When conductor and composer Jeffrey Bernstein founded the Pasadena Master Chorale (PMC) in 2008, he saw the organization functioning as a kind of musical matchmaker, “creating opportunities” to bring together those who love to make music and those who love to hear it. “Home for the Holidays” – which will take place on Saturday, December 10 at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church in Pasadena – is a case in point in that it provides a treasure trove of ways to strengthen, deepen and enhance this friendship.

“There’s no better time to hear choral music than during the holiday season,” Bernstein explains. “In this concert, the Chorale will explore the unique glories of the choral sound, sampling familiar works from the Renaissance through the 20th Century. It’s Christmas music for the whole family.”

Highlights of the concert include Heinrich Schütz's Also Hat Gott Die Welt Geliebt, beloved standbys like the Coventry Carol and O Holy Night, and less familiar works like Noam Elkies's Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, which Bernstein describes as “haunting and touching”. 

 Joining the Chorale are nearly 20 student and apprentice singers from Pasadena-area schools. For instance, Bernstein’s new arrangement of Silent Night will feature Arthur Martinez, winner of PMC's second annual solo vocal competition and currently a student at LACSHA. A second LACHSA student, Harry Wilde Greer, will be the cello soloist in Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols.

The concert will also include what has become a highly anticipated PMC tradition: an audience sing-along of seasonal carols.

“But this year we’ve added something special,” says Bernstein. “PMC will release a companion CD entitled ‘Home for the Holidays’. So, now, our audience can take the sounds of the concert home with them.”

Tickets for “Home for the Holidays” are $22/person ($25 at the door) and are available online, at www.pasadenamasterchorale.org, or at the door (cash or check only). For more information, call 626.208.0009.

First Congregational Church is located at 464 Walnut Street in Pasadena, 91101.

ABOUT THE PASADENA MASTER CHORALE

Founded in 2009, the Pasadena Master Chorale is one of Pasadena's newest and most vibrant arts organizations. An amateur choir with professional standards, PMC presents well-loved and affordable concerts of the highest quality to the greater Pasadena community. Specializing in the pinnacles of choral music spanning five centuries, PMC has thrilled audiences with recent performances of Orff's Carmina Burana, Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem, a folksong program entitled Songs of the World, and a Renaissance program entitled The Golden Age. PMC is also committed to engaging Pasadena's young choral singers and fostering their love of the choral art. Through partnerships with four PUSD schools, PMC offers performance opportunities to dozens of Pasadena students each year, including a vocal competition and a mentoring program that pairs student singers with experienced chorale members. From a first season of 3 concerts in 2008-2009, PMC has grown rapidly, presenting 11 performances of 7 programs in its third season (2010-2011). A non-profit organization, the Pasadena Master Chorale is the proud recipient of a grant from the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts.

ABOUT JEFFREY BERNSTEIN, MUSIC DIRECTOR

Known for his ability to inspire singers and audiences alike, Jeffrey Bernstein is one of Southern California's pre-eminent choral conductors, and his choirs are numbered among the finest ensembles in the region. Bernstein specializes in the refinement of the a cappella choral sound and in the performance of major choral-orchestral repertoire. During the fifteen-year span of his career Bernstein has conducted over 30 major works and led choirs on over a dozen tours of three continents. 

Active as a guest conductor, Bernstein has led Bach’s St. John Passion with Sanford Sylvan in Boston, Haydn’s Creation with the Arad Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus in Romania, Dvorak’s Czech Suite with the Naples Philharmonic in Florida, and over a dozen other orchestral performances at the Harvard Business School.

A committed educator as well, Bernstein works regularly with students in Pasadena schools, gives pre-concert talks for the Pasadena Symphony, and maintains a private conducting studio. Among his students is eleven-year-old piano prodigy Marc Yu. An experienced choral singer Bernstein has sung with the Harvard Glee Club, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Musica Angelica and the Los Angeles Master Chorale under such conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Roger Norrington, and Simon Rattle. Choirs under Bernstein’s direction have sung for Gustavo Dudamel, Jorge Mester, Zubin Mehta, and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

In 2009 Bernstein founded the Pasadena Master Chorale and serves now as its artistic director. He is also artistic director of the Hollywood Master Chorale and the Los Angeles Daiku and was assistant conductor of the Pasadena Symphony from 2005 through 2010. From 1997 to 2008 Bernstein was director of choral music at Occidental College in Los Angeles, where he rejuvenated a century-old Glee Club tradition and taught classes in music theory, counterpoint, composing and arranging, 20th-century music, and the American musical theater. Bernstein began his career in the theater, working first as a lighting designer and subsequently serving as a musical director and conductor. He led over 25 professional productions and served as associate musical director for the national touring company of CATS.

The composer of over 50 concert works, Bernstein has enjoyed premieres of his music across this country and in Europe. His commissions include Circumnavigation of the World for Occidental College, Chomolungma for the Governor’s School of North Carolina, Phoenix for UCLA bassoonist Melson Varsovia, Pablo Neruda in Love for The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut and over a dozen a cappella choral works and arrangements. In 2007 the Occidental Chorale under Bernstein's direction gave a full-length program of his choral-orchestral music entitled Divinity. Bernstein has contributed choral arrangements and direction to numerous commercial projects, and his choral arrangements are featured in the 2002 film Slackers.

Bernstein lived the first twenty-eight years of his life in the Northeast. He holds music degrees from UCLA, Yale and Harvard, where he also served as acting associate director of choral activities and assistant conductor of the world-famous Harvard Glee Club. He studied conducting with Jorge Mester and Jameson Marvin and composition with Peter Lieberson, James Yannatos, Jacob Druckman, Roger Bourland and David Lefkowitz. Bernstein lives in Altadena, California with his nine-year-old daughter Celia.

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