On the Town: Glendale teens ready to join regional choir festival
It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sing at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the Glendale High School A Cappella Choir is living the dream.
The local students will be among 1,000 from 31 Southland high schools performing a free concert at 1 p.m. on April 22 during the Los Angeles Master Chorale High School Choir Festival.
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Sharing the podium will be Grant Gershon, artistic director of the master chorale, and special guest Tesfa Wondemagegnehu, the highly regarded conductor of the Radio Choir from American Public Media, a public radio organization that combines multiregional station operations, national content creation and distribution in one organization.
The chorus will perform Handel’s “Sing Unto God” (Judas Maccabeus); Copland’s “Long Time Ago”; “Hold Fast To Dreams” by Susan LaBarr with text by Langston Hughes; Ariel Quintana’s “Sanctus” from “Mass For Two Worlds”; Pedro Gutiérrez’s “Alma Llanera,” arranged by Angel Sauce; “Down by the Riverside” arranged by John Rutter; and “My Good Lord’s Done Been Here,” arranged by André Thomas.
It’s a duo of firsts for Joseph Ortiz, 17. He’s only been in choir for one year and this is his first choir festival.
“I’m very excited because I’ve never been inside of the Disney Concert Hall and have never been able to sing with so many people — so it’s going to be great,” he said.
He’s learned to sing and to read a little music. He’s never performed in a choir before this class, he said.
“Singing is a passion of mine, and I decided to pursue it and that’s what brought me here,” he said.
He gained the confidence to take choir because of his experience in his drama classes. Three years ago, he never would have joined choir, he said.
How does he feel about performing in front of a couple thousand people at the festival?
“I’m not nervous at all, actually,” he said. “I’m really excited.”
Brian Gutierrez, 17, has been in Glendale High School’s A Cappella Choir since his sophomore year and he’s now a senior. The class has taught him leadership skills, he said.
“My sophomore year, I was kind of scared and then there were a lot of upper-classmen so I didn’t know what to expect when I joined,” he said. “Now, as I learn other people need help, I learn [the material] quickly for myself so I can help other people.”
A bonus this year is that four Glendale High A Cappella students will sing in the 100-voice Festival Honor Choir. They are Allela Ortin, Matthew Campos, Sarah Brown and Ruben Muro. The honor choir will perform three a cappella works — “Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal,” arranged by Alice Parker; Paranjoti’s “Dravidian Dithyramb,” and “Una Forma Mas,” arranged by Ana María Raga.
Allela, 17, a senior at Glendale High, has been in A Cappella Choir for three years and Glee (the all-girl choir) for one year.
Every year, the choir festival experience is unique, she said, because there are new songs to learn and different guest conductors.
“It’s really fun and it’s so overwhelming to see 1,000 people together singing their hearts out,” she said.
This is her first year as a member of the festival’s honor choir and she has had additional rehearsals beyond those with the mass choir. Plus, she’s had to learn three more songs, which is a challenge she welcomes as revealed by the sparkle in her eyes.
Being a part of the choir program has taught her team work, she said.
“And basically how all these different voices and notes can blend into something so beautiful and as one,” she said.
The High School Choir Festival began in 1989, and Glendale High School started participating in 1993, said choir director Grace Sheldon-Williams.
The festival is one of the many benefits of the class experience, she said.
“The choir program helps students be part of a team and, on a huge campus like this, it gives them a place to call home,” she said. “And we have several opportunities for building leadership skills, such as serving as an officer, or teaching choreography to the other students. Some students want to be soloists and others are happy just being in a section.”
Most importantly, she added, it’s an opportunity for anyone to come in and try.
Throughout the school year, the choir is introduced to a variety of material that is performed in English and foreign languages such as Latin, German, Italian, Armenian and Spanish, Sheldon-Williams said. One concert a year is dedicated to pop and Broadway numbers.
When I stopped by the class on Monday, the choir sang for me “Hold Fast To Dreams” by Susan LaBarr, one of the pieces they are singing at the festival. The text was written by poet Langston Hughes.
So, in addition to performing classical musical compositions, students are introduced to great American literature, Sheldon-Williams said.
The Los Angeles Master Chorale coordinates the choir festival. Preparation is a yearlong, in-school process that offers intensive teacher training, classroom rehearsals and master classes for students and choral directors led by members of the L.A. Master Chorale.
The program affords students the opportunity to work with renowned national and international guest directors as well as highly acclaimed master chorale director Gershon.
The High School Choir Festival is made possible, in part, by grants from the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, Metropolitan Associates and Edison International.
For more information, call (213) 972-7282 or visit lamc.org/HSCF.
The Glendale High School choir’s spring concert will be at 7 p.m. on April 26 in the school’s John Wayne Performing Arts Center.
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JOYCE RUDOLPH can be reached at rudolphjoyce10@gmail.com.