Roger Wagner Conductor
Dorothy Wade Concertmistress
Nancy Mehta Narrator
Kari Windingstad Soprano
Joanette Beiter Soprano
Bonnie Hurwood Mezzo-soprano
Byron Wright Tenor
David Pittman jennings Baritone
Margaret Zeleny Soprano
Dorothy Remsen Harpist
Thomas Harmon Organist
Robert Hunter ~ Pianist
California Boys' Choir - Douglas Neslund, Music Director - Robert Rogers, Stage Director
Women's Handbell Choir of the Neighborhood Church
~ of Palos Verdes Don Whi tsitt, Director
SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 18,1976, AT 8:30P.M. SUNDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 19,1976, AT 7:30P.M.
DOROTHY CHANDLER PAVILION
lOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE AND SINFONIA ORCHESTRA
ROGER WAGNER, Music Director
Puer Natus Est Gregorian Chant
Puer Natus Est Roger Wagner
Hodie Christus Natus Est Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)
Magnificat
Magnificat anima mea (My soul doth magnify the Lord)
Chorus
Et exultavit
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
(And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior) Joanette Beiter
Quia respexit (For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden)
Kari Windingstad
Omnes generationes (All generations)
Chorus
Quia fecit mihi magna (For He that is mighty hath done to me great things)
David Jennings
Et misericordia (And His mercy is on them that fear Him)
Bonnie Hurwood, Byron Wright
Fecit potentiam (He hath showed His strength with His arm)
Chorus
Deposuit (He hath put down the mighty from their seats)
Byron Wright
Esurientes (He hath filled the hungry with good things)
Bonnie Hurwood
Suscepit Israel (He hath helped His servant Israel)
Chorus
Sicut locutus est (As He spake to our fathers)
Chorus
Gloria (Glory be to the Father)
Chorus
The Flight into Egypt from L'Enfance du Christ
Orchestra
Hector Berlioz (1803-1863)
Farewell to The Shepherds from Hector Berlioz (1803-1863) L'Enfance du Christ
Chorus and OrcHestra
Christmas Day Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
Choral fantasy on old carols
Soloists: Patricia Redford, Soprano Bonnie Hurwood, Mezzo-soprano David Jennings, Baritone
INTERMISSION
A Ceremony of Carols (for treble choir and Harp) Benjamin Britten (b. 1913)
Procession Wolcum Vole! There is no rose The younge child Balulalow As dew in Aprille This little Babe Interlude In Freezing winter night Spring Carol Deo Gracias Recession
Soloists: Edward Johnson, Soprano Brian Chacon, Mezzo-soprano
Boys' Choir
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day
English Carol Arranged by John Klein
Arranged by Margaret Davis
Masters of This House French Carol Arranged by Margaret Davis
Women's Handbell Choir
Christmas Candle Elinor Remick Warren Women's Handbell Choir and Chorale
The Christmas Story (Saint Luke's)
We Three Kings What Child is This
Narrator: Nancy Mehta
Oh Little Town of Bethlehem Gesu Bambino
Angels We Have Heard on High The Virgin's Slumber Song joy to The World
Silent Night
Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah
Original Score & Arr. by Roger Wagner
John Henry Hopkins Traditional English Tune
"Greensleeves"
lewis Redner Pietro Yon
French Carol Max Reger
lowell Mason
Franz Gruber
G. F. Handel (1685-1759)
Allen Digital Computer Organ from Gould Music Co., Pasadena
The musical presentations of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Slnfonla Orchestra are sponsored by the Los Angeles Master Chorale Association. a Resident Group of the Music Center, and by grants from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and County Music Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal Agency In Washington, D.C.
Latecomers will not be seated unll/ the first convenient pause In the performance. I Invited guests are welcome backstage after the performance; use performers' entrances: Grand Ave. side of Plaza for Pavilion, corner of Temple & Grand for Ahmanson, and rear of theatre for forum. I Use of tape recorders and I or cameras prohibited In auditorium. I Your use of a ticket consl/lutes acknowledgement of willingness to appear In photographs taken In public areas of The Music Center and releases The Music Center Operating Co., Its lessees and a/J others from /lability resulting from use of such photographs. 1 Program and artists subJect to change. I Patrons cannot be paged during a performance. Individuals expecting emergency calls must leave their seat numbers with the House Manager.
Nancy (Kovack) Mehta made her professional debut on the Today Show for NBC before moving to Hollywood where she starred in both motion pictures and television. In 1968 she returned to California after spending more than two years in Iran where she starred in three films. In 1969, she and Zubin Mehta, conductor of the los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, were married, and they currently reside in Brentwood.
Mezzo-soprano Bonnie Hurwood, a fourth-generation Californian, won the San Francisco Youth Symphony auditions in 1959 and that same year enrolled as a scholarship student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she sang Dorabella in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and the wife in Milhaud's La Pauvre Matelot. After two years of study with Dr. David Scott at California State University Northridge, she entered and won the Metropolitan Opera Western Regional Auditions and in New York was a winner in the National semi-finals. While at Cal State Northridge, Miss Hurwood sang in many opera productions, including the title role in Bizet's Carmen. With the Los Angeles Philharmonic Miss Hurwood has performed both at Hollywood Bowl and in the Music Center and she has completed two national tours as alto soloist with the Roger Wagner Chorale.
David Pittman Jennings, baritone, has appeared professionally with the San Antonio Grand Opera Association, the Los Angeles Guild Opera, the Euterpe
Opera Club of Los Angeles, the Tulsa Civic Opera, the UCLA Opera Theater, and many others, most recently havin~ signed a two-year contract to sing w1th the Graz {Austria) Opera Company, after winning first prize in the Loren Zachary Society Auditions.
His credits include many Oratorio roles: St. John Passion, Messiah, The Creation, St. Matthew Passion, and Elijah. Mr. Jennings's opera credits are most impressive, ranging in scope from Britten to Zador. He has also performed many major works of Bach Brahms, Haydn, and Stravinsky. '
The California Boys' Choir, founded and directed by Douglas Neslund witlt Robert Rogers, stage director, is composed of twenly-five youths ranging in age from 11 to 15 years. Recruited from auditions held twice each year for boys from this area, the group spends several weeks during summer in concentrated study as well as attending weekly rehearsals during the academic year. They are taught enough French, German, Italian, and Latin to sing in these languages. Most of the choir members play musical instruments, and most remain with the choir through the years of voice change, from fourteen to sixteen.
The California Boys' Choir was founded in 1968 and performed its first concert in October of that year. A non-profit organization, the California Boys' Choir makes its home at the California Museum of Science and Industry, of which it is an Affiliated Group.
Women's Handbell Choir of the Neighborhood Church of
Palos Verdes
Formed in 1966, the Neighborhood Church Women's Handbell Choir is the senior of four handbell choirs at the church in Palos Verdes Estates. Most of the present members have played together for five years or more.
They use a four-octave set of handbells made by Schulmerich Carillons, Inc., Pennsylvania, and valued at $3,000. Handbell ringers always wear gloves because the natural acid on the hands would eventually damage the finish and tone of the bells.
Roger Wagner, during his long and illustrious career, has received a plethora of signal honors from his city, county, the nation, and throughout the world. In 1953 Wagner and his Chorale were invited to participate at the coronation festivities of Elizabeth II in London. In 1959 and again in 1964 he and the Chorale were select-ed to represent the United States in concerts throughout Latin America. In 1966 the United States State Department, through its Cultural Exchange Program, again sent the Chorale on tour to the Middle East, Turkey, Yugoslavia, France, and Italy. In Rome he and the Chorale had the honor of singing for Pope Paul VI at an audience in St. Peter's Basilica- the first nonItalian choir to do so in twenty-five years. In January, 1973, Roger Wagner shared the podium with Eugene Ormandy to conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale at the Inaugural Concert at Kennedy Center. In May, 1973, Dr. Wagner served as guest conductor of major symphonies during a monthlong tour of the major capitals of ( South America, and in July he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic and his Chorale in Bach's 8 Minor Mass at the Hollywood Bowl. In May, 1974, he conducted a triumphal tour of the Soviet Union with the Master Chorale, where "he made a notable impact on the Soviet musical world." In July, 1976, Dr. Wagner conducted the New Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chorale of Radio France in concerts in Paris, during the Festival Estival de Paris. The prestigious Paris publication "Le Monde" wrote "under his dynamic direction, Roger Wagner emerged extremely precise, devoid of all stiffness and complaisance." Roger Wagner and his Chorale were invited to participate in the Israeli Festival in August, 1976. The Chorale was critically acclaimed for its performances in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Caesarea, and Haifa. In commemoration of the Chorale's outstanding participation in the Israeli Festival, Wagner was awarded the Knesset silver medal of the State of Israel. Dr. Wagner holds a full professorship in the Music Department at UCLA. He has made numerous recordings and received the Grammy Award for his Album Virtuoso.
The Los Angeles Master Chorale and Sinfonia Orchestra is now in its thirteenth season of presenting great choral masterworks in the Music Center and the Hollywood Bowl. The organization, which was formed by Roger Wagner and the Los Angeles Jun ior Chamber of Commerce, became a resident company of the Music Center in 1964. Dr. Wagner has been music director for the Chorale and Orchestra since its formation. Each year a series of important choral programs is presented in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, marking Los Angeles as the only city in the country which supports its own professional resident chorus presenting an annual choral season. One hundred twenty-five of the Southland's finest singers have been admitted to the select membership in the ensemble. The Sinfonia Orchestra membership is drawn from professional ranks in the Los Angeles area and is one of the finest in the United States.
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion House Staff
GERALD SCHAUB Master Carpenter
ALUN JONES Master Electrician
CARMINE D. MARINELLI Master of Properties
CHUCK LEWIS Master Audio
The LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE proudly presents its
ANNUAL CHOIR NIGHT CONCERT
Saturday, January 29, 1977
8:30P.M. at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
in an unusual a cappella program of both modern and Renaissance works directed by DR. ROGER WAGNER
Selections include: Vaughan Williams Ginastera Lazarof Schoenberg
Mass in G Minor Lamentations Canti Friede auf Erden
and selected antiphonal Renaissance masterpieces
Soloists include: Mary Rawcliffe Jeannine Wagner Byron Wright David Pittman Jennings
soprano alto tenor baritone
The Orchestra section reserved for Choir Groups (20 or more) at a reduced rate. Call Mrs. Hay (972-7282) for particulars.
LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE ASSOCIATION
Board of Directors -1976/1977
Officers Mr. Louis D. Statham
Honorary Co-Chairman of the Board
Mr. Z. Wayne Griffin Honorary Co-Chairman of the Board
Mr. CurtisS. Tamkin, President Mrs. George B. Allison, Vice President
Mrs. John A. Richards, Vice President
Mr. Marshall A. Rutter, Vice President
Mr. James Wharton, Vice President
Mr. D. H. von Wittenburg, Secretary Mr. Lorenzo D. Courtright, Treasurer
Directors Mr. Robert McKim Bell Mrs. Geraldine Smith Healy Mr. Warner W. Henry Dr. Louis W. Kang Mr. Thomas F. Kranz Mrs. Giles W. Mead Mr. Clifford A. Miller Mrs. Reese Milner Mr. Donald J. Nores Mrs. John K. Pike Mr. Harrison A. Price Mrs. Stephen Reinhardt Mrs. Charles Schneider Miss Lucy Zahran
Honorary Directors Mr. Thomas P. Cassidy Mrs. Dorothy Kirsten French Mrs. Herbert A. Hilmer Mrs. Bob Hope Mr. Charles Luckman Mr. Meredith Willson
Ex Officio Members of the Board Dr. Roger Wagner,
Music Director Mrs. Paul Salamunovich, President,
Master Chorale Associates Mr. Doyle Phillips, General Manager
STAFF
DOYLE PHILLIPS General Manager
t015-SPAIN" Secretary
DOROTHY BLAIR Public Relations ROSEMARY HAY
Group Sales Director RAE MACDONALD Production Assistant
MIKE RUBIN Orchestra Personnel Manager