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Simi Valley & Oak Park Students Sing at Disney Hal

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Contributed by: Elizabeth Huebner on 4/9/2007

More than 900 of the Southland's most talented singers from 25 high school choirs join vocal forces for an extraordinary admission-free choral performance at the Los Angeles Master Chorale's 18th Annual High School Choir Festival on Thursday, May 3, 2007, 11 a.m and 1 p.m., at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The public is invited to attend one or both of the performances. At 11 a.m. three of the choirs, selected through a rigorous audition process, present individual musical showcases conducted by their directors, including Royal High School Concert Choir, Thousand Oaks High School Chamber Chorale and Glendale Adventist Academy Chorale. At 1 p.m., Los Angeles Master Chorale Music Director Grant Gershon conducts the massed choir in a program featuring five diverse works, including the world premiere of Tu Voz (Your Voice) by Shawn L. Kirchner, a member of the Chorale who also serves as the pianist for the concert. The work, commissioned by the Chorale specifically for the choir festival, is based on the poem "Your Voice" from One Hundred Love Sonnets: Sonnet 52 by Pablo Neruda. The singers also perform Va Pensiero from the opera "Nabucco" by Guiseppe Verdi; Long Time Ago, by Aaron Copland arranged by Irving Fine; Keep Your Lamps by André Thomas; Achieved is the Glorious Work by Haydn; and Sure on the Shining Night by Morten Lauridsen, for which the composer himself will collaborate as pianist. "The High School Choir Festival is one of the highlights of the Los Angeles Master Chorale's season," says Gershon. "The caliber of these young singers is simply amazing. The students and their choral directors work very hard all year to prepare for the performance, and it really shows." Participating schools are from Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties. They include Antelope Valley High School (Lancaster), John Crocker, director; Bellflower High School (Bellflower), Carolyn Kelley, director; Birmingham High School (Van Nuys), Michael Suffolk, director; California High School (Whittier), Dan Hawkins, director; Fullerton Union High School (Fullerton), Scott Hedgecock, director; Glendale Adventist Academy (Glendale), Brenda Mohr, director; Louisville High School (Woodland Hills), Maura Piazza, director; Mark Keppel High School (Alhambra), Tony Azeltine, director; Mayfield Senior School, (Pasadena), Stephen Grimm, director; Oak Park High School (Oak Park), Heidi Cissell; Pasadena High School (Pasadena), Lavone Seetal, director; Rancho Cucamonga High School (Rancho Cucamonga), Kelley Squires, director; and Royal High School (Simi Valley), Bonnie Graeve, director. Also participating are: San Gabriel High School (San Gabriel), Cecilia Revilla, director; San Pedro High School (San Pedro), Carol Levin, director; South High School (Torrance), Liz Turner, director; Sylmar High School (Sylmar), Gregory Broadous, director; Temple City High School (Temple City), Matt Byers, director; Thousand Oaks High School (Thousand Oaks), George Swanson, director; Torrance High School (Torrance), David Wright, director; Venice High School (Los Angeles), Wendy Kornbeck, director; View Park Preparatory Accelerated School, (Los Angeles), Roderick Hines, director; West Covina High School (West Covina), Kristina Keener, director; West High School (Torrance), Kathleen Jensen, director; and Wilson Classical High School (Long Beach), Curtis Heard, director. The festival is one of the largest high school choir gatherings in the nation. The performance is the culmination of a yearlong in-school music education program presented by the Chorale that provides vital mentorship for young singers. The High School Choir Festival has three components. Several months prior to the festival, the Chorale provides participating schools with the music, selected by Gershon, which students rehearse in their classrooms. Then, a month before the festival, each school attends one of two regional rehearsals conducted by Gershon, who works with the singers on their musicianship, musical interpretation and tone balance. The regional rehearsals also provide an opportunity for the students to sing as part of a much larger choir in preparation for the festival, which is the final component of the outreach program. On the day of the festival, all of the schools join together for the first time and Gershon conducts a final dress rehearsal and concert. The Los Angeles Master Chorale High School Choir Festival was founded in 1989 by the Los Angeles Master Chorale Associates, under the leadership of Phyllis Rothrock. Event sponsors include the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs; the Georges and Germaine Fusenot Foundation; the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, a Fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation; Metropolitan Associates; the Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation; the Lon V. Smith Foundation; the John and Beverly Stauffer Foundation; The Harold McAlister Charitable Foundation; and the Weingart Foundation. The Los Angeles Master Chorale's High School Choir Festival is FREE and tickets are not required. The Walt Disney Concert Hall is located at 111 South Grand Avenue at First Street in Los Angeles. For concert information, please call (800) 787-5262 or visit www.lamc.org.

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