Los Angeles Master Chorale's High School Choir Festival Goes Virtual

For over 30 years, the Los Angeles Master Chorale has created a mega choir of 1,000 high school singers who, after a year of preparation, came together to perform at Walt Disney Concert Hall for its annual High School Choir Festival, one of the longest running continuous educations programs in Southern California. In the absence of being able to gather in person due to the current health crisis, the Master Chorale has created a special virtual version of the festival, to be held online at https://lamasterchorale.org/high-school-choir-festival on Wednesday, June 3, 2020, at 1 p.m.

The Virtual High School Choir Festival (VHSCF) will feature favorite moments of recent festivals, curated by Grant Gershon, Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director, Associate Conductor Jenny Wong and Director of Education Lesili Beard. Highlights will include the "Purple Rain" tribute to Prince that blew the roof off Disney Hall in 2016; Bill Withers's "Lean on Me" from 2019; student interviews; testimonials of gratitude from high school seniors and shout outs from former festival guest conductors. The festival will culminate in a virtual performance of participants singing "The Promise of Light," by Georgia Stitt, lyrics by Len Schiff. Hundreds of voice and video recordings were submitted by festival participants to create a powerful moment of celebration that encourages hope amidst an environment of isolation and uncertainty.

"The Virtual High School Choir Festival fills a void left among participants when they were notified that the originally scheduled festival was canceled due to the pandemic," said Lesili Beard, Director of Education, Los Angeles Master Chorale. "Many of the young singers consider the festival to be a high point of their school year and one of the most enjoyable performance opportunities of their lives. Students are especially eager to experience a special connection to music and their peers from around the Southland who share their enthusiasm for choral singing."

Please visit https://lamasterchorale.org/high-school-choir-festival for more information.