COSTA MESA, CA (January 12, 2024) – Pacific Chorale’s stellar chamber choir showcases its captivating artistry on “Language of Love,” an intimate program of sublime love songs, on Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 7:30 pm, at CSU Fullerton’s Meng Concert Hall. Artistic Director Robert Istad conducts a selection of treasured Broadway tunes, pop hits, dazzling vocal jazz, inspiring choral music, and cabaret-style solos. An instrumental combo joins the choir.

Among the featured works is a rare complete performance of Morten Lauridsen’s Les Chansons des Roses, his masterful setting of Rilke’s exquisite love poetry hailed as “celestial and spine-tingling” (International Review of Music). UK’s Daily Express decreed, “contemporary choral music doesn’t come any better than this.”

Other highlights include Elton John’s touching Your Song, arranged by Mac Huff; James Taylor’s Something in the Way She Moves; Irving Berlin’s iconic Cheek to Cheek, arranged by Bill Cunliffe; Edith Piaf’s instantly recognizable La Vie En Rose; and Eric Whitacre’s poignant With a Lily in Your Hand. Istad also conducts Ben Folds’ The Luckiest, arranged by Jim Clemens; Samuel Barber’s The Coolin from Reincarnations; and Come What May from “Moulin Rouge.”

Istad says, “As familiar as much of the music is, Pacific Chorale will present these works anew. Audiences will be enveloped in an aural blanket of stunningly beautiful music when the choir infuses these breathtaking works with its rich harmonies and vocal textures.”

Pacific Chorale’s 2023-24 Season is made possible by generous support from Platinum Season Sponsor Phillip N. and Mary A. Lyons.

Meng Concert Hall is located at CSU Fullerton, 800 N. State College Drive, Fullerton, 92831. For tickets to “Language of Love” ($25 - $80) and information, visit www.pacificchorale.org or call 714-662-2345.

ROBERT ISTAD, a Grammy Award-winning conductor who “fashions fluent and sumptuous readings” (Voice of OC) with his “phenomenal” artistry (Los Angeles Times), was appointed Pacific Chorale’s Artistic Director in 2017. Under his leadership, the chorus continues to expand its reputation for excellence for delivering fresh, thought-provoking interpretations of beloved masterworks, rarely performed gems and newly commissioned pieces. In July 2023, he led Pacific Chorale’s first international tour in seven years, conducting performances at leading venues in Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom. His artistic impact can be heard on two recent recordings featuring Pacific Chorale, including the 2022 Grammy Award-winning “Mahler’s Eighth Symphony” with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel on Deutsche Grammophon (2021), for which he prepared the chorus. It won Best Choral Performance and also garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album, Classical. Additionally, Istad conducted the Pacific Chorale’s recording “All Things Common: The Music of Tarik O’Regan” released on Yarlung Records (2020). He regularly conducts and collaborates with Pacific Symphony, Berkshire Choral International, and Yarlung Records. His extensive credits also include recording for Sony Classical and guest conducting Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, Bach Collegium San Diego, Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, Bath Philharmonia, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Tesserae Baroque, and Freies Landesorchester Bayern. Istad has prepared choruses for such renowned conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Williams, John Mauceri, Keith Lockhart, Nicholas McGegan, Vasilly Sinaisky, Sir Andrew Davis, Bramwell Tovey, Carl St.Clair, Eugene Kohn, Giancarlo Guerrero, Marin Alsop, George Fenton, and Robert Moody. An esteemed educator, Istad is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at California State University (CSUF), Fullerton, where he was recognized as CSUF’s 2016 Outstanding Professor of the Year. He conducts the University Singers and manages a large graduate conducting program, in addition to teaching courses on conducting and choral literature. Istad, who is on the Executive Board of Directors of Chorus America and serves as Dean of Chorus America’s Conducting Academy, is in demand as guest conductor, lecturer, and clinician.

The Grammy Award-winning PACIFIC CHORALE, led by Artistic Director Robert Istad, is an Orange County “treasure” with a “fresh viewpoint” that “can sing anything you put in front of it with polish, poise and tonal splendor” (Orange County Register). It has risen to national prominence since its founding in 1968.

Hailed for delivering “thrilling entertainment” (Voice of OC), 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 Philharmonica, 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, will be streamed through December 1, 2024 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

Robert Istad, conductor

Members of Pacific Chorale

Instrumental ensemble

Saturday, February, 24, 2024, 7:30 pm

Meng Concert Hall, CSU Fullerton

800 N. State College Drive

Fullerton, 92831

single tickets are $25-$80

www.pacificchorale.org

714-662-2345

Artists, dates, programs and venues subject to change

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