Pacific Chorale Honors Artistic Director Emeritus John Alexander with Lifetime Achievement Award at Spring Gala

Capping its season with a grand flourish, Pacific Chorale fetes one of its own – Artistic Director Emeritus John Alexander – at its Spring Gala on Saturday, June 1, 2024, 4 pm, at the Westin South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. One of America’s most respected choral conductors, Alexander served as Pacific Chorale’s Artistic Director and Conductor from 1972 to 2017. He will be honored with Pacific Chorale’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his exceptional career and legacy, including his outstanding contributions to the field of choral music as a conductor and pedagogue, his extraordinary commitment to Pacific Chorale, and his considerable influence on the arts in Orange County and beyond. Proceeds from the gala, which also celebrates Alexander’s 80^th birthday, will benefit Pacific Chorale’s performances and music education and outreach programs throughout Orange County.

“John Alexander is a choral legend whose impact spans the globe,” says Pacific Chorale Board Chair Craig Springer. “He is also an indelible part of Pacific Chorale. During the 45 years he served the choir, which remains among the longest runs in American choral history, John shaped its artistry and essence, transforming it into the remarkable cultural beacon it is today.”

The Spring Gala, which precedes Pacific Chorale’s season finale performance, includes a sumptuous dinner and silent auction. Guests are then welcome to attend the choir’s concert at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, followed by a celebratory post-concert party with a hosted bar, hors d'oeuvres, and dessert back at the Westin South Coast Plaza. The concert program features Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Holst’s Psalm 148, Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for the Endangered, and the world premiere of Frank Ticheli’s Listen to the Silence, commissioned by Pacific Chorale. (Gala and concert tickets are sold separately.)

The Pacific Chorale Spring Gala is chaired by Susan Lindley. Committee members include Maria Hall-Brown; Barbara Kingsbury; Jan Landstrom; Carla Neeld; Pat Newton; Carl Porter; Beth Varney; and Julie Virjee.

Pacific Chorale’s 2023-24 Season is made possible, in part, by generous support from Platinum Season Sponsor Phillip N. and Mary A. Lyons.

Gala Platinum Sponsors include Phillip N. & Mary A. Lyons; Salt-Away Products; and The John Alexander Table. Gold Sponsors are John and Lori Loftus; Salt-Away Products; and Charles & Ling Zhang.

The Westin South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa is located at 686 Anton Blvd, Costa Mesa, CA 92626.

Gala tickets ($300) and concert tickets ($28 - $147) are sold separately. For information, visit www.pacificchorale.org or call 714-662-2345.

ABOUT HONOREE JOHN ALEXANDER

John Alexander is one of America’s most respected choral conductors. His inspired leadership both on the podium and as an advocate for the advancement of the choral art has garnered national and international admiration and acclaim.

Alexander’s long and distinguished conducting career has encompassed hundreds of choral and orchestral performances nationally and in 27 countries around the globe. He has conducted his singers with orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, the former Soviet Union, and South America as well as Southern California, with Pacific Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Musica Angelica, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Alexander is equally proficient behind the scenes, having prepared choruses for many of the world’s most outstanding orchestral conductors, including Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez, Seiji Ozawa, Michael Tilson Thomas, Leonard Slatkin, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, Lukas Foss, Max Rudolf, Carl St.Clair, Gerard Schwarz, Marin Alsop, John Mauceri, John Williams, and Keith Lockhart.

Alexander is the Artistic Director Emeritus of Pacific Chorale, having served as Artistic Director and Conductor from 1972 to 2017. Under his direction, the organization grew to become one of the foremost symphonic choirs in the nation, enjoying 13 international tours; establishing productive artistic partnerships with Pacific Symphony and Segerstrom Center for the Arts; performing dozens of world and United States premieres; and releasing numerous recordings.

Alexander is nationally recognized for his leadership in the musical and organizational development of the performing arts. He is a board member and former president of Chorus America, the service organization for choruses in North America. Alexander also has served on artistic review panels for national, statewide, and local arts organizations, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Alexander holds the title of Professor Emeritus at California State University, Fullerton, where he served as Director of Choral Studies from 1996 to 2006. From 1970 to 1996, he held the same position at California State University, Northridge. Today, Alexander continues his involvement in the pre-professional training of choral conductors. He is in demand as a teacher, clinician, and adjudicator at festivals, seminars, and workshops across the country. In 2003, Chorus America honored him with the establishment of the “John Alexander Conducting Faculty Chair” for the organization’s national conducting workshops.

A proponent of contemporary American music, Alexander is noted for the strong representation of American works and composers in his programming. He has conducted numerous premieres of works by composers such as Jake Heggie, Morten Lauridsen, Eric Whitacre, Frank Ticheli, and James Hopkins. Alexander is also a composer himself and serves as the editor of the John Alexander Choral Series with Hinshaw Music, as well as the John Alexander Singers Choral Series with Pavane Publishing.

His numerous tributes and awards include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Choral Directors Association, Western Division (2016); the “Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art” from Chorus America (2008); The “Distinguished Faculty Member” award from California State University, Fullerton (2006); the Helena Modjeska Cultural Legacy Award (2003), presented in honor of his lifetime achievement as an artistic visionary in the development of the arts in Orange County; the “Outstanding Individual Artist” Award (2000) from Arts Orange County; the “Gershwin Award” (1990), presented by the county of Los Angeles in recognition of his cultural leadership in that city; and the “Outstanding Professor” Award (1976) from California State University, Northridge.

ABOUT PACIFIC CHORALE

The GRAMMY® Award-winning Pacific Chorale, led by Artistic Director Robert Istad, is an Orange County “treasure” with a “fresh viewpoint” that “can sing anything you put in front of it with polish, poise and tonal splendor” (Orange County Register). It has risen to national prominence since its founding in 1968.

Hailed for delivering “thrilling entertainment” (Voice of OC), the resident choir at Segerstrom Center for the Arts is noted for its artistic innovation and commitment to expanding the choral repertoire. It has given world, U.S., and West Coast premieres of more than 40 works, including numerous commissions, by such lauded composers as John Adams, Jake Heggie, James Hopkins, David Lang, Morten Lauridsen, Tarik O'Regan, Karen Thomas, Frank Ticheli, András Gábor Virágh, and Eric Whitacre.

In addition to presenting its own concert series each season, Pacific Chorale enjoys a long-standing performance partnership with Pacific Symphony, including the choir’s highly anticipated Carnegie Hall debut in 2018. The chorus also regularly appears with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with which it won the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for its contribution to the live recording of “Mahler: Symphony No. 8, 'Symphony of A Thousand,'” conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, featuring Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, Los Angeles Master Chorale, National Children’s Chorus and Pacific Chorale.

The choir has performed with such leading orchestras as the Boston Symphony, National Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and Musica Angelica, among others. In addition to receiving national accolades, Pacific Chorale has garnered tremendous international acclaim. In July 2023, the chorus completed its first international tour in seven years with appearances in Austria, Germany, and the United Kingdom in collaboration with Bath Philharmonia, Free State Orchestra of Bavaria, and Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and Orchestra. Previous tours have taken the choir to 19 countries in Europe, South America, and Asia, including engagements with the London Symphony, Munich Symphony, L’Orchestre Lamoureux and L’Orchestre de St-Louis-en-l’Île of Paris, National Orchestra of Belgium, China National Symphony, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Estonian National Symphony, and Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Argentina, among others.

Deeply committed to making choral music accessible to everyone, the organization has a discography of 14 self-produced recordings and an extensive collection of free digital offerings. Among other artistic highlights, Pacific Chorale’s “The Wayfaring Project,” an original concert film conceived and conducted by Istad and produced during the pandemic, was streamed on?pbssocal.org,?kcet.org?and the PBS app, reaching audiences around the globe. Pacific Chorale also places significant emphasis on choral music education, providing after-school vocal programs for elementary school students, a choral summer camp for high school students, and an annual community-wide singing event at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. www.pacificchorale.org