Los Angeles Master Chorale to Perform World Premiere of Eric Whitacre's 'The Sacred Veil' Feb 16 & 17

(Los Angeles, CA) January 15, 2019 – Three years ago, after a visit from his longtime collaborator and friend, lyricist and poet Charles Anthony (Tony) Silvestri, composer Eric Whitacre found a poem Silvestri had left for him sitting on his piano. Silvestri had lost his wife to cancer 12 years previously, losing his soul mate and leaving him to bring up their two young children. He had not been able to write about the experience for a long time. The poem he left for Whitacre was called The Veil Opens and Whitacre immediately sat down and began to set it to music. The resulting piece is part of a broader work based on Silvestri’s poetry addressing all stages of life and death calledThe Sacred Veil that will receive its world premiere by the Los Angeles Master Chorale conducted by Whitacre in Walt Disney Concert Hall Saturday, February 16 at 2 PMand Sunday, February 17 at 7 PM. 

The longform work is a key project of Whitacre’s position as the Master Chorale’s Swan Family Artist-in-Residence and will be performed by 40 Master Chorale singers, soloist Suzanne Waters, and a chamber ensemble from the Los Angeles Master Chorale Orchestra. A co-commission between the Master Chorale and the Monash Performing Arts Center in Australia, The Sacred Veil is Whitacre’s most extensive choral work to date and a highly anticipated musical event. Both Whitacre and Silvestri will give a pre-concert talk one hour before the performances and will also introduce the work from the stage at the performances. Previous collaborations between Whitacre and Silvestri include Sleep and Lux Aurumque, two of the most frequently performed works of choral music in the world. 

“Upon reading the poem, The Veil Opens, I immediately realized that this could be the foundation of a much larger work,” recalls Whitacre. “Tony and I spent many hours talking through a structure for this new piece we called The Sacred Veil and how we could use choral music to explore the journey of a soul across the threshold between finitude and eternity into and, ultimately, out of this life.”

"This is by far the most difficult, most personal, and most rewarding set of poems I have ever attempted," says Silvestri. "I learned so much about myself through the long grief process, and the healing this work has brought is powerful. I hope it becomes a canvas onto which others might paint their own journeys."  

Recognized worldwide as a galvanizing force in choral music, Los Angeles-based Whitacre’s residency with the Master Chorale has seen him conduct several performances of his works, including the U.S. premiere of “I Fall,” a section from The Sacred Veil, in June 2017 called “dramatic” by the Los Angeles Times and described byOut West Arts as “A moment where gratitude and loss and failure all meld into one dizzying mix.” Whitacre also conducted sold-out Festival of Carols concerts with the Master Chorale in 2017 and was the host and driving force behind Big Sing California in June 2018, the largest group choral singing event in California history that was livestreamed worldwide. Whitacre will be the special guest conductor at the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s 30th Annual High School Choir Festival in Walt Disney Concert Hall on May 3. His advocacy for music education will also be demonstrated at the Grand Rally for Music Education at the 2019 NAMM Show in Anaheim on Saturday, January 26, where he will appear as the headline speaker. 

In November Whitacre launched the fifth iteration of his enormously successful Virtual Choir projects, Deep Field: The Impossible Magnitude of Our Universe inspired by images from NASA’s Hubble Telescope and bringing together 8,000 singers from 120 countries aged from 4 to 87. 

“It has been an absolute joy for the Master Chorale to have Eric as part of our creative family as our Swan Family Artist-in-Residence for the past three seasons,” says Jean Davidson, President & CEO. “Eric’s love for choral music and his innate ability to connect with people through his compositions that are performed all over the world is undeniable. When we performed “I Fall” in 2017, it was a piece of music that embedded itself into the hearts of all who heard it and all who sung it. It is gratifying to be able to support Eric in expanding this work into the piece we premiere at these concerts and to continue this wonderful relationship.”

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The Sacred Veil was co-commissioned by the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Monash Performing Arts Center in Australia.

This work is made possible with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Linda J. Hodge, Faith Raiguel and Billy Weber, Kathleen and James Drummy, Denise and Robert Hanisee, Susan Erburu Reardon and George Reardon, Sonia Messer Randazzo, Dr. Bradley R. Straatsma, and The Aaron Copland Fund for Music.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale's Swan Family Artist-in-Residence is made possible by generous support from the Swan Family Trust.  

ABOUT THE LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE

ABOUT ERIC WHITACRE

ABOUT CHARLES ANTHONY SILVESTRI

The Other Side of Eternity
By Charles Anthony Silvestri 

Whenever there is birth or death,
The sacred veil between the worlds
Grows thin and opens slightly up
Just long enough for Love to slip,
Silent, either in or out
Of this our fragile, fleeting world,
Whence or whither a new home waits.
And our beloved ones draw near,
In rapt anticipation, or
in weary gratitude, they stand;
Our loved ones stand so close, just here,
Right here, just on the other side
Of Eternity.

CALENDAR EDITORS:

WHAT: 

LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE
ERIC WHITACRE’S THE SACRED VEIL – WORLD PREMIERE 

Program:
Eric Whitacre | The Sacred Veil 

Eric Whitacre, conductor
Charles Anthony Silvestri, lyricist
Suzanne Waters, soprano
Cecilia Tsan, cello soloist
Robin Gray, lighting designer 

40 singers, chamber ensemble

WHEN: 

Saturday, February 16 at 2 PM 

1PM: ListenUp! Pre-concert talk with Eric Whitacre and Charles Anthony Silvestri & KUSC’s Alan Chapman in BP Hall.

Sunday, February 17 at 7 PM 

6PM: ListenUp! Pre-concert talk with Eric Whitacre and Charles Anthony Silvestri & KUSC’s Alan Chapman in BP Hall.

WHERE: 

Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave. 

TICKETS & BOX OFFICE INFORMATION:

Tickets are available now, starting from $29:
Online: lamasterchorale.org
Phone: 213-972-7282 

Tickets can be purchased in-person at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Box Office Monday – Saturday, 10 AM – 6 PM. 

On concert days, box office staff can be reached at 213-972-7282 beginning at 10 AM and the Disney Hall Box Office will be open for will call and sales beginning 2 hours prior to curtain time. Group rates are available. Los Angeles Master Chorale offers $10 Student Rush Tickets at the box office 2 hours prior to the performance, subject to availability. Student ID required; 1 ticket per ID. Please call for additional details. 

Please note: children under the age of six are not admitted to Los Angeles Master Chorale concerts. 

LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE MEDIA CONTACT:
Jennifer Scott, Director of Public Relations
jscott@lamasterchorale.org | 702-510-4363 cell