Palisadian Marian Niles performs with Angel City Chorale.
This weekend, there are a nice selection of holiday concerts to choose from in Pacific Palisades and surrounding areas. There are Pacific Palisades residents performing in these concerts and it might make a nice way to kick off the holiday season. Two of the concerts are free, but donations are welcomed.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6
St. Matthew’s Music Guild
The concert, featuring The Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew’s and Choir of St. Matthew’s Parish, conducted by Dwayne S. Milburn, kicks off with Baroque masterpieces by Henry Purcell and Archangelo Corelli.
The Chamber Orchestra will be joined by choir and soloists in Vivaldi’s effervescent Gloria in D Major. A traditional sing-along of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus will round out the program.
The concert is 8 p.m. St. Matthew’s Music Guild, 1031 Bienveneda Ave. Tickets and Information:click here.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7 AND 8
Angel City Chorale
Accompanied by the Angel City Chorale Orchestra, Artistic Director Sue Fink is back to lead the 180-voice chorale in a program of magnificent and joyful songs dressed up in sparkling arrangements. Now in its 30th year, ACC represents the spirit and diversity of Los Angeles in its membership, its music, and its outreach activities, thereby fulfilling its mission to “Build Community One Song at a Time.” Fink founded the Chorale at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in 1993 with 18 singers.
Angel City Chorale is perhaps best known for its performances on NBC’s top-rated talent competition America’s Got Talent (2018), making it all the way to the semi-finals. Hailed by Simon Cowell as “one of the best choirs we’ve ever had,” the Chorale earned the coveted Golden Buzzer, touching nearly 20 million viewers.
Concerts are at 7 p.m. on December 7 and on 3 p.m. December 8 (the later concert will also be lived streamed). Venue is Royce Hall, UCLA at 340 Royce Drive, L.A. 90095. For tickets: click here.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8
First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica
A holiday concert will be held at the Methodist Church in Santa Monica.
The First UMC Music Department will present one of the most highly anticipated concerts of the year: its annual Christmas Concert. Music will include: “Magnificat” by Gerald Finzi; “Jubilate Deo” by Dan Forrest; and the ever popular “Carols, Etc.” The program features the Chancel Choir – and guests: the Santa Monica College Concert Chorale and Los Angeles Concert Orchestra: and Mark Twain Alumni Ringers. The program will be conducted by Ryan Brown and James Smith. No admission charges – freewill offering will be taken. Reception in Simkins Hall to follow performance.
(For those who can’t attend Sunday night, you may observe the Concert rehearsal Saturday morning (December 7) at 9 a.m. at no charge. Carols and readings rehearsal begins at 11 a.m. Out of courtesy to the musicians please no cell phones; families with babies/small children may listen from the Narthex.)
The concert is at 4 p.m. in the church sanctuary at 1008 11th Street, Santa Monica. No tickets needed. Information: click here.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8
Palisades Symphony – Brentwood Palisades Chorale
This concert will be led by Palisades Symphony director Maxim Kuzin and Brentwood Palisades Chorale director Susan Rosenstein. The concert is free (donations are welcome).
The concert will feature two performed pieces. The orchestra will perform the stirring overture that Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko wrote for his 1890 patriotic opera Taras Bulba.
The chorale will present “Hodie Christus natus est!” — “Today Christ was born” that was sung with joy at Christmas time in the Middle Ages, and provides the title for a spectacular Christmas cantata written in 1954 by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The concert is at 7:30 p.m. at the Community United Methodist Church of Pacific Palisades, 801 Via de la Paz. No tickets needed. Information: click here.