Los Angeles Chorale concert June 9 in Pasadena

This past season alone, they have performed at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, the Shrine Auditorium, and USC’s Town and Gown, but now John Sutton, Artistic Director of the Angeles Chorale, is ready to "take it to the streets."



“I may be showing my age,” says Sutton, who will conduct the renowned ensemble’s final concert of the season, ‘Stories of Our Lives’ on Saturday, June 9 at 8 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Pasadena, “but I’m inspired by the Doobie Brothers’ song, Takin’ It to the Streets. One of my goals and passions for our Chorale is for us to come out of the concert hall – art, remember, began in everyday life – and sing about the things that people are dealing with and celebrating and grieving over.”



The unifying theme for ‘Stories of Our Lives,’ Sutton continues, is love – specifically “love relationships” – as the program makes amply clear. Works the 37- year old Chorale will perform include: Sing Me to Heaven by Daniel Gawthrop, a work Sutton explains is not about dying but the importance of singing throughout our lives; Der Gang zum Liebchen (Journey to My Love) by Johannes Brahms; Soldier, Soldier, Won’t You Marry Me by Paul Halley; This Marriage by Eric Whitacre; Whitacre’s Five Hebrew Love Songs, “absolutely stunning, gorgeous” settings, says Sutton, of five poems written by Whitacre’s wife, featuring violinist Alex Russell and Julie Hinton on tambourine; and Ubi Caritas by Maurice Durufle.



Yet, most excitingly perhaps, the Angeles Chorale will present the West Coast Premiere of composer Robert Cohen’s Alzheimer’s Stories.



“Originally the work caught my attention because the title was so unusual,” Sutton relates. “I thought, what’s this about?”



Alzheimer’s Stories is exactly what its title implies, with a libretto that incorporates actual words drawn from letters written by Alzheimer’s patients, their families and their caregivers. “I found it compelling and moving,” says Sutton. “We often talk about Alzheimer’s over coffee and in our homes. Why shouldn’t we be singing about it? It’s so beautiful, this setting, and it’s so real.”



The work, in fact, so vividly portrays real life for those who suffer from Alzheimer’s and those who love them that Sutton confesses he “took the liberty” to stage it as an operetta of sorts, in three acts. Soloists Helene Quintana, mezzo-soprano, and Ryan Thorn, baritone, play an array of roles throughout the production.



“For example, in the second act or movement, Helene and Ryan become older parents who have Alzheimer’s, and the Chorale, rather than being commentators, become their adult children,” explains Sutton. “We respond to the parents as sons and daughters, and we hear the stories they’ve shared with us throughout the years. In fact, at times, we jump in and finish them because we know the stories so well. Then, later on, in this movement, we start to help the parents actually remember the stories because their memories are beginning to fade.”



Rae Macdonald, Executive Director of the Angeles Chorale, has been struck by the reaction of many members of the chorus to the work. “Rehearsals have been very powerful experiences for all of us,” Macdonald reveals. “People choke up, or they’re in tears as they’re singing. There’s no doubt Alzheimer’s Stories is hitting the Angeles Chorale very close to home. I fully expect the work to have an equally transforming impact on our audience when we perform it.”



Tickets for ‘Stories of Our Lives’ are available for $25, general seating, and for $17 for students with a valid ID. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.angeleschorale.org or call 818.591.1735. The First United Methodist Church is located at 500 East Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena, 91101.



“The Angeles Chorale is fortunate to get to make music at this professional level,” concludes Sutton. “As my mother always told me, ‘good is the enemy of best.’ But to have the juncture of heart, mind, soul and body as a singer and as a conductor that we’re experiencing with The Stories of Our Lives takes us to a whole new, truly transcendent level. It’s a powerful mix!”