LA Master Chorale Sings National Anthem to Launch U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Marathon

Members of the renowned Grammy-nominated Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC), considered one of the world’s leading professional choirs, will perform the national anthem to launch the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Men’s and Women’s Marathon, which takes place in downtown Los Angeles with unprecedented live national television coverage on NBC and NBC Sports, on Saturday, February 13, 2016, at 9:45 am. The Chorale will perform outside Staples Center at the race’s start and finish line. The top three male and female finishers who meet Olympic time standards will represent U.S.A. at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, which begin August 5, 2016. The Olympic Trials Marathon features a record $600,000 in prize money. It will award $300,000 to men and $300,000 to women, with top finishers in both categories each receiving $80,000.

This marks the first time in U.S. Olympic Team Trials history that the men’s and women’s marathons will be televised live nationally. NBC Sports Live Extra – NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, tablets, and connected TVs – will also live stream the coverage.

“It is a tremendous honor for the Los Angeles Master Chorale to be a part of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in this capacity,” says LAMC Artistic Director Grant Gershon. “We are proud to help send off the country’s best marathoners and represent the City of Los Angeles by performing The Star Spangled Banner.”

The Los Angeles Master Chorale, one of the world’s leading professional choirs, is the resident chorus at Walt Disney Concert Hall and a resident company of The Music Center. Proclaimed “the nation’s most pioneering major chorus” (Los Angeles Times), the Grammy-nominated chorus has been hailed as “inspired” (The New York Times), “magnificent” (Chicago Tribune) and “a superb vocal ensemble” (The New York Observer). Presenting its own concert series each season, it performs choral music from the earliest writings to the most recent contemporary compositions. The 110-member Chorale has been awarded three ASCAP/Chorus America Awards for Adventurous Programming as well as Chorus America’s prestigious Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence. It has toured to Europe and New York City and has appeared at the Hollywood Bowl, Ojai Music Festival, the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center, the Ravinia Festival and the Overture Center in Madison, Wisconsin, among other prominent venues. Its discography includes six commercial CDs as well as a digital recording under Gershon’s baton. LAMC previously released three other CDs, including the Grammy-nominated Lauridsen-Lux Aeterna. The Chorale is also featured with Gershon on the soundtracks of such major motion pictures as Lady in the Water and License to Wed. www.lamc.org.