Pacific Chorale Begins 2011?2012 by Celebrating Artistic Director John Alexander?s 40th Anniversary

Costa Mesa, California (PRWEB) October 05, 2011

On Sunday, November 6, 2011, Pacific Chorale will open its 2011-2012 concert season at Segerstrom Center for the Arts with a gala concert in the Ren?e and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, followed by a black-tie dinner in Samueli Theater celebrating John Alexander?s fortieth season as Artistic Director and Conductor. The concert will feature Alexander conducting the 140-voice Pacific Chorale and the musicians of Pacific Symphony in selections by Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Gerald Finzi, Morten Lauridsen and Jake Heggie, many of which pay tribute to the power of music to positively affect its listeners. As a tribute to Alexander?s Louisiana heritage, Dixieland jazz band The River Rascals will provide musical entertainment in the lobby prior to the concert, as well as during the post-concert dinner, which will feature a New Orleans-inspired menu by Patina and Mardi Gras-themed decor.

JOHN ALEXANDER?S 40TH ANNIVERSARY GALA CONCERT

Sunday, November 6, 2011 at 5:30 p.m.

Ren?e and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall

Segerstrom Center for the Arts

600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

Pacific Chorale

Pacific Symphony

Maria Cristina Navarro, soprano

Jason Francisco, tenor

John Alexander, conducting

Ludwig van Beethoven: ?Hallelujah? from Christ on the Mount of Olives

Morten Lauridsen: Ubi caritas et amor

Johannes Brahms: Schicksalslied, Op. 54

Anton Bruckner: Psalm 150 in C, WAB 38

John Alexander: Musica

Gerald Finzi: For St. Cecilia, Op. 30

Jake Heggie: Seeking Higher Ground

Concert tickets are now on sale, ranging in price from $ 15 to $ 135, and may be purchased by phone at (714) 662-2345; online at http://www.pacificchorale.org, or through the Segerstrom Center box office. The concert will be preceded at 4:15 p.m. by champagne in the lobby and live jazz music, courtesy of The River Rascals.

AN EVENING IN NEW ORLEANS GALA

Sunday, November 6, 2011 at 7:45 p.m.

Samueli Theater

Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Costa Mesa

Following John Alexander?s 40th Anniversary Gala Concert in the Ren?e and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, the celebration moves to Samueli Theater for a black-tie New Orleans-themed bash, including live music by The River Rascals and dinner menu inspired by the famous cuisine of The Big Easy. Event seating is $ 400 per person. Event sponsorships are available starting at $ 1,500. For further information about ?An Evening in New Orleans Gala,? please call (714) 662-2345.

Pacific Chorale gratefully acknowledges the following sponsors:

Phillip N. and Mary A. Lyons, 40th Anniversary Season sponsors and Gala event chairs

PBS SoCal, official television sponsor

The Buddy Group, web design and technology

Pacific Symphony

ACFEA Tour Consultants, official tour company

The Westin South Coast Plaza, official hotel

ABOUT JOHN ALEXANDER

Artistic Director of Pacific Chorale since 1972, John Alexander is one of America?s most respected choral conductors. His inspired leadership both on the podium and as an advocate for the advancement of the choral art has garnered national and international admiration and acclaim. In his long and distinguished career Alexander has conducted hundreds of choral and orchestral performances in 27 countries around the globe. Noted as a specialist in conducting the choral/orchestral masterworks, he is also a strong proponent of American music, programming groundbreaking works by California composers and bringing numerous West Coast and world premieres to Southern California performance halls. Choruses prepared by John Alexander have performed under many of the most renowned conductors on the world stage, including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Slatkin, Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez, Lukas Foss, Keith Lockhart, John Mauceri, Michael Tilson Thomas, Gustavo Dudamel, Carl St.Clair, Bramwell Tovey, Marin Alsop, John Williams, JoAnn Falletta, Sir Andrew Davis, Nicholas McGegan, Ivor Bolton, Gerard Schwarz and Max Rudolf.

ABOUT PACIFIC CHORALE

Founded in 1968, Pacific Chorale is internationally recognized for exceptional artistic expression, stimulating American-focused programming, and influential education programs. Pacific Chorale presents a significant performance season of its own at Segerstrom Center for the Arts and is sought regularly to perform with the nation?s leading symphonies. Under the inspired guidance of Artistic Director John Alexander, Pacific Chorale has infused an Old World art form with California?s hallmark innovation and cultural independence.

Pacific Chorale has a membership of 140 professional and volunteer singers. Ensembles of various sizes are selected from the membership according to the needs of the repertoire. In addition to its long-standing partnership with Pacific Symphony, the Chorale has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Disney Hall on numerous occasions. Other noted collaborations include the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, the National Symphony, and the Long Beach, Pasadena, Riverside and San Diego symphonies. John Alexander and the Chorale have toured extensively in Europe, South America and Asia. The Chorale will join The Lord of the Rings in Concert West Coast tour this month, performing Howard Shore?s complete Academy Award-winning score to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring with the Munich Symphony under the baton of Ludwig Wicki, with performances in Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington State.

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Pacific Chorale Announces Winners of Young Composers Competition

Santa Ana, CA (PRWEB) January 15, 2012

Pacific Chorale today announced John Orfe of Metamora, IL and Michael Rickelton of Baltimore, MD as the winners of its 2012 Young Composers Competition. Orfe?s ?Fire!? on text by Langston Hughes and Rickelton?s ?Pentecost? on text by Dana Gioia will receive their world premieres this spring, performed by the 24-voice John Alexander Singers under the direction of John Alexander. The composers will each receive an honorarium of $ 1,500 and have the opportunity to attend the premiere performance on March 11, 2012 in Meng Concert Hall at California State University, Fullerton.

The concert, titled American Voices, also features works by prominent American choral composers including Samuel Barber, Norman Dello Joio, Morten Lauridsen, John Muehleisen, Dale Warland and Eric Whitacre. Tickets to the concert are available through the Clayes Performing Arts Center box office at (657) 278-3371. The concert repertoire will be recorded for a future commercial release.

Pacific Chorale?s 2012 Young Composers Competition, created to encourage the proliferation of America?s choral music, was opened in fall 2011 to choral composers under the age of 35. Robert Istad, Director of Choral Activities at California State University, Fullerton; and John Alexander, Pacific Chorale?s Artistic Director, narrowed the applicant pool to eight finalists, including the two winners. Alexander comments, ?There were some very strong compositions presented to us this year. It was encouraging to see the quality of submissions from these young composers: It indicates a very bright and hopeful future for American choral music.? The six competition finalists chosen for honorable mention were:

Travis Alford of West Newton, MA, for ?Melange Mine Own (Whitman Fragments)?
Christian Guebert of Orange, CA, for ?Aboard at a Ship?s Helm?
James Kallembach of Chicago, IL, for ?The Letter?
Jonathan Kolm of Alexandria, VA, for ?The Beauty Been?
Greg Simon of Denver, CO, for ?One?
Roger Zare of Ann Arbor, MI, for ?Invocation?

ABOUT THE COMPETITION WINNERS

John Orfe has fulfilled commissions for Duo Montagnard, Dez Cordas, Alarm Will Sound, the NOVUS Trombone Quartet, the Two Rivers Chorale and the Northwestern College Choir, Ludovico, the Music Institute of Chicago, the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, the Diocese of Peoria, the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Lila Muni Gamelan Ensemble. He is a winner of a Jacob K. Javits Fellowship, a Tanglewood Fellowship, the William Schuman and Boudleaux Bryant Prizes from BMI, and eleven Standard Awards and the Morton Gould Award from ASCAP. His works for solo, chamber, choral and orchestral ensembles have been performed in Russia, Denmark, Canada, Germany, the Baltics, Italy, the United Kingdom, Australia, Thailand, Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica and throughout the US, earning praise from The New York Times, LAWeekly, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, Die Welt, and Hamburger Abendblatt. He is a winner of a 2008 Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was awarded the DMA by the Yale School of Music in February 2009. Dr. Orfe lives in Peoria, IL, where he is Temporary Assistant Professor of Music at Bradley University and Composer-in-Residence of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra.

Regarding ?Fire!? Orfe writes, ?Langston Hughes? poem, written in vernacular idioms, leapt off the page when I first read it. Inspired by the Last Judgment in the Book of Revelation, where every thought, word, and deed will be given its ultimate reward, the poem deals with themes of justice, mercy, guilt, hope, fairness, and accountability. In setting this poem I decided to engage and pay tribute to the rich traditions of African-American spirituals and choral singing.?

Michael Rickelton, a native of Charlotte, NC, earned the Bachelor of Music degree in music education from Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN, where he studied composition with Dr. Jerome Reed. In the summer of 2005, Michael received a scholarship to attend the European American Musical Alliance program at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, France, studying with Claude Baker and Narcis Bonet. Rickelton received his master?s degree in composition from the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He is currently a DMA candidate at Peabody, where he is a student of Michael Hersch. An award-winning composer, Rickelton writes for a variety of ensembles. His choral, solo, chamber and orchestra works have been performed throughout the United States and abroad. Recently, his works have been played by the Nashville and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras and the Baltimore Choral Arts Society. In addition to his work as a composer, Rickelton remains active as a singer. He currently resides in Baltimore, MD with his wife Emily.

About ?Pentecost,? Rickelton writes, ?Dana Gioia?s work has become a great source of inspiration. His texts are engaging accounts of the human experience, expressing themes and emotions common to all. Gioia?s 'Pentecost,' written after the death of his young son, is a gripping reflection on tragedy and loss. Gioia?s words are often painful and difficult to process, but his text is filled with powerful imagery and pointed text that engages the reader. As in many of his works, Gioia?s text lends itself to a musical pairing.?

ABOUT JOHN ALEXANDER

Currently celebrating his fortieth season as Artistic Director and Conductor of Pacific Chorale, John Alexander is one of America?s most respected choral conductors. His inspired leadership both on the podium and as an advocate for the advancement of the choral art has garnered national and international admiration and acclaim. In his long and distinguished career Alexander has conducted hundreds of choral and orchestral performances in 27 countries around the globe. Noted as a specialist in conducting the choral/orchestral masterworks, he is also a strong proponent of American music, programming groundbreaking works by California composers and bringing numerous West Coast and world premieres to Southern California performance halls. Choruses prepared by John Alexander have performed under many of the most renowned conductors on the world stage, including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Slatkin, Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez, Lukas Foss, Keith Lockhart, John Mauceri, Michael Tilson Thomas, Gustavo Dudamel, Carl St.Clair, Bramwell Tovey, Marin Alsop, John Williams, JoAnn Falletta, Sir Andrew Davis, Nicholas McGegan, Ivor Bolton, Ludwig Wicki, Gerard Schwarz and Max Rudolf.

ABOUT PACIFIC CHORALE?S JOHN ALEXANDER SINGERS

The John Alexander Singers, Pacific Chorale?s professional chamber choir, is a 24-voice ensemble of outstanding choral musicians from throughout Southern California. While most of these singers also serve as part of the paid core to Pacific Chorale?s 140-voice ensemble, their work with the John Alexander Singers focuses on specialized repertoire appropriate for a professional chamber chorus. Pacific Chorale regularly presents the John Alexander Singers in concert venues throughout Southern California. The Singers have collaborated extensively with Musica Angelica, Southern California?s premier period instrument orchestra. Other notable collaborations include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on their new music ?Green Umbrella? series, and performances with the Kronos Quartet, Mark Morris Dance Company, The Royal Ballet of Covent Garden, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Corona del Mar Baroque Festival and Pacific Symphony. In July 2012, the John Alexander Singers will join Pacific Chorale for a four-concert festival tour to France, where they will present the Paris premiere of David Lang?s Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Little Match Girl Passion."

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