By Robert D. Thomas

Music Critic

Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily
News

The Pasadena Master Chorale will offer five concerts during
its 2012-2013 season, including a reprise of last season’s performance of
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and the start of a two-part project entitled “The
Voice of America.”

Artistic Director Jeffrey Bernstein will lead all seven
performances, beginning with “Songs of the World” on Sept. 30 at 4 p.m. at
Altadena Community Church. This reprise of a popular program from earlier
seasons will include folk songs from the U.S., Scotland and Japan.

Other programs include:

Baroque Christmas —
Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Pasadena

The Chorale will be joined by an orchestra for this holiday
program. The first half will feature Part I of Handel’s Messiah. After intermission comes Claudio Monteverdi’s rarely
performed Magnificat.

Beethoven’s Ninth —
Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m., San Gabriel Mission Playhouse

Last January, PMC teamed up with Los Angeles Daiku for
Beethoven’s final symphony, a tradition on New Year’s Eve in Japan. This year,
singers from Japan will join the PMC and instrumentalists for a repeat
performance in San Gabriel.

Rachmaninoff:
All-Night Vigil — March 23 at 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church,
Pasadena. March 13 at 4 p.m., Altadena Community Church.

No, this performance won’t last all night (just an hour)
although it was written in 1915 to be performed at a Russian Orthodox Church
All-Night Vigil service. The Chorale will record Rachmaninoff’s work before the
concerts, so the singers should be right on their game for the performances.

The Voice of
America — May 17 at 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Pasadena. March
19 at 4 p.m., Altadena Community Church.

This will be the first part of a two-year project supported
by a grant from the LA County Arts Commission. The program will feature composers
who Bernstein believes have defined the “American” choral sound: Randall
Thompson, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. In 2014 PMC will present the
second concert in the series: “The Voice of California.”

Information:
www.pasadenamasterchorale.org

Other season
previews:

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra HERE

The Colburn Orchestra HERE

Pacific Symphony HERE

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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved.
Portions may be quoted with attribution.