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Press contact: Libby Huebner (562) 799 -6055 nyjazz@aol.com
LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE CONCLUDES SEASON WITH
PROGRAM OF AMERICAN SONGS AND SPIRITUALS FEATURING
WORLD PREMIERE BY COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE SHAWN KIRCHNER
Sunday, June 2, 2013, 7 pm,
at Walt Disney Concert Hall
Music Director Grant Gershon Also Conducts Works by Samuel Barber, Eric Whitacre,
Elliott Carter, Charles Ives, Abbie Betinis, Jester Hairston, André Thomas,
William Dawson and Moses Hogan
Associate Conductor Lesley Leighton Conducts Barber’s Agnus Dei
A celebration of American choral and roots music – classic and new – wraps the Los Angeles Master
Chorale’s 49th season with the world premiere of Plath Songs, set the poetry of Sylvia Plath by Swan
Family Composer in Residence Shawn Kirchner, as well as works by Samuel Barber, Charles Ives, Elliott
Carter, Abbie Betinis, Eric Whitacre and celebrated spiritual composer/arrangers William Dawson, Jester
Hairston, André Thomas and Moses Hogan on Sunday, June 2, 2013, at Disney Hall.
Music Director Grant Gershon conducts Eric Whitacre’s Three Songs of Faith, set to a trio of texts by e.e.
cummings and written in 1999 for the 100th anniversary of Northern Arizona University’s School of Music. In
addition, the Chorale performs Charles Ives’ General William Booth Enters Into Heaven, based on a Vachel
Lindsay poem, Elliott Carter’s Tarantella, written for men’s chorus by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer
for the Harvard Glee Club in 1936, and Abbie Betinis’ humorous and imaginative Songs of Smaller
Creatures, which captures the sonic essence of buzzing bees, spindly spider legs and graceful butterflies.
Two works by Samuel Barber are also featured – Sure on this Shining Night, with text from James Agee's
first published collection of poems, Permit Me Voyage, and Agnus Dei, a 1967 transcription for eight-part
choir of his deeply emotional Adagio for Strings, which is conducted by LAMC Associate Conductor Lesley
Leighton. The program concludes with a show-stopping finale of “blow the roof off” arrangements by four
masters of the American spiritual – William Dawson, Jester Hairston, André Thomas and Moses Hogan.
Kirchner is currently in his first season as LAMC Composer in Residence and Plath Songs is the first of his
works to be premiered during his tenure. The 25-minute suite for choir, piano and percussion, including
vibraphone, bass drum, triangle, and tubular bells, is set to seven of Sylvia Plath’s most well known poems:
(more)
Los Angeles Master Chorale Concludes Season with American Songs & Spirituals June 2, 2013, at Disney Hall – Page 2 of 3
Morning Song, Mirror, Lady Lazarus, Tulips, Poppies in October, Child and Blackberrying, chosen for their
beauty, brilliance and sheer impact. States Kirchner, “I'm particularly excited about unveiling this project
because it represents an aspect of my writing that will be new to the LAMC audience. While the piece
retains a very vocal and melodic approach, its harmonic palette is multi-dimensional in keeping with the
expressive breadth and complexity of Plath's poetry.”
Kirchner, Gershon and KUSC’s Alan Chapman participate in ListenUp!, the pre-concert talk at 6 pm,
sponsored by the Flora L. Thornton Foundation.
Tickets range from $29 - $134. Group rates are available. For tickets and information, please call (213)
972-7282, or visit www.lamc.org. (Tickets cannot be purchased at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office
except on concert days starting 2 hours prior to the performance.) The Walt Disney Concert Hall is located
at 111 South Grand Avenue at First Street in downtown Los Angeles.
CALENDAR LISTING
EVENT:
Los Angeles Master Chorale
American Songs & Spirituals
Grant Gershon, conductor
WHEN:
Sunday, June 2, 2013, 7 pm
(ListenUp!, pre-concert talk, 6 pm)
PROGRAM:
BARBER
IVES
ABBIE BETINIS
BARBER
SHAWN KIRCHNER
CARTER
ERIC WHITACRE
DAWSON
HAIRSTON
THOMAS
HOGAN
Sure on this Shining Night
General William Booth Enters Into Heaven
Songs of Smaller Creatures
Agnus Dei
Lesley Leighton, conductor
Plath Songs (World Premiere)
Tarantella
Three Songs of Faith
Ain’-a That Good News
Hold On!
Keep your lamps
The Battle of Jericho
VENUE:
Walt Disney Concert Hall
111 S. Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
TICKET PRICES:
Los Angeles Master Chorale Concludes Season with American Songs & Spirituals June 2, 2013, at Disney Hall – Page 3 of 3
Concert Tickets: $29 - $134;
Student Rush seats available at box office two hours before the performance;
TICKETS/INFORMATION:
213-972-7282
www.lamc.org
(Tickets cannot be purchased at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office except on concert days starting 2 hours prior
to the performance.)
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Artists, program and ticket prices subject to change.
05/02/13