Performances Magazine | L.A. Master Chorale, April 2026

AMERICA’S MOST CELEBRATED PROFESSIONAL CHORUS

MOZART’S REQUIEM

APRIL 19, 2026

GRANT GERSHON KIKI & DAVID GINDLER ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

JENNY WONG ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

contents

P1 Program

Cast, performances, who’s who, director’s notes and donors

6 In the Wings

New York City Ballet at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion downtown; new David Geffen Galleries at Los Angeles Museum of Art; Guac returns to Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City

10 Taking a Bow

As music director James Conlon prepares to leave L.A. Opera, he reflects on the two-decade career that he never saw coming. He takes his final curtain call with performances of The Magic Flute.

16 Hollywood Heritage

Design: Celebrity designer Jaime Rummerfield is as passionate about creating new spaces as she is saving historic ones.

24 A New Garden Blooms

Dining: Mastro’s Steakhouse in Beverly Hills unveils The Garden at The Penthouse, a stunning expansion atop its multi-level venue.

A culinary

for your theatre outing encore

A PERFECT DINING EXPERIENCE TO PAIR WITH YOUR PERFORMANCE

Indulge in a seasonal three-course prix fixe menu at Noé Restaurant & Bar, just a short walk from the theatre. Enjoy a stress-free meal with valet parking for $25 and receive 15% off your bill at Noé when you present your theatre program. Scan the QR code & reserve your table now for an unforgettable evening.

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STORIED LEGACY

PREMIER DANCE COMPANY

New York City Ballet returns to the Music Center after an absence of more than 20 years; the engagement features two programs over seven performances June 24-28 at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Rooted in revolutionary choreography, the troupe has shaped the ballet canon for more than 75 years with masterpieces by founder George Balanchine and co-founding choreographer Jerome Robbins as well as more contemporary works by Ulysses Dove, Justin Peck, Tiler Peck, Dianna Reisen and Christopher Wheelson. The company will showcase its legacy with captivating repertory. The first program, Wednesday through Friday, includes Signs, Red Angels, A Suite of Dances and The Times are Racing; on the second, Saturday and Sunday, are Concerto Barocco, Allegro Brillante, This Bitter Earth and Concerto for Two Pianos. 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown, 213.972.7211, musiccenter.org DANCE

NEW VIEW ON ART

THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY

Museum of Art (LACMA) unveils its new David Geffen Galleries, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor to replace four aging structures on the LACMA campus. The building’s 900-footlong elevated concrete-and-glass structure spans Wilshire Boulevard; gallery space, 110,000 square feet, can hold 2,500 to 3,000 objects from the museum’s permanent collection. LACMA plans to present art from all cultures and eras, both museum favorites and recent acquisitions, on a single level without prescribed visitor pathways. Forty-five curators collaborate on the initial installation, using the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea, as the organizing framework. The venue opens with two weeks of priority member access beginning April 19. 5905 Wilshire Blvd, L.A., 323.857.6000, lacma.org

Love, loss and rage

THEATER

AFTER A VERY successful run in the fall, Guac returns to the

Kirk Douglas Theatre April 28 to May 17. Written and performed by Manuel Oliver, the critically acclaimed show is a fearless, funny and deeply moving theatrical tour-deforce; it centers on a father who turns activist seven years after his son, Joaquín “Guac” Oliver, is killed in the Parkland school shooting. Oliver tells his own true story, channeling his love and rage into a powerful force for change. From pepperoni-bacon pizza to air-guitar solos, he paints a vivid, unforgettable portrait of a vibrant life cut short— and of a father’s relentless fight for a better future. 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City, 213.628.2772, centertheatregroup.org

TAKING A BOW

As music director James Conlon prepares to leave L.A. Opera, he reflects on the two-decade career that he never saw coming. by LIBBY SLATE

HERE’S SOME EASY—but significant—math. L.A. Opera is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. James Conlon has been its music director for 20 years. Which means that when he takes his final curtain call in that role for The Magic Flute, June 21 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion downtown, he will have served as music director for half of L.A. Opera’s existence.

More numbers: In those two decades, the maestro will have conducted 70 operas by 32 composers, a total of 519 performances; his milestone 500th performance

came during this season’s opening production, West Side Story

And then there’s that nice round zero when it comes to Conlon’s conducting cancellations thus far.

“I don’t think I’ve ever canceled a performance,” Conlon says in a phone interview, enjoying the February sun in his Los Angeles backyard. “I was thinking of that the other day—was I ever too ill not to do it? I have to fact-check that and get back to you.”

And he does, confirming that impressive record. As for orchestra rehearsals, “I only missed two the entire time, when I had Covid.”

Good health? Yes, but also the sort of devotion that audiences and colleagues have come to expect from Conlon, who shares his knowledge and enthusiasm for opera not only via his conducting finesse, but with popular pre-show talks— available for viewing on YouTube —program notes and podcasts.

But now he’s moving on, having announced in March 2024 that he would be stepping down as music director at the end of the 2025-2026 season, to pursue other professional and personal opportunities. He’ll be honored with—and conduct—a gala concert at the Pavilion April 24, and conduct two more operas, Falstaff (April 18-May 10) and the aforementioned The Magic Flute (May 30June 21). Happily, he’ll continue his association with the company as conductor laureate, a lifetime appointment, and return to guest conduct; Venezuelan-Armenian conductor Domingo Hindoyan succeeds him as music director.

“I never expected to stay 20 years,” Conlon says. “I’ve had a great time, a great run. It’s brought me to an age [76] where, you know, I don’t feel I’ve got to do that anymore. I’ve been a music director now for 47 years of my life, simultaneously in Europe and the U.S., sometimes two

or even three places at once.”

Conlon had had no particular connection to Los Angeles, other than a few conducting engagements, when Plácido Domingo, then L.A. Opera’s general director, called and asked if he’d be interested in becoming music director.

A native of Queens, New York, and a Julliard graduate who knew at age 13 that he wanted to be a conductor, he had spent more than 20 years in Europe, as principal conductor of the Paris Opera, general music director of the City of Cologne, Germany and music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Stateside, he’d conducted numerous times at the Metropolitan Opera and was deep into what would turn out to be a 37-year tenure as music director of the Cincinnati May Festival, the oldest choral festival in the United States.

“[The L.A. Opera offer] came out of the blue,” recalls Conlon, whose

official title is Richard Seaver music director, named for the late philanthropist and opera board CEO/president. “I didn’t look for it; I didn’t ask for it. I had to think about it, but I didn’t have to think that long, because first of all, I knew and loved Plácido from a long time back. And he asked me a few questions—what I might want to do and what were my visions.”

Conlon’s ideas included performing Richard Wagner’s epic, ambitious productions, which he considered a delineating marker of a music director’s abilities, as well as continuing to be the kind of music director he’d grown up admiring, one who is responsible for a wide and varied swath of the operatic repertory.

That way, he says of the latter, “you can build the musical profile of the house, orchestra, chorus, singers, music staff—all of that, of course, in harmony, or sometimes disharmony, with stage directors. You can build [the company] into a strong musical institution.”

When he arrived at L.A. Opera in 2006, succeeding Kent Nagano, “I immediately found the atmosphere congenial, both in the opera house and in L.A.,” Conlon says. “I fell in love with L.A. Some of my fellow New Yorkers would

/ CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

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welcome

SCOTT ALTMAN, PRESIDENT & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Dear Friends of the Master Chorale,

Welcome, and thank you for joining us for this evening’s performance of Mozart’s Requiem—one of the most profound and enduring works in the choral repertoire.

Paired with another powerful work, Fanny Mendelssohn’s Oratorio on Scenes from the Bible written in 1847 in response to a devastating cholera epidemic—it was only in the past few decades that scholars began to realize the brilliance of this choral piece written by the talented sister of renowned composer Felix Mendelssohn.

As we reflect on the beauty and impact of great choral music, we are also excited to look ahead to upcoming moments that continue the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s tradition of innovation, collaboration and musical discovery.

Next month, we invite you to join us for our final performance of the 2025/26 Season—Sound Waves: The Music of Esmail, Garrett and Woo, a program centered on the life-giving force of water. This powerful evening will feature Reena Esmail’s Malhaar: A Requiem for Water, a moving meditation on our planet’s most essential resource. The program also includes world premiere commissions from composers Marques L. A. Garrett and Hyowon Woo, whose works explore water’s intrinsic power. These pieces demonstrate our ongoing commitment to championing new music.

We are also thrilled to officially announce our 2026/27 season, which will mark the 25th year that the Master Chorale has been under the leadership of Grant Gershon, Kiki and David Gindler Artistic Director.

To celebrate his remarkable Silver Anniversary, we are preparing a season filled with extraordinary musical events. Highlights include an unforgettable opening night featuring Brahms’ Requiem, as well as the triumphant return of Peter Sellars’ acclaimed staging of Lagrime di San Pietro. The season will also feature exciting collaborations and guest artists, including our first-ever partnership with the National Chorus of Korea, the West Coast premiere of Eric Whitacre’s Eternity in an Hour, conducted by the Grammy Award–winning composer himself, an evening with the extraordinary violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and Handel’s Messiah presented in collaboration with France’s celebrated Baroque ensemble Le Concert d’Astrée.

I am also thrilled to share a newly announced special concert for next season—The Master Chorale Salutes the Music of Stephen Sondheim—on Friday, March 19, 2027. Under the direction of Grant Gershon, who had the privilege of working directly with Sondheim, the Chorale and special guest artists will celebrate the brilliance of this legendary composer whose works— from Company and Sweeney Todd to A Little Night Music and Follies—transformed American musical theater. If you haven’t already subscribed, I encourage you to reserve your 2026/27 season tickets today.

Thank you for again being here tonight and for supporting the artistry and community that make this music possible.

With gratitude,

Scott Altman President & Chief Executive Officer

Mozart’s Requiem

SUNDAY APRIL 19, 2026 AT 7 PM WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL

GRANT GERSHON

Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director

JENNY WONG

Associate Artistic Director

LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE

LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE ORCHESTRA

GRANT GERSHON, conductor

ADDY STERRETT, soprano*

JESSIE SHULMAN, mezzo-soprano*

KYUYOUNG LEE, tenor*

STEVE PENCE, bass-baritone*

Oratorium nach Bildern der Bibel Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847)

1 Introduction

2 R ecitative (Mezzo-soprano)

3 Ario so (Bass, Soprano)

4 Chorus

5 R ecitative (Mezzo-soprano)

6 R ecitative (Soprano)

7 Chorus

8. Aria (Tenor)

9 R ecitative (Soprano)

10 . Mourning Chorus

11 Chorus of the Ble ssed

12 Ario so (Soprano)

1 3. Chorus

1 4. Chorus

15 R ecitative (Soprano, Alto, Bass)

16 Chorus

INTERMISSION

Requiem in D Minor, K 626 W olfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

I. Intr oitus

1 . Requiem

2 . Kyrie

II. S equentia

1 . Dies irae

2 . Tuba mirum

3 . Rex tremendae

4 . Recordare

5 . Confutatis

6 . Lacrimosa

III. O ffertorium

1 . Domine Jesu

2 . Hostias

IV. Sanctus

V. Benedictus

VI. Agnus D ei

L ux aeterna

* 25/26 jennifer diener soloists

This program is made possible by generous support from the Colburn Foundation, E. Nakamichi Foundation, the Z. Wayne Griffin and Elinor Remick Warren Choral Classics Fund, and the Jennifer Diener Soloist Fund.

Acknowledgments

The Los Angeles Master Chorale acknowledges our presence on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Gabrieleno/Tongva people and their neighbors, including the Tataviam, Serrano, Kizh and Chumash peoples, whose ancestors ruled the region we now call Southern California for at least 9,000 years. We recognize that settler colonization led to dispossession, displacement and trauma, and that the impacts of these systems continue to affect Indigenous peoples today. We pay respects to the members and elders of these communities, past and present, who remain stewards, caretakers, and steadfast advocates of these lands, river systems and ocean waters.

We thank the following 2025/26 Season presenting sponsors for their generous support: Terri and Jerry Kohl; the Perenchio Foundation; the Z. Wayne Griffin and Elinor Remick Warren Choral Classics Fund; the Jennifer Diener Soloist Fund; Bryant, Judi, and Debra Danner; Kiki Ramos Gindler and David Gindler; Cheryl Petersen and Roger Lustberg; Tom Strickler; Courtland Palmer; Miles Benickes; James R. Mulally; Ron Myrick; the Andrea and Gregory Williams Collaborating Artists Fund; and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture.

25 in 5 is made possible by the Joan and Jeff Beal Artistic Innovation Fund, the Susan Erburu Reardon and George Reardon Commissioning Fund, James R. Mulally, and Marla Borowski.

AmaWaterways is the Official River Cruise Line of the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

IN-KIND AND MEDIA PARTNERS

Your use of a ticket acknowledges your willingness to appear in photographs taken in public areas of The Music Center and releases the Center and its lessees and others from liability resulting from use of such photographs. Use of any phones, cameras, or recording devices is prohibited during the performance.

Program and artists subject to change. Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of House Management.

Members of the audience who leave during the performance will be escorted back into the concert hall at the sole discretion of House Management.

ARTIST MANAGEMENT

The Los Angeles Master Chorale is exclusively represented worldwide by Opus 3 Artists.

grant gershon

KIKI & DAVID GINDLER ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Hailed for his adventurous and bold artistic leadership, Grant Gershon, Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director, celebrates his 24th season with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, which he transformed into the “bestby-far major chorus in America” (Los Angeles Times).

Grant and the Chorale received two Grammy Awards for Best Choral Performance in 2026 and 2022. He also received Chorus America’s 2022 Korn Founders Award for his career-spanning leadership in the field of choral music.

In July of 2023, Grant and the Chorale made a triumphant return to the famed Salzburg Festival with Music to Accompany a Departure (Heinrich Schütz), directed by Peter Sellars. About the performances, the Süddeutsche Zeitung declared “Everything is warmth, radiance and emotion,” and the Augsburger Allgemein wrote “And what a choir! Flawless intonation . . . lightflooded transparency and an almost unearthly tonal richness.” In the 2023/24 season, the Chorale toured this groundbreaking production to Chicago, Toronto, and Stanford University, and took it to Brussels and Paris in June of 2025.

Grant enjoys a close working relationship with many of the leading composers of our time, including his long-time collaborator, John Adams. Grant led the world premiere performances of Adams’s opera Girls of the Golden West with the San Francisco Opera, and his theater piece I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky for the Lincoln Center Festival. Adams wrote his two-piano masterpiece Hallelujah Junction specifically for Grant, who premiered it with fellow pianist Gloria Cheng. Grant also led the world premieres of two operas that have quickly become classics: Daniel Catán’s Il Postino (LA Opera) and Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath (Minnesota Opera). With the Chorale, he has led countless premieres of

works by composers including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Steve Reich, Tania Léon, Reena Esmail, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Louis Andriessen, among many others.

In addition to the Grammy Award-winning (Best Choral Performance) Mahler: Symphony No. 8 with Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic, Grant’s discography with the Chorale includes recordings of music by Nico Muhly, Henryk Górecki, David Lang, and Steve Reich for Decca, Nonesuch, and Cantaloupe Records. He has also led the Chorale in performances for several major motion picture soundtracks, including, at the request of John Williams, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. On film he has conducted Gianni Schicchi and Il Postino with LA Opera for Sony Classical.

As resident conductor of LA Opera, Grant led the acclaimed West Coast premiere of Philip Glass’s Satyagraha. He made his company debut with a rapturously received run of La Traviata in 2009, and subsequently conducted productions of Il Postino, Madama Butterfly, Carmen, Florencia en el Amazonas, Wonderful Town, The Tales of Hoffmann and The Pearl Fishers, among others. Grant has frequently led opera performances with the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.

In New York, Grant has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and at the historic Trinity Wall Street. He has been featured on the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center and the Making Music series at Zankel Hall. Other major appearances include performances at the Ravinia, Aspen, Edinburgh, Helsinki, Salzburg and Vienna festivals; Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Barbican in London and the Paris Philharmonie. He has had the honor of working closely with numerous legendary conductors including Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Gustavo Dudamel, Zubin Mehta, Simon Rattle, and his mentor, Esa-Pekka Salonen.

los angeles master chorale

For over 60 years, the Grammy-Award winning Los Angeles Master Chorale has been a standardbearer for choruses across America. Hailed for its powerful performances, technical precision and artistic daring, the Chorale reaches more than 175,000 people a year through its concert series at Walt Disney Concert Hall, its international touring of innovative works and its performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and others.

Led by Grant Gershon, Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director; Associate Artistic Director Jenny Wong; and President & CEO Scott Altman, the Master Chorale was named “the finest-by-far major chorus in America” by the Los Angeles Times. From intimate performances with just six or eight singers to full-scale collaborations featuring 100 voices, it consistently thrills audiences with its versatility and artistic depth, performing early choral works alongside pop classics and modern pieces as well as exclusive commissions from the world’s most innovative composers.

Voices of Master Chorale singers have been featured on numerous film scores including Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, Wicked, How to Train Your Dragon, Fantastic Four, and Superman (2025) as well as on the 2025 and 2026 Academy Awards, which were broadcast to approximately 19 million viewers around the world.

Recently, the Chorale toured its productions Heinrich Schütz’s Music to Accompany a Departure and Orlando di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro, both directed by Peter Sellars, earning rave reviews across the globe. Süddeutsche Zeitung called performance of Lagrime di San Pietro “painfully beautiful,” while the Sydney Morning Herald praised Lagrime di San Pietro as “stunning … Their voices soared to the heavens.” After the Chorale performed in London, The Stage called Lagrime a “balm for the soul.” In his review of Music to Accompany a Departure, Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times called the Chorale’s performance, “transcendent” and “incomparably moving.”

Created by legendary conductor Roger Wagner in 1964, the Chorale is a founding resident company of The Music Center and choir-inresidence at Walt Disney Concert Hall. It has an industry-defining commitment to fostering new music and has commissioned composers including Louis Andriessen, Jeff Beal, Eve Beglarian, Reena Esmail, Gabriella Lena Frank, Shawn Kirchner, David Lang, Morten Lauridsen, Tania Leon, Meredith Monk, Steve Reich, Ellen Reid, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Derrick Skye, Moira Smiley, Dale Trumbore, Chinary Ung and Eric Whitacre. In 2023, the Chorale launched 25 in 5 , an initiative to commission 25 new works over the course of 5 seasons. Composers featured in this series to date include Doug Aitken, Billy Childs, Saunder Choi, Jason Max Ferdinand, Ernesto Herrera, Marques L. A. Garrett, Zanaida Stewart Robles, Carlos Simon, Rufus Wainwright and Hyowon Woo. The Chorale also enjoys a close relationship with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In this role, the Chorale has appeared on numerous recent Grammy Awardwinning recordings with Gustavo Dudamel, including Mahler’s 8th Symphony, Gabriela Ortiz’ Revolución diamantina, and Thomas Ades’ Dante

The Master Chorale’s renowned education programs include Voices Within residencies, where students find their creative voices to write and perform their own songs, and the expansive Oratorio Project for high school students. The Chorale also presents the annual High School Choir Festival, a yearlong program that culminates with teenagers from around the Southland performing in Walt Disney Concert Hall. In May 2025, the High School Choir Festival celebrated 36 years as one of the longestrunning and widest-reaching arts education programs in Southern California. The Chorale’s newest education program, Youth Chorus LA , launched in the 2024/25 season bringing free music and choral lessons to students grades 3 to 6, which prepares future generations of choral singers and uplifts communities through the transformative power of choral music.

Voices in Dark Times: Mendelssohn and Mozart

THOMAS MAY

As the world emerged from the long shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, a long-neglected work by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel began attracting attention. Written in 1831 as Berlin was confronting a devastating cholera epidemic, Oratorio on Scenes from the Bible struck Grant Gershon, Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, as uncannily à propos. The music, he says, speaks to “a society in extremis,” giving voice to people “crying out for mercy” before relief finally appears.

Tracing an arc from despair to consolation, Hensel’s work forms a striking prelude to the Requiem by Mozart, whose iconic setting of the Mass for the Dead places fear of judgment and the hope of mercy in stark dramatic contrast. Gershon observes that whenever we return to a work as weighted with meaning as Mozart’s Requiem, it inevitably responds to the anxieties and upheavals of the world around us.

By 1831 the cholera pandemic that had spread westward from Asia through Russia held Berlin in its grip. Hensel—then only twenty-six, four years older than her brother Felix—was already composing prolifically within the remarkable Mendelssohn family’s musical circle. Yet the cultural expectations surrounding women in early 19th-century Europe placed firm constraints on her pursuit of composition as a career. While her husband, the painter Wilhelm Hensel, encouraged Fanny’s work, both her father and Felix disapproved of such ambitions. Her music therefore tended to be heard in private settings rather than the public musical sphere open to her brother and other male composers.

Still, Hensel organized a celebrated series of invitation-only concerts at the Mendelssohn home— gatherings that quickly became among the most sought-after musical events in Berlin. For these concerts she composed a series of three choral works throughout 1831, including Lobgesang (“Song of Praise”) and Hiob (“Job”) and culminating in the most ambitious of them, a large-scale cantata Hensel referred to in her diary simply as Choleramusik, sometimes called the Cholera Cantata.

The work appears to have received its only performance during Hensel’s lifetime at one of these private gatherings, at a celebration for her father’s birthday. Felix’s criticism was reportedly sharp, and Hensel never again attempted a cantata of this kind—even as the choral-oratorio tradition would later become central to his own career in St. Paul and Elijah.

The score remained unpublished and virtually unknown until the last few decades, when scholars began reassessing Hensel’s achievement. Its first modern edition finally appeared in 1999, prepared by the musicologist Elke Mascha Blankenburg, who published the piece under the title Oratorium nach Bildern der Bibel—rendered in English as Oratorio on Scenes from the Bible

Rather than set a familiar biblical narrative, Hensel assembled a collage text of verses from the Psalms, Job, Isaiah, Revelation, and other New Testament writings drawn from the Luther Bible—not unlike the approach of Handel’s librettist Charles Jennens in Messiah. She shaped these into a spiritual drama that limns “a narrative of human adversity and despair turning eventually to the joyful praise of God,” according to R. Larry Todd, distinguished biographer of both Mendelssohn siblings.

Oratorio on Scenes from the Bible is scored for a classical chamber ensemble, though Hensel, like Mozart in his Requiem, adds three trombones; their sonority at times gives the music a hieratic, quasiliturgical character. The chorus at times divides into as many as eight parts, revealing the skill of Hensel’s choral writing and her keen awareness of Bach’s legacy—an influence long cultivated within the Mendelssohn family and brought to wider attention after Felix’s landmark 1829 revival of the St. Matthew Passion in Berlin.

Like Bach’s Passions and cantatas, the work unfolds through recitatives and choruses that alternate prophetic warnings and laments with the collective voice of a suffering community. The tenor receives the work’s only formally designated aria (No. 8), a demandingly high-lying meditation on human frailty and suffering from Psalm 88; the other soloists get

a spotlight in brief numbers elsewhere in the work. The orchestral introduction recalls the turbulent opening of Bach’s St. John Passion: both are cast in G minor, with restless string figures that undulate with foreboding.

The Mourning Chorus (No. 10) forms a dark focal point, its lament answered by the ensuing a cappella Chorus of the Blessed (No. 11), where Hensel introduces an original chorale in a style that evokes Bach. Resolving the atmosphere of distress heard at the outset, the final chorus (No. 16) unfolds in praise and affirmation, turning from crisis toward thanksgiving in its setting of verses from Psalm 68 and culminating in C major. Moreover, Hensel’s score anticipates the Romantic reimagining of Bachian choral style cultivated by composers such as Brahms.

Forty years before Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel would respond to a moment of public crisis with a choral work, Mozart approached the theme of mortality from a very different starting point. It began with a mysterious commission he received in the spring or early summer of 1791, when a messenger for an anonymous aristocrat—who intended to pass the work off as his own—offered Mozart a substantial sum to write a requiem for his late wife. Facing serious financial difficulties at the time, Mozart was eager to accept the project. But what began as a practical commission drew him into a profound musical exploration of death, judgment, and mercy.

Mozart’s own death prevented him from completing the score. He died early on the morning of December 5, 1791, not quite thirty-six. The year had actually been one of remarkable creative vitality, producing such masterpieces as The Magic Flute, the opera La clemenza di Tito, and the Clarinet Concerto. Yet in his final weeks, illness overtook the composer as he continued working on the Requiem—an image that has indelibly shaped the work’s legendary aura.

Mozart managed to write the Introitus and Kyrie in full score and sketched the Dies irae sequence up to the Lacrimosa—where the music breaks off eight bars into the movement—as well as the Offertorium. His widow Constanze enlisted his pupil Franz Xaver Süssmayr to complete the commission. He accomplished this by orchestrating the unfinished portions of the Dies irae and Offertorium, completing the remainder

of the Lacrimosa, and supplying the Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei; for the concluding Lux aeterna, Süssmayr reprised Mozart’s music for the Introitus and Kyrie.

The orchestration reflects Mozart’s late style: strings and basso continuo with a darker woodwind palette of basset horns (a lower, more veiled relative of the clarinet) and bassoons; notably, there are no flutes to soften the sonority. Trumpets, trombones, and timpani lend the music its solemn weight. Overall, the style of the Requiem brings together elements from earlier in Mozart’s career—especially the use of D minor to evoke judgment and the dread-filled vision of hell in Don Giovanni—with the Bach-inflected contrapuntal writing he had been cultivating in his final works.

This performance follows the Süssmayr completion in the standard Bärenreiter edition, though Gershon has made a handful of discreet adjustments. In places such as the Benedictus he pares back thick orchestral doublings— particularly the trombones accompanying the solo quartet—that he believes cloud the texture, bringing the sound closer to Mozart’s likely practice. A few harmonic passages that strike him as dubious in Süssmayr’s realization have also been made more idiomatic.

Mozart shapes the Requiem as a music drama that moves between shadow and illumination. The work opens with a solemn, almost processional gravity that seems to acknowledge the inescapable fact of death itself. Yet moments of redemptive hope radiate through this darkness. Among the most affecting is the Recordare, in which the solo quartet offers a plea for remembrance in music of striking intimacy.

At the same time, Mozart gives the Mass for the Dead an unmistakably operatic intensity. The terrifying power of the Dies irae stands alongside passages of deep compassion such as the Lacrimosa. Gershon notes that this remarkable expressive range speaks with particular force today: the apocalyptic energy of the Dies irae chorus can feel newly immediate, while the humanity and compassion heard in movements such as the Lacrimosa, Recordare, and Hostias take on added resonance in an era when empathy is often in short supply. In Mozart’s setting, the prayer for mercy seems directed not only toward the departed but toward those left grieving.

Thomas May is the program annotator for the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

los angeles master chorale

SOPRANO

April Amante

Christina Bristow

Hayden Eberhart

Harriet Fraser

Graycen Gardner

Kelci Hahn

Elissa Johnston

Sarah Lonsert

Alina Roitstein

Anna Schubert

Sunmi Shin

Kathryn Shuman

Chloé Vaught

Suzanne Waters

Andrea Zomorodian

ALTO

Lindsay Patterson Abdou

Garineh Avakian

Anna Caplan

Janelle DeStefano

Carmen Edano

Zineb Fikri

Callista Hoffman-Campbell

Shabnam Kalbasi

Sharon Chohi Kim

Hannah Little

Cynthia Marty

Julia Metzler

Laura Smith Roethe

Niké St. Clair

Nancy Sulahian

Kimberly Switzer

TENOR

Casey Breves

Matthew Brown

Bradley Chapman

Dermot Kiernan

Joey Krumbein

Bryan Lane

Michael Lichtenauer

Matthew Miles

David Morales

Robert Norman

Rohan Ramanan

Evan Roberts

Edmond Rodriguez

Matt Thomas

Matthew Tresler

BASS

Derrell Acon

Michael Bannett

Mark Beasom

Kevin Dalbey

Sean Gabel

Dylan Gentile

Will Goldman

Scott Graff

Luc Kleiner

Chung Uk Lee

Scott Lehmkuhl

Ben Han-Wei Lin

Brett McDermid

Mark Edward Smith

Lorenzo Zapata

Shuo Zhai

los angeles master chorale orchestra

VIOLIN I

Roger Wilkie

Concertmaster

Joel Pargman

Associate Concertmaster

Margaret Wooten

Assistant Concertmaster

Nina Evtuhov

Carrie Kennedy

Liliana Filipovic

Nicole Bush

Rafael Rishik

Susan Rishik

Chloé Tardif

VIOLIN II

Elizabeth Hedman

Principal

Cynthia Moussas

Associate Principal

Linda Stone

Anna Kostyucheck

Mui-Yee Chu

Shana Bey

Julie Rogers

Steven Zander

VIOLA

Shawn Mann

Principal

Carolyn Riley

Associate Principal

Karolina Naziemiec

Rita Andrade

Jarrett Threadgill

CELLO

Cécilia Tsan Principal

Delores Bing

Associate Principal

Julie Jung

BASS

Peter Doubrovsky Principal

Eric Shetzen Associate Principal

FLUTE

Geri Rotella Principal

Lisa Edelstein

OBOE

Sarah Beck

Principal

Jennifer Spier

CLARINET

Phil O’Connor

Principal

Rory Mazella

BASSOON

William May

Principal

Theresa Treuenfels

TRUMPET

Rob Frear

Principal

Drew Ninmer

TROMBONE

Dillon MacIntyre

Principal

Spencer Shaffer

David Goya

Bass Trombone

TIMPANI

Jonathan Schlitt

Principal

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL MANAGER

Brady Steel

LIBRARIAN

Mark Fugina

soloists

ADDY STERRETT

SOPRANO

Soprano Addy Sterrett is known for her stylistic versatility and expressivity, performing a wide range of repertoire as both a soloist and ensemble musician. Equally at home in early music, contemporary, and large-scale symphonic repertoire, she is a soughtafter collaborator whose “timbre imparts a touch of magic” (Gramophone UK). Recent performance highlights include Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Grand Rapids Symphony, singing background vocals on Björk’s Cornucopia tour, and LA Master Chorale’s acclaimed touring production of Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien (directed by Peter Sellars) at the Salzburg Festival and Philharmonie de Paris.

In addition to her work as a chorister and soloist with the Master Chorale, Addy performs regularly with Seraphic Fire, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, True Concord, and Evergreen Ensemble. Deeply engaged with historically informed performance practice, she makes frequent appearances with Tesserae Baroque, Three Notch’d Road, and the Baroque Festival Corona Del Mar. She co-founded Peasant Fylthe, a collective exploring lesser-known and lessthan-sacred repertoire, and helped establish Baroque Collegium Los Angeles, a group seeking to bring more performances of sacred vocal works of the baroque era to LA’s vibrant music scene.

She was named Audience Favorite at the 2025 American National Oratorio Competition, received the Linn Maxwell Keller Distinguished Bach Musician Award in 2022, and was a Virginia Best Adams Fellow at the Carmel Bach Festival in 2024. Her voice can also be heard on several film soundtracks including Twisters, Superman (2025), and How to Train Your Dragon (2025).

Originally from northern Michigan, Addy is an alumna of Interlochen Arts Academy and received her master’s degree at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music. Outside of singing, she enjoys composing folk melodies, practicing yoga, and spending time outdoors.

JESSIE SHULMAN MEZZO-SOPRANO

Mezzo-soprano

Jessie Shulman is an accomplished SAG-AFTRA session singer, concert soloist and chamber musician praised for her “warm, velvety sound.” Recent solo highlights include Schubert and Brahms lieder (South Bay Chamber Music Society), Martinů Nový špalíček (NHSQ Summer of Bohemia Chamber Music Festival), Handel Messiah (LAMC), Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (Claremont Chorale), Ravel Chansons madécasses (NHSQ Summer of Paris Chamber Music Festival), Mozart Requiem (Mountainside Master Chorale), Respighi Il Tramonto (Fiato Quartet), and Duruflé Requiem (LAMC). She is a frequent soloist with the LA Master Chorale, and has also performed as a soloist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Bach Collegium San Diego, The Golden Bridge, and Pacific Opera Project, among others.

Jessie has sung on numerous film and television soundtracks, including Wicked: For Good, Avatar: Fire and Ash, Superman, Despicable Me 4, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Mulan, Frozen II, The Lion King, Outlander, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, The Last Jedi, and many more.

Jessie is a current member of the LA Opera Chorus, and has previously sung with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Cincinnati Opera Chorus, and Chicago’s Music of the Baroque. She received her M.M. from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and her B.M. from California State University, Long Beach. Born and raised in England, Jessie grew up in a musical family of classical string players and singers. She moved to California in 2000, and currently resides in Pasadena with her LAMC bass-baritone husband, their daughter, and their Australian Cattle Dog. Learn more at www.jessieshulman.com.

LOS

soloists

KYUYOUNG LEE TENOR

Tenor Kyuyoung Lee is a member of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and a laureate of the Metropolitan Opera Competition (Colorado District, 2015) and the Saltwork Opera Competition (2017). He has appeared with the Los Angeles Opera, the Aspen Music Festival, the Martina Arroyo Foundation (New York), and the Music Academy of the West, and has sung with the Korea Prime Philharmonic Orchestra in Seoul.

His operatic roles include Alfredo ( La Traviata), Tito ( La clemenza di Tito), and Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) at the Music Academy of the West, Don Ottavio ( Don Giovanni ) at the Manhattan School of Music, and Tamino ( Die Zauberflöte) and the Father Confessor ( Dialogues of the Carmelites) at USC Thornton.

Mr. Lee holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from Boston University (Dr. Lynn Eustis), a Master of Music from the USC Thornton School of Music (Professor Elizabeth Hynes), and a Bachelor of Music from Seoul National University. He additionally completed a Professional Studies Certificate at the Manhattan School of Music under Professor Marlena Malas.

An active educator, Mr. Lee serves on the voice faculty of Concordia University Irvine, Long Beach City College, Moorpark College, and Rio Hondo College, and serves as Music Director of the KAMA Children’s Choir in Los Angeles.

STEVE PENCE BASS-BARITONE

Steve Pence has recently appeared as a soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with The Charleston Symphony and as soloist in Handel’s Messiah with The Jacksonville Symphony. He is a frequent soloist with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, having appeared with them in Alexander’s Feast and Messiah by Handel, and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion , B-minor Mass, Magnificat , and St. John Passion . He played Hercules in Philip Glass’ The Civil Wars with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and sang the bass solos in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra. He created and recorded the role of Kaiser Wilhelm II in John Powell’s oratorio A Prussian Requiem , which he has performed in Lima, Peru and Montevideo, Uruguay. Steve also created the role of Paderewski in Jenni Brandon’s The Three Paderewskis , with performances in Los Angeles, Poznan, Poland and The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Film credits include Muppets Most Wanted, Despicable Me 2 , Happy Feet 2 , The Secret Life of Pets , and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. He lives in Long Beach with his wife and son.

donor recognition 2025/26 season

The Los Angeles Master Chorale is honored to recognize the individuals and institutions that generously support our world-class professional choral ensemble and impactful education programs. We sincerely thank the following individual donors, who have contributed $600 or more to the annual fund as of February 28, 2026. Special thanks to our multi-year donors, whose gifts ensure a healthy base for our future.

*In memoriam

LEADERSHIP CIRCLE

The Leadership Circle ($100,000+) honors and celebrates the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s most distinguished donor community. Established in 2019 with a challenge grant from the Abbott L. Brown Foundation, the Leadership Circle enables transformative projects—from commissioning, recording, and artistic innovation, to ambitious community engagement programming and touring productions. Members receive exclusive recognition and event experiences throughout the year.

Anonymous

Jeff and Joan Beal

Joni* and Miles Benickes

Marla Borowski

Jerrie Paula Ortega-Brown and Abbott L. Brown

Dr. Kathy Cairo

Margaret Sheehy Collins

Bryant, Judi, and Debra Danner

Jennifer Diener

Lisa Field

Hon. Michael Fitzgerald and Arturo Vargas

Patrick R. Fitzgerald

William and Patricia Flumenbaum

Kiki Ramos Gindler and David Gindler

Denise and Robert Hanisee

Terri and Jerry Kohl

Lillian Pierson Lovelace*

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE

Diane Morton

James R. Mulally

Ron Myrick

Steven P. Neiffer

Courtland Palmer

Cheryl Petersen and Roger Lustberg

Susan Erburu Reardon and George Reardon

Jennifer and Evan Rosenfeld

Laura Smolowe and Adam O’Byrne

Tom Strickler

Jason Subotky and Anne Akiko Meyers

Kristan and Philip A. Swan

Laney and Tom* Techentin

William M. Tully in loving memory of Jane W. Tully

Andrea and Gregory Williams

The Artistic Director’s Circle brings together generous Los Angeles Master Chorale donors in support of the bold vision of Grant Gershon, Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director. As key stakeholders, members play a vital role in advancing our mission and programs through significant contributions of $50,000-$99,999. Enjoy special opportunities throughout the season to engage with artists, singers, and the music we love.

Jenny S. Kim and Chip W. Baik

Molly Munger and Stephen EnglishMarian and John* NilesCatherine and Howard* Stone

Kathleen Elowitt

Frank* and Berta Gehry

The Estate of

Margaret Parker Grauman

Martha and Nora Groves

Terry Knowles and Marshall Rutter*

Marjorie Lindbeck

Casper Partovi and Jackie Petitto

Phyllis and Larry Rothrock*

Rudi Schreiner

Grace Sheldon-Williams and Greg Williams

SPONSORS CIRCLE ($10,000–$24,999)

Anonymous (2)

Thomas and Judith Beckmen

John and Louise Bryson

Theodore and Kathy Calleton in memory of Marshall Rutter

Berkeley and Kristin Harrison

Jennifer Hoang and Brian Krechman

Robin and Craig Justice

Shawn Kravich

Stephen and Eileen Leech

Sara Lewis

Jane and Edward J.* McAniff

Robert L. Mendow

Carolyn L. Miller

Naseem Nixon

Christine M. Ofiesh

Dr. Clifford and Joyce Penner

Lisa Richardson

Melissa and Alex Romain

Priscilla and Curtis Tamkin in memory of Marshall Rutter

Eva and Marc Stern in memory of Marshall Rutter

Ian and Barbara White-Thomson

Alyce de Roulet Williamson

$5,000–$9,999

Tsan Abrahamson

Otis and Deborah Booth

Thomas Dwyer and Pamela Perkins-Dwyer

Kathleen and Jerry Eberhardt

Evelyn Feintech

Victoria and Frank Hobbs in memory of Marshall Rutter

Susan and Bob Long

Merle M. Mullin

$3,000–$4,999

Diane and Noel Applebaum

Dr. Christina Benson, M.D. and Dr. Kenneth Wells, M.D.

Vince Bertoni and Damon Hein

Craig and Mary

Deutsche

Dr. William and Mrs. Mary Duxler

$1,500–$2,999

Meghan and Monte Baier

Susan Bienkowski and Wang Lee

Jerry Bluestein and Regine Wood

Graham Bothwell

Dr. Lawrence and Jane Z. Cohen

James Cronk

Kathleen and Terry* Dooley

$600–$1,499

Michael Abels

Rick and Susan Amante

Brent and Jan Assink

Brandon Badalato

Jennifer and Chris Bertolet

Annette Billings

Elise Black

Dr. Andrew Blaine and Dr. Leigh Lindsey

Kacey Bonner

Wade and JoAnn Bourne

Mandy and Steven Brigham

Janet Buck

Barbara Byrne

John and Sue Clauss

Eleanor Congdon

Dr. David H. Conney, M.D.

Judson and Lalo Crane

Jared Diamond, Ph.D. and Marie Cohen, Ph.D.

Richard Eberhart

Irma Fitzgibbons

Ms. Diana Gould and Dr. Kirsten

Grimstad

Helen Hartel

Tomoko Iwakawa

David Kalifon

Thomas and Gloria Lang

Sarah J. Lang

Jennifer and Joey Li

Julia and John Eidsvoog

Dr. Reena Esmail and Vijay Gupta

Gordon and Vacharee Fell

Michael Fishbein

Steven Fraider

Jane Galbraith

Suzanne Gilman

Andrew Glassford and Andrew Graff

Olivia Goodkin and Lee Schwartz in memory of Marshall Rutter

Janet Griswold Gordon

Barbara Knowles

Hanson in memory of Marshall Rutter

Robert and Patricia

Hayden

Greg and Jill Hoenes

Ann and Christine Horton

Travis J. Howell in memory of James Howell

Tim and Rebecca Mullin

Sally and Robert Neely

Bea Nemlaha

Estate of Robert W. Olsen

James Ellfeldt

Elissa Johnston and Grant Gershon

Lawrence and Mireya Jones

Dr. Patricia A. Keating

June and Simon Li

Dr. Joseph Matthews, in honor of Grant Gershon

Kathleen McCarthy

Mr. Robin Meadow and Ms.

Margaret Stevens

Sharon Morrill

Mary D. Nichols

Rodney and Ruth Punt

Cynthia Ison

Frank Jarvis

Richard P. Jensen

Susan E. Kelsey

Christopher W. Knight

Carrie Kirshman and Jerry Podczaski

Mr. Ken Kwapis and Ms. Marisa Silver

Rhonda Lawrence

Edie and Michael

Lehmann Boddicker

John Lundgren, M.D. and Susan Jay, Ph.D.

James Lyerly and Tracy Van Fleet

Frank* and Mona Mapel

Lou and Denise

Marchant

Barbara and Joel Marcus

Rob and Christie Martin

Steven D. McGinty

Martha and Jeff Melvoin in honor of Martha Groves

John Perkins in memory of

Ann Perkins

John Powell

Madison F. Richardson, M.D.

Ilean Yaghlegian Rogers and Steven Rogers*

Thomas F. Kranz

Judith Miller

Jane C. Parks in memory of Marshall Rutter

Claudette Rogers

Harold and Penny Ray

Elisabeth Salonen

Nancy and Dick Spelke

Neeyah Lynn

Rose Stephens

J. Theodore Struck and Adrian H. Schreiber

Paul and Catherine Tosetti

Betsey Tyler

David and Kimberly Meyer

Elizabeth and Leslie Michelson

Dennis Moeller

Chip and Sharyn Moore

Marsha Nakanishi

Soseh H. Nelson

Kim Noltemy

Susan Olsen

Eric Olson and Carol K. Broede

Vic Pallos and Emilie Pallos

Drea Pressley

Kathleen Wilcox Reiss

Maggie Rheinstein

Drs. Gail and Richard Rice

Carol and François Rigolot

Edwin T. Robinson

Penelope C. Roeder, Ph.D.

Kenneth Roehrs and Sara McGah

Jay Rosenlieb

Daniel Angus Ryan

Deborah F. Rutter in memory of Marshall Rutter

Theodore Rutter

Rosemary Schroeder

Mary Rourke

Sue Stamberger

Melanie and Bill Switzer

Rick and Becky Thyne

Rudolf H. Ziesenhenne

Marilene Wang

Booker and Sarita White

Jann and Kenneth S. Williams

Michele and David Wilson

Karen Zfaty

Marc Seltzer and Chris Snyder

Ray and Eleanor Siebert

Laurie Samitaur Smith

Carol A. Smith

Lisa Smolen

Tom and

Susan Somerset

Barbara Augusta

Teichert

Katherine and Douglas Thompson

Jocelyn Towne and Simon Helberg

Elizabeth Turner

Christine Upton

Arturo Velasquez

Jason Vierzba

Barbara E. Wagner

JoBeth Williams

Jonathan and Julie Williams

roger wagner society

Madge van Adelsberg*

Jeff and Joan Beal

Joni* and Miles Benickes

James Arthur Bond in honor of Morten Lauridsen

Michael Breitner

Abbott Brown

Linda McNeal Brown

Jerry Burnham in memory of Raun MacKinnon Burnham

Dr. Kathy Cairo

Robert Churella

Colburn Foundation

Margaret Sheehy Collins

Elizabeth Hofert Dailey*

Bryant, Judi, and Debra Danner

William Davis*

Jennifer Diener

Dr. Ann Graham Ehringer*

Hon. Michael and Patrick Fitzgerald in honor of

James P. Fitzgerald

Claudia* and Mark Foster

Kathie and Alan Freeman

Janice Roosevelt Gerard

Kiki Ramos Gindler and David Gindler

Ms. Diana Gould and Dr. Kirsten Grimstad

Denise and Robert Hanisee

Geraldine Healy*

Violet Jabara Jacobs*

Curtis Ray Joiner, Jr.*

David Kalifon

Stephen A. Kanter*

Terry Knowles and Marshall Rutter*

Joyce* and Kent Kresa

Lesley Leighton

Louise Lepley*

Marjorie and Roger* Lindbeck

Patricia A. MacLaren

Drs. Marguerite and Robert Marsh*

Jane and

Edward J.* McAniff

Nancy and Robert Miller*

Named for Los Angeles Master Chorale’s founding music director, the Roger Wagner Society honors and recognizes individuals who have expressed their commitment to the art of choral music by making an endowment or planned gift benefitting the Master Chorale.

Through this support, Roger Wagner Society members ensure the long-term fiscal stability of the Master Chorale by creating a legacy that preserves a vital cultural resource for future generations.

The Master Chorale works with The Music Center Foundation as our partner in the secure investment and stewardship of your planned gift.

To learn more about becoming a member of the Roger Wagner Society, please contact Michael Rossetto, Vice President of Advancement, at mrossetto@lamasterchorale.org or 213-972-3114.

Diane Morton

Ron Myrick

Raymond R. Neevel*

Steven P. Neiffer and Eric Lassiter*

Joyce and Donald J.* Nores

Robert W. Olsen*

Courtland Palmer

Cheryl Petersen and Roger Lustberg

Hugh Ralston

Susan Erburu Reardon and George Reardon

Elizabeth Redmond*

Penelope C. Roeder, Ph.D.

Ronus Foundation

Phyllis and Larry Rothrock*

Carolyn and Scott Sanford

Barbara and Charles Schneider*

Dona* and David Schultz

Martha Ellen Scott*

Shirley and Ralph Shapiro in honor of Peter Mullin

Anne Shaw and Harrison Price*

Nancy and Richard Spelke

Sue Stamberger

George Sterne and Nicole Baker

Francine and Dal Alan* Swain

Kristan and Philip A. Swan

Dr. Jonathan Talberg

Laney and Tom* Techentin

William M. Tully in loving memory of Jane W. Tully

Margaret White

Robert Wood*

* In memoriam

FOUNDATION, GOVERNMENT, AND CORPORATE SUPPORT

$1,000,000+

The Ahmanson Foundation

Perenchio Foundation

$100,000–$999,999

AmaWaterways

The Blue Ribbon Colburn Foundation

Dan Murphy Foundation

The Music Center Foundation

$50,000–$99,999

Anonymous

Ann Peppers Foundation

Capital Group Corporate Charitable Giving

Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture

Moore Family Foundation

National Endowment for the Arts

The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation

Edward A. & Ai O. Shay Family Foundation

$20,000–$49,999

Anonymous

Chorus America Music Education Partnership

City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs

Dwight Stuart Youth Fund

PNC Foundation

The SahanDaywi Foundation

Ronus Foundation

Walter J. and Holly O. Thomson Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Co-Trustee

$10,000–$19,999

California Arts Council

Munger, Tolles & Olson, LLP

The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation

$1,000–$9,999

The Aaron Copland Fund for Music

David Bohnett Foundation

The E. Nakamichi Foundation

Employees Community Fund of The Boeing Company California

Friars Charitable Foundation

William H. Hannon Foundation

Ornest Family Foundation

Lloyd E. Rigler-Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation

Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts

The Lon V. Smith Foundation

Los Angeles City Council District 14, C ouncil Member Ysabel Jurado

The John and Beverly Stauffer Foundation

Sidney Stern Memorial Trust

OFFICERS

Susan Erburu Reardon Chair

DIRECTORS

Bryant Danner

Jennifer Diener

Grant Gershon*

Kiki Ramos Gindler

William Goldman**

Martha Groves

Robert Hanisee

Kristin Techentin Harrison

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Scott Altman* President & CEO

Jenn Hoang

Jenny Soonjin Kim

Shawn Kravich

Ron Myrick

Naseem Nixon

Casper Partovi

Lisa Richardson

Rudi Schreiner

Laura Smolowe

Tom Strickler Vice Chair

Phil Swan

William Tully

Miles Benickes Treasurer Courtland Palmer Secretary

Tracy Van Fleet**

Andrea D. Williams

HONORARY

Morten J. Lauridsen

Lillian Pierson

Lovelace***

ADMINISTRATION

EXECUTIVE & ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP

Scott Altman President & Chief Executive Officer

Grant Gershon

Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director

Jenny Wong

Associate Artistic Director

ARTISTIC & PRODUCTION

Kevin Koelbl Vice President of Ar tistic Operations

Susie McDermid Director of Production

Anthony Crespo Production & Personnel Manager

Chris Fox

Production Manager

Lisa Edwards

Pianist/Musical Assistant

Jeff Wallace

Technical Director

Adam Noel

Supertitle Operator

Brady Steel Orchestra Manager

Mark Fugina Orchestra Music Libr arian

ADVANCEMENT

Michael Rossetto Vice President of Advancement

Andrea Barkan-Kennedy Director of Institutional Giving

Elizabeth DelloRusso Associate Director of Annual Giving

Lulu Maxfield Advancement

Operations Manager

Joanna Elliott Special Gifts Officer

COMMUNITY

ENGAGEMENT & ED UCATION

José Meza

Associate Director of Education

Sarah Gonzalez Director, Youth Chorus LA

Michael Cassady

Teaching Artist

Doug Cooney

Teaching Artist

Saunder Choi

Teaching Artist

Kelci Hahn

Teaching Artist

Alice Kirwan Murray

Teaching Artist

Brett Paesel

Teaching Artist

Wells Leng

Youth Chorus LA Accompanist

EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Claudia Bill-de la Peña Vice President of External Affairs

FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION

Jim Suh Vice President of Finance/Chief Financial Officer

Myrna Diaz Administration & Operations Manager

EMERITUS

Edward J. McAniff***

Albert J. McNeil***

Clifford A. Miller***

Marshall A. Rutter***

Laney Techentin

* Ex-officio

** Chorale Representative ***In Memoriam

Aileen Hermoso Interim Controller

Kelsi McGlothlin

Executive Assistant/ Board Liaison

Roey Yitzhary Staff Accountant

MARKETING & PUBLIC RELATIONS

Tom Michel Vice President of Marketing & Communications

Nicole Doll

Marketing Specialist

Laura Ferreiro

Marketing Manager

John McCoy

Digital Content Manager

Gabe Zuniga

Videographer

CONSULTANTS

Corey Field Counsel

Terry Knowles

Executive Consultant

Singer Lewak Public Accountant

Jackson Lewis Counsel Capacity Interactive

Digital Marketing Consultant

Dream Warrior Group

Web Design

Opus 3 Artist Management

Studio Fuse, Inc. Design Firm

WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL

Greg Flusty House Manager

Serge Quintanar

Master Carpenter

Charlie Miledi

Property Master

Marcus Conroy

Master Electrician

Kevin F. Wapner

Master Audio/Video

Mike Wilson

Conservator of the Organ

Hollywood Heritage

Celebrity designer Jaime Rummerfield is equally passionate about creating new spaces and saving historic ones. by ROGER GRODY

THE CELEBRITY CLIENTELE of Jaime Rummerfield, one of the leading interior designers in Los Angeles, is as likely to land her work on the pages of The Hollywood Reporter as Architectural Digest. She is also among the city’s most articulate advocates for historic preservation.

After partnering nearly 20 years with Ron Woodson, Rummerfield founded her current studio in 2023. With clients inhabiting homes created by renowned architects

Richard Neutra, Donald Wexler and Paul R. Williams, she developed a passion for preserving the properties that have come to define the region’s rich architectural heritage.

Inspired by legendary Hollywood set designer-turned-interior designer Tony Duquette and Hollywood Regency architect John Elgin Woolf, Rummerfield feeds off the creative energy of her native L.A. “The pulse here is like no other city. We like to help clients protect and cultivate

that in their own projects,” she says. Of her design approach, Rummerfield says, “It’s a more maximalist style I describe as ‘Old Hollywood Luxury.’ It reflects my appreciation for both grandeur and

The Music Center Foundation was established in 1973 by Dorothy Bu um Chandler to provide endowment support to The Music Center, its educational activities, dance programs, and its four Resident Companies: Center Theatre Group, LA Master Chorale, LA Opera, and LA Philharmonic. By making a gift through the Foundation, you can support performances that thread our community together.

DESIGN

an attention to detail.”

That preference does not impede the designer’s eagerness to apply her skills to sleek modern architecture. “Modernism presents a clean slate. I enjoy bringing a level of refinement and restraint to those environments,” Rummerfield says.

“I look to the architecture for context—the building informs my work. Contemporary or historic, the structure provides the visual vocabulary. My clients, many of them actors, musicians and artists, are looking for something original and authentic. They don’t want what other people have.”

Rummerfield favors a deeply collaborative relationship with clients, a process she compares to

composing a song together.

Despite her maximalist tendencies, Rummerfield admires the work of iconic mid-century modernists such as Richard Neutra; her firm’s

Vignettes at Ritz-Carlton Residence in Los Angeles and, below, in Brentwood bungalow

office occupies the Silver Lake building that once housed the master’s architectural practice. “I appreciate Neutra’s intricate attention to materials, lines and proportions,” she says, noting that his brand of minimalism was never austere.

For a commission in the exclusive La Collina enclave of Beverly Hills, Rummerfield brought refinement to a 6,800-square-foot SpanishItalianate Revival home designed by Gordon Kaufmann. She curated elegant French artisanal textiles from Prelle to complement the client’s antique collection, here showcased amid casual luxury.

In Brentwood, not far from the Marilyn Monroe residence she helped to save, the designer reimagined a classic California bungalow. Refined details contributed to a newfound elegance, prompting Rummerfield to declare, “We transformed it into a jewel box.”

Rummerfield cofounded the nonprofit Save Iconic Architecture (SIA), devoted to architectural preservation and education, a decade ago. “I had often witnessed notable architecture being altered or

demolished. It was heartbreaking to come into the process too late.”

A pivotal moment occurred when a prospective client took Rummerfield to the Neutra-designed Chuey House—memorialized in Julius Shulman photographs but in disrepair— which he intended to tear down. Rummerfield helped find a buyer who would restore the home, inspiring SIA’s creation.

In addition to the Chuey House, Rummerfield and SIA have championed the preservation of Sunset Boulevard’s Standard Hotel, the Jay Paley estate

by Paul R. Williams, and Neutra’s Bonnet House.

Reaching beyond Southern California, the organization even advocated for the restoration of Frank Lloyd

Wright’s Price Tower in Oklahoma.

Jaime Rummerfield 2379 Glendale Blvd., Silver Lake, 424.902.7003,

Los Angeles Jewish Health...Energizing Senior

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Season Closer

New York Philharmonic String Quartet Onstage Classical

Jeremy Jordan

Chavela y Sus Mujeres

Un Homenaje a Chavela Vargas Featuring Ofelia Medina, Eugenia León, Ely Guerra, La Marisoul, Los Macorinos, Mariachi Gama 1000

Mahler Chamber Orchestra

Yuja Wang, piano and director

Matthew Truscott, concertmaster and leader

A New Garden Blooms

MASTRO’S, NOW MARKING its 25th anniversary in Beverly Hills, has always been a special-occasion favorite, thanks to its fully customizable seafood towers, extraordinary cuts of beef such as true A5 Kobe and famed warm butter cake. White-jacket service and contemporary steakhouse elegance add to the allure.

Now, the spot unveils another reason to celebrate, a stunning expansion of its multi-level venue. Full name: The Garden at The Penthouse at Mastro’s Steakhouse.

Accessed via private elevator in the Penthouse, the Garden feels like both an exclusive club and an airy oasis, in either case a counterpoint to the energetic, and dramatically darker, main dining room two floors below.

Luxe lounge seating is set amid lush greenery,

MUSICAL CROSSROADS

Discover Music Like Never Before

Explore how your favorite songs, artists, and genres are connected across decades on a stunning 19-foot interactive table, powered by IBM watsonx. Listen more than 150 genres, 440 artists, and hundreds of songs, from classic hits to modern favorites.

each shaker essentially pours two.

Top sellers include the off-menu Lemon Drop— prepared tableside with dry ice, dramatically bubbling and “smoking” in the glass—and onmenu Dream Berry, like an elegant strawberry lemonade. The classic go-to? The Get Loose with the Goose vodka martini with caper berries.

Sidebar: A number of classics on the list earn the moniker Mastro’s: Mastro’s Manhattan, Mastro’s Margarita, and so on. The Old Fashioned is conspicuously missing— but not because it doesn’t start with M. Ask why and your server will return with an impressive whiskey list; choose a whiskey and your server will return with the cocktail.

The wine list is 38 pages. Happy reading!

KASIMOFF-BLÜTHNER PIANO CO.

L.A.’s oldest piano store

Concert and Home Rentals

Blüthner Pianos (since 1853)

Neupert Harpsichords (since 1868)

Schiedmayer Celesta (since 1890)

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find that idea anathema.”

While maintaining their New York apartment, he and his family also established a home base in L.A. His wife, Jennifer Ringo, is a former opera singer turned vocal coach, who worked on the recent Pasadena Playhouse production of Amadeus Their older daughter Luisa is an award-winning documentary filmmaker; younger daughter Emma is an actress in London. The company did present its first complete Wagner Ring Cycle in 2010, accompanied by the countywide Ring Festival

L.A., which examined the work’s cultural impact. Prior to that, in 2007, L.A. Opera had launched another of Conlon’s visions: Recovered Voices, which presents works by lesser-known composers who were silenced by the Holocaust.

He counts the program as one of the highlights of his L.A. Opera career. It has since expanded to become Music Restored:

The Ziering-Conlon Center for Exiled and Suppressed Composers, based at the Colburn School downtown, of which he is artistic director. As a passionate advocate for the composers and their music, “It’s a moral man-

date,” he says, “to restore to its proper place any art that has been sidelined or destroyed. We cannot give these composers back their lives, but we can revive their music and play it regularly. It is a form of remembrance.”

The works and their creators should also be included in music history

accounts, he adds, and artistically, “a lot of great and worthy music has simply remained neglected. This music is being played much more now, but not nearly enough.”

He’s immensely proud of bringing Benjamin Britten’s opera Noah’s Flood to Los Angeles in his first season, conducting

RADIANCE + REVERIE: MARTÍN + MARWOOD + MOZART

SAT, MAY 16 | 7:30 PM | ZIPPER HALL SUN, MAY 17 | 4 PM | THE WALLIS

Jaime Martín, Music Director

Anthony Marwood, Violin

Coleman Itzkoff, Cello

W. Mozart, Symphony No. 35 in D major, “Haffner” Christopher Cerrone, Double Concerto for Violin & Cello LACO COMMISSION / WORLD PREMIERE

P. Tchaikovsky, Orchestra Suite No. 4 in G major, “Mozartiana”

FEATURE

it every subsequent year except during Covid, in which children and adult members of the community perform with professionals. This year, there will be two free performances (May 7-8) at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels downtown.

“It’s a great thing for the community,” he enthuses. “It is always full. You can’t imagine how many young people come up and say, ‘I was in Noah’s Flood,’ or ‘I sang at the Cathedral.’ That gives me great satisfaction, because I was bitten by the bug of being in the theater as a young teenager—in the children’s chorus of an opera company in New York—and I wanted to share it.

“At that age, it can be a gift for life.”

As for his Pavilion performances in his final season, “I chose two operas I love and revere, Verdi’s and Mozart’s last operas, Falstaff and The Magic Flute [respectively],” he says. “I chose to make the program of the gala Mozart, Wagner and Verdi, because I believe that those three composers still have to be the pillars of an opera house, and because they’ve been with me all my life. I want to share them in a last gala with our audience.”

Leaving is bittersweet, he admits. He has, he says, “a great sense of pleasure and satisfaction

in what we did together.” But he will miss the L.A. Opera Orchestra members, with whom he’s developed a deep bond, the chorus and all the others without whom there would be no L.A. Opera. During curtain calls, “I wish I could bring out on the stage all the people who work backstage, in the costume shop and in administration, to take bows, too,” he remarks.

Similarly, while he acknowledges he played a role in the company’s four Grammy Award wins during his tenure—two each for John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles in 2017 and for Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny in 2009—he’s quick to give credit to all those involved.

”I’m always happy to have recognition, and always grateful,” he reflects. “But to me, if you give a good or a great performance, if you move people, that’s the reward. The reward is in the doing.

“That is where I’ve lived my life, and that’s the way I would like to leave this job, feeling that I gave every ounce of what I had in me—my music, my intellect, my passion— to the audience, the performers and my other colleagues every night.

“That was my goal. That’s my reward. And when I leave and walk out at the end of June, that is the only reward that will mean anything to me.”

Sat., April 18 7:30 pm

Sun., April 19 4:00 pm

LeeLA subrAmAniAm Soprano

roberto PerLAs Gómez Baritone

Audrey bAbcock MessoSoprano

Andrés VAdín Flamenco guitar

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 1220 2nd St., Santa Monica, CA 90401

BEETHOVEN EROICA

APRIL 25, 2026

JULIAN SCHWARZ cello

MASONHeroic Overture

HIGDONCello Concerto

BEETHOVENSymphony No. 3 “Eroica”

AMERICA @ 250

MAY 30, 2026

ALEC BALDWIN narrator

TERRENCE WILSON piano

WILLIAMS Liberty Fanfare

GERSHWIN Concerto in F

COPLAND Appalachian Spring Suite

COPLAND Lincoln Portrait TICKETS!

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PLAZA | LOS ANGELES

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL | WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL | PASADENA PLAYHOUSE | AMBASSADOR AUDITORIUM | LA MIRADA THEATRE | A NOISE WITHIN

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PACIFIC SYMPHONY DANCE SERIES PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY | SOUTH COAST REP FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION PERFORMANCESMAGAZINE.COM

SEPTEMBER 8-27, 2026

OCTOBER 27 -NOVEMBER 15, 2026

MARCH 30 - APRIL 18, 2027

JUNE 1- 20, 2027

SEPTEMBER 30 -OCTOBER 18, 2026

MARCH 9 - 28, 2027

MAY 4 - 23, 2027

JULY 6 - 25, 2027

SEASON ADD ON DEC 17, 2026-FEB 13, 2027

SEASON ADD ON

JUL 28-AUG 29, 2027

PACKAGES START AT 10 EASY PAYMENTS OF $41 NO INTEREST. NO FEES.