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Press Contact: Libby Huebner, libbyhuebner562@gmail.com, 562.799.6055

COSTA MESA, CA (May 2, 2024) – The GRAMMY^®-winning Pacific Chorale, led by Artistic Director Robert Istad and joined by frequent collaborator Pacific Symphony, caps its 2023-24 season with four deeply moving choral works that inspire hope, action, and compassion on Saturday, June 1, 2024, 7:30 pm, at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa. Leonard Bernstein’s spirited Chichester Psalms, an appeal for brotherhood and peace, is the centerpiece of the program, which also features the Chorale-commissioned world premiere of Frank Ticheli’s Listen to the Silence, an a cappella work embracing the quiet of nature.

Additionally, the season finale includes Sarah Kirkland Snider’s riveting Mass for the Endangered, which speaks to the plight of the planet’s wildlife, and Gustav Holst’s crystalline Psalm 148, for chorus, organ, and orchestra.

Bernstein described Chichester Psalms as “the most accessible… tonal piece I’ve ever written.” Hopeful and life-affirming, the jazzy piece, he added, has “an old-fashioned sweetness.” 

Ticheli, recognized for his music’s “emotional depth (and) symbolism” (Colorado Public Radio), composed Listen to the Silence last summer during a composer residency at the MacDowell Colony, in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The work is based on an original poem by the composer that, according to Ticheli, “portrays silence as an aspect of nature’s beauty, drawing attention to natural images that make little or no sound—the sky, moonlight, a colorful sunset, falling snow, breezes wafting through the trees... and the nearly total silence I experienced all day in my studio at MacDowell.” Over the years, Pacific Chorale has recorded and given numerous premieres and performances of Ticheli’s work. He notes his relationship with the choir “began near the dawn of the new millennium when I composed my first choral work for them, There Will Be Rest. Decades later, they continue to be a source of great personal joy and inspiration.”

Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for the Endangered, a contemporary rumination with original text by Nathaniel Bellows, speaks to our delicate relationship to the planet’s wildlife. Snider says, “Mass for the Endangered embodies a prayer for endangered animals and the imperiled environments in which they live. It is a hymn for the voiceless and the discounted, a requiem for the not-yet-gone.” Written for chamber choir and 12 instruments, it was premiered in 2018 by Trinity Wall Street and has garnered tremendous critical acclaim. The Nation declares Mass for the Endangered “a gorgeous, moving piece.” The New Yorker states, “A passionate paean to nature… the work proclaims Snider’s technical command and unerring knack for breathtaking beauty.” NPR asserts, “Snider must be recognized as one of today’s most compelling composers for the human voice.” 

Pacific Chorale’s 2023-24 Season is made possible, in part, by generous support from Platinum Season Sponsor Phillip N. and Mary A. Lyons. 

The Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Segerstrom Center for the Arts is located at 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626.

Prior to the June 1 concert, at 4:00 pm, the Chorale will host its spring Gala at the Westin South Coast Plaza. Pacific Chorale Artistic Director Emeritus John Alexander will be honored for his extraordinary lifetime achievements. Gala tickets ($300) are sold separately and do not include admission to the concert.

For concert tickets ($28 - $147) and information, visit www.pacificchorale.org or call 714-662-2345.

ROBERT ISTAD, a GRAMMY® Award-winning conductor who “fashions fluent and sumptuous readings” (Voice of OC) with his “phenomenal” artistry (Los Angeles Times), was appointed Pacific Chorale’s Artistic Director in 2017. Under his leadership, the chorus continues to expand its reputation for excellence for delivering fresh, thought-provoking interpretations of beloved masterworks, rarely performed gems and newly commissioned pieces. In July 2023, he led Pacific Chorale’s first international tour in seven years, conducting performances at leading venues in Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom. His artistic impact can be heard on two recent recordings featuring Pacific Chorale, including the 2022 Grammy Award-winning “Mahler’s Eighth Symphony” with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel on Deutsche Grammophon (2021), for which he prepared the chorus. It won Best Choral Performance and also garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album, Classical. Additionally, Istad conducted the Pacific Chorale’s recording “All Things Common: The Music of Tarik O’Regan” released on Yarlung Records (2020). He regularly conducts and collaborates with Pacific Symphony, Berkshire Choral International, and Yarlung Records. His extensive credits also include recording for Sony Classical and guest conducting Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, Bach Collegium San Diego, Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, Bath Philharmonia, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Tesserae Baroque, and Freies Landesorchester Bayern. Istad has prepared choruses for such renowned conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Williams, John Mauceri, Keith Lockhart, Nicholas McGegan, Vasilly Sinaisky, Sir Andrew Davis, Bramwell Tovey, Carl St.Clair, Eugene Kohn, Giancarlo Guerrero, Marin Alsop, George Fenton, and Robert Moody. An esteemed educator, Istad is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at California State University (CSUF), Fullerton, where he was recognized as CSUF’s 2016 Outstanding Professor of the Year. He conducts the University Singers and manages a large graduate conducting program, in addition to teaching courses on conducting and choral literature. Istad, who is on the Executive Board of Directors of Chorus America and serves as Dean of Chorus America’s Conducting Academy, is in demand as guest conductor, lecturer, and clinician.

ABOUT PACIFIC CHORALE

The GRAMMY^® Award-winning Pacific Chorale, led by Artistic Director Robert Istad, is an Orange County “treasure” with a “fresh viewpoint” that “can sing anything you put in front of it with polish, poise and tonal splendor” (Orange County Register). It has risen to national prominence since its founding in 1968. 

Hailed for delivering “thrilling entertainment” (Voice of OC), the resident choir at Segerstrom Center for the Arts is noted for its artistic innovation and commitment to expanding the choral repertoire. It has given world, U.S., and West Coast premieres of more than 40 works, including numerous commissions, by such lauded composers as John Adams, Jake Heggie, James Hopkins, David Lang, Morten Lauridsen, Tarik O'Regan, Karen Thomas, Frank Ticheli, András Gábor Virágh, and Eric Whitacre.

In addition to presenting its own concert series each season, Pacific Chorale enjoys a long-standing performance partnership with Pacific Symphony, including the choir’s highly anticipated Carnegie Hall debut in 2018. The chorus also regularly appears with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with which it won the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for its contribution to the live recording of “Mahler: Symphony No. 8, 'Symphony of A Thousand,'” conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, featuring Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, Los Angeles Master Chorale, National Children’s Chorus and Pacific Chorale.

The choir has performed with such leading orchestras as the Boston Symphony, National Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and Musica Angelica, among others. In addition to receiving national accolades, Pacific Chorale has garnered tremendous international acclaim. In July 2023, the chorus completed its first international tour in seven years with appearances in Austria, Germany, and the United Kingdom in collaboration with Bath Philharmonia, Free State Orchestra of Bavaria, and Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and Orchestra. Previous tours have taken the choir to 19 countries in Europe, South America, and Asia, including engagements with the London Symphony, Munich Symphony, L’Orchestre Lamoureux and L’Orchestre de St-Louis-en-l’Île of Paris, National Orchestra of Belgium, China National Symphony, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Estonian National Symphony, and Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Argentina, among others.

Deeply committed to making choral music accessible to everyone, the organization has a discography of 14 self-produced recordings and an extensive collection of free digital offerings. Among other artistic highlights, Pacific Chorale’s “The Wayfaring Project,” an original concert film conceived and conducted by Istad and produced during the pandemic, was streamed on pbssocal.org, kcet.org and the PBS app, reaching audiences around the globe. Pacific Chorale also places significant emphasis on choral music education, providing after-school vocal programs for elementary school students, a choral summer camp for high school students, and an annual community-wide singing event at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. www.pacificchorale.org 

EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE

WHAT:
Pacific Chorale Presents Chichester Psalms
Robert Istad, conductor
Pacific Chorale
Pacific Symphony

WHEN:
Saturday, June 1, 2024, 7:30 pm

WHERE:
Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Segerstrom Center for the Arts
600 Town Center Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

PROGRAM:
SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER Mass for the Endangered
HOLST Psalm 148
FRANK TICHELI Listen to the Silence 
BERNSTEIN Chichester Psalms

TICKETS/INFORMATION:

single tickets begin at $28
www.pacificchorale.org
714-662-2345

(Gala tickets [$300] are sold separately and do not include admission to the concert.)

Artists, dates, programs and venues subject to change