Peter Sellars Directs Los Angeles Master Chorale Season Opening Production

From the creative mind of renowned director Peter Sellars comes his very first a cappella staging and most personal work to date, Orlando di Lasso's (1532-1594) emotionally powerful Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of St. Peter). Twenty-one Los Angeles Master Chorale singers conducted by Artistic Director Grant Gershon, transform this 60-minute sweeping a cappella Renaissance masterpiece - committed to memory and dramatically staged - into an overwhelmingly passionate performance piece. Lagrime di San Pietro depicts the seven stages of grief that Peter experienced after disavowing his knowledge of Jesus Christ on the day of his arrest and prior to his crucifixion. There will be two performances on Sat. and Sun., Oct. 29-30 at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Tickets go on sale Sep. 6, 2016

"Orlando di Lasso knew that Lagrime was to be the last piece he would ever compose," notes Artistic Director and conductor Grant Gershon. "He packed every measure with an emotionally charged texture that channeled all of his pain and remorse into a towering work ofbeauty. I can't imagine a choral work more fitting to the talents of Peter Sellars, whose true medium is painting with the emotion of the human voice."

Lagrime di San Pietro is set to the poetry of 16th century Italian renaissance poet Luigi Tansillo. "I accept responsibility" is the fundamental theme of this work which depicts the moments after Peter denied knowing Jesus Christ following his arrest by Roman soldiers. "This entire piece is the instant of that look," says Sellars. "Having twenty-one exquisite voices in a concentrated space - intensely interwoven and intimately connected - will be magical in the cathedral-like structure of Walt Disney Concert Hall." By translating Lagrime through a contemporary lens, Sellars suggests a powerful allegory that by taking responsibility and facing our past head-on, we can forge a more resolved and fulfilling future. James F. Ingalls provides the lighting design for the production.

Opera, theater, and festival director, Peter Sellars has gained international renown for his groundbreaking and transformative interpretations of artistic masterpieces and for collaborative projects with an extraordinary range of creative artists. He has staged works for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dutch National Opera, Salzburg Festival and the Berlin Philharmonic, among many others. Most recently, Sellars served as Music Director for the 2016 Ojai Music Festival and in November 2017 will be directing the world premiere of John Adams' new opera, Girls of the Golden West, at San Francisco Opera.

Los Angeles Master Chorale has a long history of collaboration with Sellars, including productions of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex as well as John Adams' El Niño, A Flowering Tree and The Gospel According to the Other Mary, all with the LA Philharmonic.

Grant Gershon is the Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director of Los Angeles Master Chorale. The 2016-17 season is his 16th season leading the chorus and he also serves as Resident Conductor of LA Opera. During his tenure with the Master Chorale he has led nearly 200 performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall, including virtually all of the major works in the choral repertoire. A champion of new music as well, Mr. Gershon has led world premiere performances of major works by John Adams, Esa-Pekka Salonen, David Lang, Louis Andriessen, Christopher Rouse, Morten Lauridsen, and Steve Reich, among many others.

Orlando di Lasso (Orlande de Lassus) was a pivotal composer at the end of the Renaissance period whose advanced polyphonic style established him as one of the most influential musicians of the 16th century. Originally of Danish decent, di Lasso settled in Munich and became quite famous throughout Europe during his lifetime. His final work, Lagrime di San Pietro, widely considered his magnum opus, was composed in Italy in 1594 and dedicated to Pope Clement VIII three weeks before di Lasso's death.

Giving a voice to Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Grammy-nominated Los Angeles Master Chorale is led by Artistic Director Grant Gershon and President & CEO Jean Davidson. Proclaimed "the nation's most pioneering major chorus" (Los Angeles Times), it has also been hailed as "inspired" (New York Times), "magnificent" (Chicago Tribune) and "a superb vocal ensemble" (New York Observer). The Master Chorale was founded in 1964 as a resident company of The Music Center of Los Angeles County and the 2016-17 season marks its 14th as the resident chorus at Disney Hall. Presenting its own concert series each season, it performs choral music from the earliest writings to the most recent contemporary compositions.

To date, the chorus has commissioned 50 and premiered 99 new works, of which 69 were world premieres, and has been awarded three ASCAP/Chorus America Awards for Adventurous Programming as well as Chorus America's prestigious Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence. The chorus has performed in more than 500 concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at both Disney Hall and the Hollywood Bowl, and has toured with the orchestra to Europe and New York City. It has also appeared at the Ojai Music Festival, the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center, the Ravinia Festival and the Overture Center in Madison, Wisconsin, as well as in leading venues throughout the Southland.

Its discography includes six commercial CDs under Gershon's baton, and in summer 2016, the chorus releases its seventh recording and its first album on Cantaloupe Music, featuringthe national anthems by Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning composer David Lang, which was commissioned and premiered by the chorus in 2014. The chorus previously released three CDs under former Music Director Paul Salamunovich on RCM, including the Grammy-nominated Lauridsen-Lux Aeterna. The chorus is also featured with Gershon on the soundtracks of such major motion pictures as Lady in the Water and License to Wed. Serving more than 30,000 Audience members of all ages annually, the chorus also provides education outreach to some 9,000 students and adults each year.

This production is made possible with generous underwriting from the Lovelace Family Trust and is dedicated to the memory of Jon Lovelace in honor of the special friendship he shared with director Peter Sellars.

There will be two performances of Lagrime di San Pietro at Walt Disney Concert Hall, each performance will run 60-minutes without an intermission:

• Sat., Oct. 29, 2016 at 8 pm
• Sun., Oct. 30, 2016 at 7 pm

Walt Disney Concert Hall

111 S. Grand Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90012

ListenUp! Pre-concert talk one-hour prior to curtain

PROGRAM

Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of St. Peter)

by Orlando di Lasso

LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE

Grant Gershon, conductor

Peter Sellars, director

James F. Ingalls, lighting designer

Single tickets go on sale Tue., Sep. 6, 2016 at 10 am.

Tickets begin at $29 and can be purchased in person at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Box Office (Mon.-Sat., 10-6) or the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office (day of performance), by phone at 213-972-7282 or online at lamc.org. For disability access, call 213-972-0777.

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