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Strength in singing numbers
  
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Glendale High is part of a collection of 28 choral groups that performs at Disney Hall festival.
By Angela Hokanson
The nearly 1,000-member choir that performed Friday at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles was so big it couldn’t fit on stage.
Instead, the singers stood where the audience normally sits, in the rows of seats on all four sides of the stage.
The group was a combined choir made up of choral groups from 28 Southland high schools, including Glendale High School’s chamber choir. The choirs performed at Disney Hall during the 19th annual High School Choir Festival, an event organized by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the resident choral ensemble at the Los Angeles Music Center.
The high school festival gives the students a chance to perform a variety of choral music with their peers in a world-class concert hall, said Master Chorale Music Director Grant Gershon, who conducted the high school performance.
“There’s just no building like it on the planet,” he said.
Twenty-seven Glendale High students sang in the concert. Glendale High’s chamber choir has participated in the festival 10 times before, but it has been six years since it last participated, said Grace Sheldon-Williams, the school’s vocal music director. It was also the school’s first time participating since the festival has been held in Disney Hall.
“It’s great music, a great venue, and of course, Grant Gershon is a genius,” Sheldon-Williams said.
The combined choir sang a diverse collection of music during the show, which was free and open to the public.
The performance opened with two movements from Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” and then sang four other pieces, including Gabriel Fauré’s “Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11” in French, and a more contemporary piece by Los Angeles-based composer Georgia Stitt called “The Promise of Light.”
Faure’s piece is tricky because it’s sung in French, Gershon said.
“The music doesn’t work if the sound of the French isn’t right,” he said.
And getting the massive collection of students to sing as a cohesive group can be a challenge, he said.
“It’s kind of like piloting an aircraft carrier,” he said.
The Glendale High students began rehearsing the pieces for the festival at the beginning the school year. About two weeks ago, they rehearsed in Los Angeles with about 350 of the participating students, Sheldon-Williams said. Friday morning, the 28 schools rehearsed as a group for the first and only time before the show went on.
Working with Gershon, singing in such a large group and experiencing the acoustics of Disney Hall were all exciting aspects of the festival, Glendale High students said.
“Sound reverberates in a way that’s not possible in an auditorium,” said Jonathan Harrison, 18. “And we don’t have that kind of organ,” he said, referring to the concert hall’s 6,000-pipe organ.
Students said they were impressed with Gershon’s energy, and his ability to pick the correct pitch out of thin air.
“He can sing as low as a bass and as high as a soprano,” said Justin Hemaidan, 17.
The festival also gives the high school choirs a chance to perform alongside their peers in a non-competitive setting.
“It’s more about the music now,” Harrison said.
ANGELA HOKANSON covers education. She may be reached at (818) 637-3238 or by e-mail at angelahokanson@latimes.com.
Instead, the singers stood where the audience normally sits, in the rows of seats on all four sides of the stage.
The group was a combined choir made up of choral groups from 28 Southland high schools, including Glendale High School’s chamber choir. The choirs performed at Disney Hall during the 19th annual High School Choir Festival, an event organized by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the resident choral ensemble at the Los Angeles Music Center.
The high school festival gives the students a chance to perform a variety of choral music with their peers in a world-class concert hall, said Master Chorale Music Director Grant Gershon, who conducted the high school performance.
“There’s just no building like it on the planet,” he said.
Twenty-seven Glendale High students sang in the concert. Glendale High’s chamber choir has participated in the festival 10 times before, but it has been six years since it last participated, said Grace Sheldon-Williams, the school’s vocal music director. It was also the school’s first time participating since the festival has been held in Disney Hall.
“It’s great music, a great venue, and of course, Grant Gershon is a genius,” Sheldon-Williams said.
The combined choir sang a diverse collection of music during the show, which was free and open to the public.
The performance opened with two movements from Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” and then sang four other pieces, including Gabriel Fauré’s “Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11” in French, and a more contemporary piece by Los Angeles-based composer Georgia Stitt called “The Promise of Light.”
Faure’s piece is tricky because it’s sung in French, Gershon said.
“The music doesn’t work if the sound of the French isn’t right,” he said.
And getting the massive collection of students to sing as a cohesive group can be a challenge, he said.
“It’s kind of like piloting an aircraft carrier,” he said.
The Glendale High students began rehearsing the pieces for the festival at the beginning the school year. About two weeks ago, they rehearsed in Los Angeles with about 350 of the participating students, Sheldon-Williams said. Friday morning, the 28 schools rehearsed as a group for the first and only time before the show went on.
Working with Gershon, singing in such a large group and experiencing the acoustics of Disney Hall were all exciting aspects of the festival, Glendale High students said.
“Sound reverberates in a way that’s not possible in an auditorium,” said Jonathan Harrison, 18. “And we don’t have that kind of organ,” he said, referring to the concert hall’s 6,000-pipe organ.
Students said they were impressed with Gershon’s energy, and his ability to pick the correct pitch out of thin air.
“He can sing as low as a bass and as high as a soprano,” said Justin Hemaidan, 17.
The festival also gives the high school choirs a chance to perform alongside their peers in a non-competitive setting.
“It’s more about the music now,” Harrison said.
ANGELA HOKANSON covers education. She may be reached at (818) 637-3238 or by e-mail at angelahokanson@latimes.com.
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