The Choir of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels will sing Evening Prayer and a Choral Concert Oct. 30, 4 p.m., to support the Choir at the International Bach Choral Festival in Leipzig, Germany.
The Bach inaugural festival, open to only four select choirs from around the world, will take place in Leipzig, where Johann Sebastian Bach served for 27 years as Choirmaster of St. Thomas Choir School, noted Frank Brownstead, Cathedral music director. The Festival's mission, he said, "is to foster a spirit of harmony among nations through the medium of Bach's master creations, while benefiting efforts to preserve the original Bach manuscripts for the benefit of future generations."
"The fact that our Los Angeles Cathedral Choir is the only choir selected from the United States is a tremendous honor," Brownstead said. Other selected choirs for the Leipzig festival are the Reading Bach Choir, UK; Daejeon Phiulharmonic Choir, Korea; and the Itwata Bach Choir, Japan.
Works to be performed on Oct. 30 include Ego Sum Panis (William Byrd); Sicut Cervus (Palestrina); Bach's Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren, BWV 231 and Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden, BWV 230; Kyrie from the Mass in G, BWV 236; O Sacrum Convivium (James Biery); and If Ye Love Me (Philip Lawson).
Organ concert Oct. 29
Part of a weekend of classical music at the Cathedral, the choir's performance will be preceded Oct. 29 by an organ concert performed by Paul Jacobs, chairman of the organ department at New York's Juilliard School at Lincoln Center, who will play the entire organ works of composer Olivier Messiaen (1900-1992) on the Cathedral pipe organ from 2 to 11 p.m.
Jacobs was appointed to the Juilliard faculty in 2003 at the age of 26, making him one of the youngest faculty appointments in the school's history. In 2004 he was a featured artist at the American Guild of Organists national convention in Los Angeles. In 2002 he performed this concert of Messiaen's organ works in one-day marathons in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, San Francisco, Minneapolis and Seattle, and recently repeated the performance in New York City.
There is a suggested donation of $12 for the Oct. 29 organ concert and $10 for the Oct. 30 choir concert; parking in the Cathedral underground lot is a flat rate of $5. The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels is located at 555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles. For more information, call (213) 680-5205 or visit the cathedral website at www.olacathedral.org. |