TO THE HANDS MAKES PUBLIC DEBUT ON PBS SOCAL AND YOUTUBE, BRINGING PACIFIC CHORALE'S GENRE-SPANNING CHORAL-THEATRICAL FILM TO GLOBAL AUDIENCES

On November 14, join Pacific Chorale on air and online for the free public release of To the Hands, our second choral-theatrical film and a singular artistic project in the Chorale’s 59-season history. After its world premiere at the prestigious Newport Beach Film Festival in October 2025, To the Hands went on to earn official selections, awards, and nominations at 15 film festivals internationally, including best feature, best experimental, and best human rights film. 

Created from our September 2024 live performances at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, To the Hands merges music, movement, and light into a cinematic reflection on displacement, homelessness, and the human need to belong. The film asks the viewer a central question: 

Would you harbor me? Would I harbor you?

At the film's heart is Caroline Shaw's neo-baroque cantata To the Hands (2016), written in direct response to Dieterich Buxtehude's 1680 "Ad manus" — two composers, three centuries apart, reaching toward the same plea for mercy. Around that axis, the film builds an unlikely and cohesive musical fusion: Michael McGlynn's Media Vita and Buxtehude's baroque foundation weave into the American folk-spiritual intimacy of Shawn Kirchner's Angel Band, Moira Smiley's Wayfaring Stranger, Kevin Siegfried's Lay Me Low with Ysaÿe Barnwell's Would You Harbor Me?. Ken Burton's prismatic gospel-blues song A Prayer combines with the alternative pop beauty of Sarah McLachlan's Fear and Simply Red's soul ballad Holding Back the Years.

Under Robert Istad and Marty Austin Lamar's direction, Pacific Chorale fluidly expresses these remarkable acoustic works in an emotional modern lament – and a timely reminder to love our neighbor. 

CREATIVE TEAM

​​​​​​​Robert Istad and Alex Nelson, Producers
Marty Austin Lamar, Director
Christian Amonson, Arts Laureate, Editing and Recording Direction
Pamela Wess, Arts Laureate, Video Editor
Lauren K.O. Dixon, Lighting Design
Courtney Ozovek, Choreographer
Omar Ramos, Projection Design​​​​​​

FEATURING

Robert Istad, Artistic Director & Conductor
Members of Pacific Chorale
Members of Delirium Musicum
Etienne Gara, Artistic Director
David Clemensen, piano​​​​​
​​​​​​​Julia Atkinson, Sophia Bernardo, Erik Jaimes, Mila Gonzales and Emily Kelley, dancers

PRODUCTION SPONSORS

David and Darrellyn Melilli, Producing Sponsor
Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Co-Sponsor
National Endowment for the Arts, Co-Sponsor
The Ron Rudderow Legacy Fund, Recording Underwriting
Pacific Chorale’s Artistic Innovation Fund, Additional Support

Learn more about bringing To The Hands to life.

How to Watch

YouTube Premiere
Saturday, November 14 at 10:00 a.m. PT
Featuring the complete Producer’s Cut

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL FOR NOTIFICATIONS

PBS SoCal Friday, November 13 at 11:30 p.m. PT

PBS SoCal Plus Saturday, November 14 at 9:00 p.m. PT

PBS SoCal Encore Thursday, November 26 at 7:00 p.m. PT

PBS App Streaming free beginning November 13

From its beginnings on the Samueli Theater stage to its journey through the film festival circuit, To the Hands continues to find new audiences and new ways to bring its questions of empathy, vulnerability, and care into conversation.

We look forward to sharing the next chapter with you.