Pasadena Master Chorale announces 2010/2011 season

Pasadena Master Chorale embarks upon its most ambitious and wide ranging season yet.

Jeffrey Bernstein, founder and Music Director of the Pasadena Master Chorale (PMC) is not one to rest on his laurels. The Chorale’s most recent concert last June may have been hailed by CultureSpotLA.com as “one of the finest performances of Brahms’ Ein Deutches Requiem…ever heard,” but the 2010/2011 season, says Bernstein, is the ensemble’s most ambitious and broad ranging yet.

“We’ll explore virtually every genre of choral music,” Bernstein reveals. “From small concerts featuring 22 of PMC's 80 members singing a cappella works from the Renaissance…to performances of major works…to more remote pieces that our audiences might be experiencing for the first time. And, of course, we’ll present what, in just three short years, has come to be a hallowed PMC tradition – our annual Holiday concert. However, we’re also breaking new ground, presenting for the first time one of the finest male choruses in the country, the Cornell Glee Club, in concert.”

The Pasadena Master Chorale’s upcoming season is as follows:

The Golden Age
Extravagant Renaissance choral music
October 2, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Altadena Community Church
October 3, 2010 at 4:00 p.m.
Altadena Community Church

Home for the Holidays
A Christmas party for your family and ours,
Featuring Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols and student soloists from Pasadena schools
December 11, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
First Congregational Church
December 12, 2010, at 4:00 p.m.
Altadena Community Church

Life of Mozart (Special event)
A look at Mozart the man, interweaving words from the composer’s letters with the music of his famous last work, the Mozart Requiem. Actor Dan Selon joins the Chorale.
January 8, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
First Congregational Church



The Cornell Glee Club in Concert (Special Event)
Experience the unparalleled sonic richness of a male chorus.
PMC proudly presents this top collegiate ensemble, conducted by Scott Tucker
January 16, 2011 at 4:00 p.m.
La Crescenta Presbyterian Church

Songs of Love
Celebrate Valentine’s Day in song, through works by such composers as Morten Lauridsen, Samuel Barber and Jeffrey Bernstein that explore love and connection
February 12, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
Altadena Community Church
February 13, 2011 at 4:00 p.m.
Altadena Community Church

Brahms Requiem
Music of comfort that PMC has brought back by popular demand, after a nearly sold out performance last season and stellar reviews
April 9, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
La Crescenta Presbyterian Church

The Green Concert
Music for the Earth, featuring Frostiana by Randall Thompson, a rarely heard setting of seven Robert Frost poems
June 4, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
Altadena Community Church
June 5, 2011 at 4:00 p.m.
Altadena Community Church

“Each concert was fun to program,” says Bernstein. “But it will be even more fun – and rewarding – to share the music with the community. We’re rehearsing now, and the singers’ excitement is palpable. It can’t help but spread to our audience.”

Tickets for regular performances are reasonably priced at $20 and may be purchased by visiting the Pasadena Master Chorale’s website, www.pasadenamasterchorale.org, through any Chorale member, or at the door. Tickets for “Life of Mozart” will be available for $25/person while prices for tickets to the Special Event with the Cornell Glee Club will be announced shortly. Complete details on concerts, ticket prices and venue locations can be found on the website. Recorded information is available by phone as well at 626.208.0009.

Altadena Community Church is located at 943 East Altadena Drive in Altadena, while the First Congregational Church is located at 464 East Walnut in Pasadena. La Crescenta Presbyterian Church is located at 2902 Montrose Avenue in La Crescenta.

ABOUT THE PASADENA MASTER CHORALE
The Pasadena Master Chorale is a recently incorporated independent arts organization based in Pasadena, California. The chorale is an auditioned community chorus of eighty voices dedicated to promoting and fostering excellence in and enjoyment of the choral art. The Pasadena Master Chorale performs a wide range of choral music, a cappella and with accompaniment, and spanning five centuries. The chorale traces its roots back to a group called the Pasadena Festival Chorus, founded in 1935 by then music director of the Pasadena Symphony, Dr. Richard Lert. In December 2008, under the direction of Artistic Director Jeffrey Bernstein the chorale made its debut performance in a Christmas concert given to benefit the Pasadena Symphony.

ABOUT PMC MUSIC DIRECTOR, JEFFREY BERNSTEIN

Known for his ability to inspire singers and audiences alike, Jeffrey Bernstein is one of Southern California's pre-eminent choral conductors, and his choirs are numbered among the finest ensembles in the region. Bernstein specializes in the refinement of the a cappella choral sound and in the performance of major choral-orchestral repertoire. During the fifteen-year span of his career Bernstein has conducted over 30 major works and led choirs on over a dozen tours of three continents.  

Active as a guest conductor, Bernstein has led Bach’s St. John Passion with Sanford Sylvan in Boston, Haydn’s Creation with the Arad Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus in Romania, Dvorak’s Czech Suite with the Naples Philharmonic in Florida, and over a dozen other orchestral performances at the Harvard Business School.

A committed educator as well, Bernstein works regularly with students in Pasadena schools, gives pre-concert talks for the Pasadena Symphony, and maintains a private conducting studio. Among his students is eleven-year-old piano prodigy Marc Yu. An experienced choral singer Bernstein has sung with the Harvard Glee Club, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Musica Angelica and the Los Angeles Master Chorale under such conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Roger Norrington, and Simon Rattle. Choirs under Bernstein’s direction have sung for Gustavo Dudamel, Jorge Mester, Zubin Mehta, and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

In 2009 Bernstein founded the Pasadena Master Chorale and serves now as its artistic director. He is also artistic director of the Hollywood Master Chorale and the Los Angeles Daiku and assistant conductor of the Pasadena Symphony, a post he has held since 2005. From 1997 to 2008 Bernstein was director of choral music at Occidental College in Los Angeles, where he rejuvenated a century-old Glee Club tradition and taught classes in music theory, counterpoint, composing and arranging, 20th-century music, and the American musical theater. Bernstein began his career in the theater, working first as a lighting designer and subsequently serving as a musical director and conductor. He led over 25 professional productions and served as associate musical director for the national touring company of CATS.

The composer of over 50 concert works, Bernstein has enjoyed premieres of his music across this country and in Europe. His commissions include Circumnavigation of the World for Occidental College, Chomolungma for the Governor’s School of North Carolina, Phoenix for UCLA bassoonist Melson Varsovia, Pablo Neruda in Love for The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut and over a dozen a cappella choral works and arrangements. In 2007 the Occidental Chorale under Bernstein's direction gave a full-length program of his choral-orchestral music entitled Divinity. Bernstein has contributed choral arrangements and direction to numerous commercial projects, and his choral arrangements are featured in the 2002 film Slackers.

Bernstein lived the first twenty-eight years of his life in the Northeast. He holds music degrees from UCLA, Yale and Harvard, where he also served as acting associate director of choral activities and assistant conductor of the world-famous Harvard Glee Club. He studied conducting with Jorge Mester and Jameson Marvin and composition with Peter Lieberson, James Yannatos, Jacob Druckman, Roger Bourland and David Lefkowitz. Bernstein lives in Altadena, California with his nine-year-old daughter Celia.



Presenter / Producer: Pasadena Master Chorale

Listed Categories
Music > Choral/Choirs


Event Phone: 626-208-0009

Venue
Altadena Community Church
943 East Altadena Drive
Pasadena CA 91001

Regions:
Pasadena / Glendale


Performance Dates: 10/2/2010 - 10/3/2010

Saturday, 10/02/2010 Sunday, 10/03/2010

Performance Times
Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday at 4 p.m.

Ticket Information:
Tickets are available for $20/person or through the website, www.pasadenamasterchorale.org

Web Link for ticketing

Websites:
Event Information