Sacred Tradition to Be Served at Final Concert : Music: Paulist Boy Choristers will offer classic works tonight, but singers always have an ear out for something a little different.

A lot of the time, the experience of singing in a highly regarded boys choir in Los Angeles is very similar to what it would be in other cities.

But every now and then, it’s a little different.

When the Paulist Boy Choristers present the last concert of their season tonight, tradition will be served. They will perform Masses by Haydn and Schubert, part of an extensive repertoire of sacred music that includes some works from medieval times.

But the group occasionally lands a gig it wouldn’t get in, say, Cleveland. Performing music for a soundtrack, for example, in films such as “Edward Scissorhands” or “Flatliners” and the TV mini-series “The Thorn Birds.” Or making a holiday music video with composer/musician John Tesh, who is also co-host of the television show “Entertainment Tonight.”

Founded in 1977, the choir is based at St. Paul the Apostle School in Westwood. Tonight, the 19-boy choir will sing the Schubert and Haydn Masses in concert with two professional groups, the Paulist Men’s Schola Cantorum and Paulist Symphonia orchestra.

Director Dana Marsh said the group’s repertoire is grounded in sacred choral music from the Middle Ages to the 20th Century, and includes secular master works from all periods.

But the group also has its choice of outside projects, he said. The current one is the holiday music video it will record with Tesh later this month.

The boys, who are 8 to 13, are invited to audition for the choir as early as the second grade and can join in the third grade, said Marsh. Formerly the associate director of the Pasadena Boys Choir, Marsh took over as director of the Paulist choir last November, shortly after the death of founding director Jon Wattenbarger.

In past years, the choir has traveled to Rome, Venice, Paris and London. The group also performed at a Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1987, and has sung with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Although rehearsals and performances take up about eight hours a week during the school year, competition is spirited for places in the choir. At an induction and awards ceremony Tuesday, 11 boys joined the choir; they were among 90 who auditioned, Marsh said.

For a few of the boys, the choir is the beginning of a career in music. One graduate of the program is in Germany studying to be a conductor, Marsh said.

Even those who don’t make careers in music learn significant skills. They come out of the program “well-disciplined, well-mannered and organized,” Marsh said, and with a solid foundation in music theory.

* BOYS CHOIR

The Paulist Boy Choristers perform at 7:30 p.m. at St. Paul the Apostle Church, 10750 Ohio Ave., Westwood. Tickets, available at the door, are $20; $12 for students, $10 senior citizens. Information: (310) 475-2070.