Hall Chorale to Join Costa Mesa Group

The 33-year-old, Pasadena-based William Hall Chorale will be dissolved at the end of the current season and be absorbed into the Master Chorale of Orange County in Costa Mesa, officials of the two groups announced Tuesday.

William Hall is music director of both organizations.

Pending Master Chorale board approval, Hall also will receive a five-year contract with the Orange County group. He became its music director in March, 1988.

Under the new arrangement, the Master Chorale will have a membership of about 150 singers and will remain based in Costa Mesa, Hall said. The Hall Chorale has 90 to 100 singers; the Master Chorale’s current roster lists 115.

Hall said Tuesday that the dissolution of his Pasadena chorale was “a difficult thing,” but added that the “potential (in Orange County) is staggering.

“There is much more for us here,” he said. “This seemed a natural outgrowth since we’re combining the two groups anyway for (Britten’s) War Requiem” on May 21 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.

The Hall Chorale will have its final concert on April 30 when Hall conducts Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at the Pasadena Presbyterian Church.

Hall said that the new organization will also offer concerts at UCLA’s Royce Hall and the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, as well as appearing with the Inland Empire Symphony, in addition to its main season at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Auditions for the merged chorale will be held in the summer. Annual auditions are customary for both organizations.

Hall said he plans to develop a smaller group of 35 to 40 singers for community outreach programs and contracted services.

The Master Chorale’s pops ensemble, the Californians, will remain active, Hall said.

Two members of the Hall Chorale’s board--president Robert Guyett and chairman Kenneth Roehrs--will join the board of the Master Chorale.

The 1989-90 budget for the newly constituted chorale will be about $450,000, an increase over the current Master Chorale budget of $330,000, board chairman John Rhynerson said.

Complicating the identity issue, Hall said that he will retain the name William Hall Chorale for a national touring organization presented by Columbia Artists Management. “But no tours are planned for the next two seasons,” he said.