The Los Angeles Master Chorale wraps up its 49th season with a celebration of American choral and roots music — classic and new — at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Sunday, June 2, at 7 p.m. Culture Spot LA readers can win free tickets. Please email editor@culturespotla.com with “LAMC tickets” in the subject line to be entered into a drawing.
In addition to works by Samuel Barber, Charles Ives, Elliott Carter, Abbie Betinis, Eric Whitacre and celebrated spiritual composers/arrangers William Dawson, Jester Hairston, André Thomas and Moses Hogan, the program will include the world premiere of “Plath Songs,” set to the poetry of Sylvia Plath by Swan Family Composer-in-Residence Shawn Kirchner.
Kirchner is currently in his first season as LAMC Composer-in-Residence, and “Plath Songs” is the first of his works to be premiered during his tenure. The 25-minute suite for choir, piano and percussion, including vibraphone, bass drum, triangle and tubular bells, is set to seven of Sylvia Plath’s most well-known poems: “Morning Song,” “Mirror,” “Lady Lazarus,” “Tulips,” “Poppies in October,” “Child” and “Blackberrying.”
The entire program includes:
Barber’s “Sure on this Shining Night”
Ives’ “General William Booth Enters Into Heaven”
Abbie Betinis’ “Songs of Smaller Creatures”
Barber’s “Agnus Dei” (Lesley Leighton, conductor)
Shawn Kirchner’s “Plath Songs” (World Premiere)
Carter’s “Tarantella”
Eric Whitacre’s “Three Songs of Faith”
Dawson’s “Ain’-a That Good News”
Hairston’s “Hold On!”
Thomas’ “Keep Your Lamps”
Hogan’s “The Battle of Jericho”
Kirchner, Music Director Grant Gershon and KUSC’s Alan Chapman will participate in ListenUp!, the pre-concert talk at 6 p.m., sponsored by the Flora L. Thornton Foundation.
Walt Disney Concert Hall is located at 111 S. Grand Ave. at First Street in downtown Los Angeles. Tickets range from $29 to $134. For tickets and information, please call (213) 972-7282 or visit www.lamc.org. (Tickets cannot be purchased at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office except on concert days starting two hours prior to the performance.)