Pacific Chorale’s Annual Festival Unites Singers in Music and Community Spirit

Kristina M. Garcia
Aug 15
4 min read

The 17th Annual Choral Festival returns to the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall on Sunday for a free performance that puts the community in the spotlight with a 190-person community choir.

This year's Choral Festival will feature 190 people from all over the country singing in the choir as they are conducted by Grammy Award-winning conductor, Robert Istad. Photo courtesy of Pacific Chorale/Priscilla C. Scott

Every year, Mission Viejo local Lisa Frank returns to the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. She is joined by experienced and novice community members from all over Orange County and beyond to rehearse for two and a half days, then perform in front of a crowd of 2,000 people for one night only.

“It definitely brings back other memories just through the years of singing in many different situations and different choirs. And I think that just that connection with others who have that love of singing in a community really is meaningful,” said Frank, a Pacific Chorale alumna who sang with the choir for a decade.

Pacific Chorale will be hosting its 17th Annual Choral Festival at the Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa on Sunday, Aug. 17 at 5 p.m. at which community members are invited to sing alongside the members of the Chorale. Some have flown in from around the country to make up the 190-person community choir that will be joining the Pacific Chorale for the performance.

Although it’s a free event, the festival will have a “pay what you can” ticket option to support Pacific Chorale’s educational music programs, performances and maintain accessibility for the community.

A full house at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa where the Pacific Chorale's 17th Annual Choral Festival is hosted. Photo courtesy of Pacific Chorale/Priscilla C. Scott

In collaboration with Orange County Food Bank, attendees are encouraged to bring shelf-stable food items, with the donations directly supporting local families in need. Donations will be accepted between 4 and 6 p.m. in the lobby, as well as in the Pacific Chorale’s office on Aug. 18.

This year’s performance will feature a portion of Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass,” Undine Smith Moore’s “We Shall Walk through the Valley” and Adolphus Hailstork’s “I Will Lift Mine Eyes.”

“I specifically chose to program these pieces for the festival because I wanted all of these wonderful guests of ours, these community members, to hear this music and maybe become more interested in (these composers),” said Robert Istad, artistic director and conductor at Pacific Chorale.

The first performance will be selections from Bernstein’s “Mass.” The entire piece is two and a half hours, so Istad focused his selections on excerpts that showcase the composer’s “amazing vocabulary,” and the different styles of music that Bernstein mashed together, such as rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, classical, gospel and Broadway, Istad said.

Moore is known as the “Dean of Black Women Composers” for her choral works, with “We Shall Walk through the Valley” being one of her notable gems. She was influenced by African American spirituals, as well as other forms of Black traditional music.

Interconnecting the two pieces by Moore and Hailstork, Istad included the latter because “I Will Lift Mine Eyes” is dedicated to the memory of Moore. Hailstork bases his piece on Psalm 121, Psalm 13 and Psalm 23, where the piece cycles through three movements of grief, acceptance and hope.

“When people sing, their entire spirit transforms and illuminates their faces,” Istad said. “It's one of my very favorite things about conducting choirs is watching the transformation. You know, watching them sing with such pride and such expressivity and such spirit is – I will never get tired of that.”

PHOTO 1: Robert Istad, artistic director and conductor at Pacific Chorale, will be conducting selections from Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass,” Adolphus Hailstork's “I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes” and Undine Smith Moore's “We Shall Walk Through the Valley.” PHOTO 2: Organist Jung-A Lee, Ph.D., serves as the artist-in-residence at the Pacific Chorale, and is the organist for the festival. Photos courtesy of Pacific Chorale/Priscilla C. Scott

The festival began 17 years ago when the Pacific Chorale was encouraged by the National Endowment for the Arts to put together an American Composers Festival. For the festival, members of the community were invited to join the Pacific Chorale, and since then, it’s been a tradition that returns every year (with the exception of 2021).

“In Southern California, there are so many singers, there are so many people that love to sing in community choirs and church and synagogue choirs, school choirs – and the people loved it so much that we decided to continue the program,” Istad said.

For an event that focuses on community, including its partnership with OC Food Bank and the accessibility of allowing anyone to come sing and watch, it has also been a meeting spot for Istad, the volunteer choir and audience members alike.

The performance being once a year serves as an excuse for some participants to bring their families together, such as a group of friends and family who fly in from Germany and other places around the world to sing together every year, then have a family reunion, all because of the festival.

Istad shares a similar musical connection with his mother who, since 2018, flies in every year from Northern Illinois to sing in the chorale festival. Istad said it’s an emotional moment conducting the choir, and looking up to see his mother singing alongside him.

“It's just delightful to see that this chorale festival brought together my two worlds, my immediate family and also my Pacific Chorale family in such a beautiful way,” Istad said.

The festival will be a little less than an hour with no intermission.

“I think a choir is a perfect testament to the fact that when we all just listen louder than we sing, when we care about each other and we sing and we create harmony first, we can accomplish so much together,” Istad said. “It's a testament to positivity and beauty and community. That's what I hope the audience will take away.”