Pacific Chorale's Annual Choral Festival Culminates With Free Concert At Segerstrom Concert Hall

Pacific Chorale, celebrated for both its artistic excellence and impactful community outreach, will present its 16th Annual Choral Festival, culminating in a free performance of Haydn's Mass in Time of War, a bracing oratorio brimming with excitement and sparkling choruses, on Sunday, August 11, 2024, 5 pm, at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa.

The concert is free to the public, but tickets are required. Concert-goers are encouraged to bring canned goods for a month-long community food drive, which will conclude with Pacific Chorale's season-opening program, “To the Hands,” in September.

Pacific Chorale's Annual Choral Festival, a cherished Orange County summertime tradition, draws hundreds of gifted community singers from across the region. Following three rigorous rehearsal days, they combine forces with members of the GRAMMY-winning Pacific Chorale to create the Festival Choir, raising their collective voices in song for this free performance. Auditions are not necessary to participate in the Festival Choir, but advance registration is required.  

“There are so many excellent singers in Orange County and beyond who participate annually in Pacific Chorale's Choral Festival,” says Istad. “The Festival Choir is a joy to conduct. There's nothing like the sound of hundreds of wonderful voices raised in song cascading over you. It's a visceral and thrilling experience for the audience as well as the singers.”

The concert opens with organist Dr. Jung-a Lee performing the world premiere of her new work Hommage à Haydn (organ prelude).

The Pacific Chorale Choral Festival also provides a rare opportunity for the public to experience a live performance in one of the world's great concert halls at no cost. Istad notes. “The event beautifully showcases the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which is critically acclaimed for its sparkling acoustics and dazzling architecture. Pacific Chorale is pleased to collaborate with Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts to present this community concert.”

The concert is free, but tickets are required. For tickets and information, visit www.pacificchorale.org. The Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Segerstrom Center for the Arts is located at 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626.

ABOUT PACIFIC CHORALE

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.

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