Costa Mesa’s Pacific Chorale hits a high note with Grammy win
When the Costa Mesa-based Pacific Chorale took home a Grammy on April 3, the renowned choir fulfilled a nearly 25-year-old dream.
“I was talking to a former board chair, and he said 25 years ago, they were all in a board meeting and said if we were to dream what would happen years from now it would be to win a Grammy award,” said Pacific Chorale Artistic Director Robert Istad. “And it happened.”
Last Sunday, Pacific Chorale, the resident chorus at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, shared the 2022 Grammy Award for “Choral Performance” at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards presented in Las Vegas.
“I am absolutely elated and feelings so honored,” said Istad, who was at the ceremony to accept the award, “to even have been nominated. So many of the people in my category are my idols, people that I have looked up to my entire career.”
The Grammy was awarded for a recording of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major, “Symphony of a Thousand,” a piece the group recorded along with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, National Children’s Chorus and eight soloists, under the baton of conductor Gustavo Dudamel.
“Mahler’s 8th Symphony was called ‘Symphony of a Thousand’ by the original concert promoter because it is such a huge piece,” said Istad. “It is written for this gigantic-sized symphony orchestra and a double symphony chorus with a children’s choir … usually when they perform this piece it is an all-hands-on-deck community effort.”
The recording, which featured soloists Leah Crocetto, Mihoko Fujimura, Ryan McKinny, Erin Morley, Tamara Mumford, Simon O’Neill, Morris Robinson and Tamara Wilson, was also nominated for Best Engineered Album, Classical.
“We had our own separate rehearsals and then met together in Disney Hall with Gustavo right in front of us for the very first together preparation,” Istad said. “It was one of those magical, musical moments that you can’t really capture again.”
Those magical, musical moments are part of why Istad got involved with music in the first place. He trained as an instrumentalist but was required to sing in the choir in college.
“I think the human voice is the world’s most extraordinary instrument,” Istad said. “When everybody breathes the same air together and uses their own God-given instrument to create a glorious sound, there is something heavenly and other worldly about it.”
The win makes Pacific Chorale the first O.C.-based classical music organization ever to win a Grammy in any category, recognition that Istad said was a dream for many involved with the organization over the years.
“Artistic Director Emeritus John Alexander imagined this dream decades ago during his long and fruitful 45-year tenure. His hard work and dedication to artistic excellence paved the way for today’s successes and tomorrow’s artistic triumphs,” said Istad. “Pacific Chorale would not be where it is today without him.”
Pacific Chorale will close out its 2021-22 season with a concert, conducted by Istad on May 7 at 5 p.m. in the Reneé and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa.
“This is our final performance of our return season from the pandemic ... It is the first time we have been able to get together 120 singers. We have been singing with smaller groups all season,” Istad said.
The choir performance includes Ralph Vaughan Williams’ masterwork “Dona Nobis Pacem” and the world premiere of “The Quickening,” a new choral fanfare by Grammy-nominated former Pacific Chorale Composer-in-Residence Tarik O’Regan.
“What is really special about this is we commissioned an Orange County poet, his name is Marcus Omari, for the lyrics … he has written a poem for this piece,” Istad said.
The concert will also include the West Coast premiere of Frank Ticheli’s “Until Forever Fades Away,” Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw’s “Music in Common Time” for choir and orchestra and Jake Runestad’s setting of Walt Whitman’s “Proud Music of the Storm.”
Tickets for the performance can be found at pacificchorale.org.
Istad said he is proud of the entire community that has contributed to Pacific Chorale, from singers to donors to their seven full-time staff members.
“So many thousands of singers and donors have poured their lives into strengthening this organization and building it into what it is today, one of America’s great choirs,” Istad said.
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