON didn’t already have plenty to do, LA OPERA is also busy this week with the brand-new community opera, Jonah and the Whale at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (Friday and Saturday), and with Recovered Voices at the Broad in Santa Monica (Thursday 3/27). Jonah is already sold-out, as this annual event is free, but tickets fly out the door as soon as they’re announced. Check with your cast member buddies to see if they have a seat or two they can snag for you. Check availability for ‘Recovered Voices’
Saturday night, Purcell meets zombies with a one-night-only performance of Dido and Aeneas from a brand-new opera company: OPERA ANIMATA brings their own take on this classic to the exquisite acoustics at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Monrovia. Admission is free, it’s easy to get there — but will you make it home again? See the gorgeous flyer and learn more — click here
You can also catch a concert reading of a show exploring the Japanese-American internment program during World War II, as Manzanar: Story of an American Family comes to Long Beach on Sunday afternoon. The work is more musical than opera, but shares some of the same classical orchestration and themes of grand scope. Manzanar has been in the works over a period of several years, and tells a story not often addressed and surprisingly unknown among many Americans of all backgrounds. A 2003 performance at the Japanese American Cultural Center in Los Angeles drew a larger crowd than had ever attended a performance at that venue, and the work has drawn praise from the New York Times and from Broadway and opera composer Stephen Schwartz. Tickets are just $20 – go if you can, and learn a bit more about one of the darker periods in our history, and how those affected have been able to remember and rise above it. Get more information
As usual, we’re not done there. There’s even more on the calendar — check it out, have a great weekend, and thank you for supporting live singing!
