Chorus battle loses a rival

The battle for the choral audience at the Orange County Performing Arts Center has a de facto winner. William Hall stepped down last Sunday after 47 years of leading the William Hall Master Chorale, leaving the field clear for the Pacific Chorale. The two groups have been fighting for a share of the small choral audience for years.

They considered merging in 1988, but the issue of who would lead the combined group scuttled the idea.

Each side wanted its own director: Hall, who merged his Pasadena-based Hall Chorale with the Master Chorale of Orange County in 1989, or John Alexander, who has led the Pacific since 1971.

Hall’s chorale will remain a resident arts organization at Chapman University in Orange, where it moved in 2000, but under a new name and new leadership. The Pacific Chorale’s next concert at the center will be a baroque program on Oct. 27.