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  • WDCH
  • SING IN EXULTATION AT THE ANNUAL LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC HOLIDAY SING-ALONG
  • Dec. 22, 2007
  • Host David Prather and The Angeles Chorale are Joined by
    Pianist Bryan Pezzone and Organist Phillip Allen Smith in Two Performances

    SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2007, AT 1PM AND 4PM

    Gather family, friends and neighbors for the Los Angeles Philharmonic annual Holiday Sing-Along at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Saturday, December 22, at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Master storyteller David Prather, Los Angeles treasure The Angeles Chorale, acclaimed pianist Bryan Pezzone and the LA Philharmonic’s own organ conservator Phillip Allen Smith, lead audiences in the greatest holiday sing-along in the city for two shows filled with holiday cheer.

    The Holiday Sing-Along is a yearly staple of the Deck the Hall series and encourages audiences not only to listen but also to participate. Patrons of all ages are provided with lyric sheets as they belt out the famed carols of the season in a show that is not to be missed.

    Deck the Hall, presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, is a series of festive performances throughout the month of December featuring an array of exceptional artists offering seasonal music. Remaining performances include an unforgettable night in Paris with Belinda Carlisle and Rufus Wainwright in Paris à Go-Go, December 31, at 7 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

    DAVID PRATHER has been the popular host of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Summer Sounds: Music and Art for Kids,” at the Hollywood Bowl for over 10 years. He has hosted numerous other programs with the orchestra, including last year’s Twas the Week Before Christmas shows, as well as Toyota Symphonies for Youth and Peninsula Fair concerts. He has narrated such classics as Peter and the Wolf and orchestral versions of Casey at the Bat and Twas the Night Before Christmas with conductors Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Alexander Mickelthwate and Joanna Carneiro, among others. Prather is also a respected arts educator whose work for the Music Center of Los Angeles and the Orange County Performing Arts Center has taken him to thousands of schools throughout greater Los Angeles; this includes presenting original shows such as Poetry Jam, Star-Spangled Poetry and The Bully Dudes, as well as conducting classroom workshops. In addition, he has been involved in both the San Francisco Symphony’s “Keeping Score” and the NEA’s Anchor Works projects. His commissioned play, When Harlem Was in Vogue was presented by the Alley Theatre in Texas. Prather’s love of music began early, as a boy treble at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. A graduate of Princeton University and The American Conservatory Theatre, he lives in Burbank with his wife and two children.

    The ANGELES CHORALE has presented choral masterworks to Los Angeles audiences for more than a third of a century, and is pleased to have been a participant in these Disney Hall holiday concerts since their inception. The full Chorale is one of the major volunteer music organizations in California, comprising 130 auditioned voices with significant musical resumes. Its singers appear regularly as guests of major area orchestras such as the American Youth Symphony, the Glendale Symphony and the Long Beach Symphony. In its own concerts this season, the Chorale presents Handel’s Messiah, Dvorák’s Stabat Mater and Brahms’ German Requiem. Angeles Chorale voices are often heard in movie theaters around the world, having recorded large numbers of choral backgrounds and effects used in feature film trailers and television advertisements. The Chorale also organizes major music education events, most recently an international choral workshop in Monterey with USC composer-in-residence Morten Lauridsen. The Chorale Artistic Director Donald Neuen is director of Choral Activities at UCLA and also appears weekly on worldwide television as director the Crystal Cathedral Choir in Garden Grove.

    BRYAN PEZZONE is the consummate crossover pianist of his generation. He has excelled in classical, contemporary, jazz and experimental genres and is known for both his versatility and virtuosity as a performing artist, improviser and composer. He has performed with many major symphony orchestra associations, toured widely with the jazz/classical crossover group “Free Flight” and is known in the Los Angeles area as one of the primary freelance pianists for film and television soundtracks. Pezzone’s career highlights include performances with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Pezzone has received his Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music in 1984 where he was awarded the Performers Certificate and won the concerto competition. He was invited to the Tanglewood Music Center where he received the C.D. Jackson Master Award two successive summers in 1983 and 1984. He attended the Banff Centre during its winter in 1983/84 term as an alternative to graduate studies in order to have the necessary time to freely blend various aesthetics and diverse performance traditions into a unique approach. This passion remains the focus of his work and continues to evolve.

    PHILLIP ALLEN SMITH was appointed organ conservator for Walt Disney Concert Hall in July 2004, and also holds the position of organist and choir director of Temple Israel of Hollywood. Formerly, Smith was organist and choirmaster at St. Nicholas’ Episcopal Church, Encino and most recently Director of Music and organist at Wilshire United Methodist Church, Los Angeles. He is a member of the Price/Smith Duo for trumpet and organ, is active as a teacher in organ, piano and voice and accompanist for many choral groups in the Los Angeles area. Smith holds a Master of Music Degree (Organ and Church Music) from the University of Michigan, School of Music. Solo and Duo concerts have brought him worldwide engagements in Scandinavia, England, Germany and all around the United States. Smith has done accompanying on piano and organ for many choruses and soloists in Southern California, including the Ventura Master Chorale and the Los Angeles Master Chorale under the direction of Paul Salamunovich, the Cambridge Singers (Pasadena Classical Singers) with Alex Rugierri and was guest organist for the annual High School Choir Festival in May 2005 and 2006, with Grant Gershon, music director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Smith also took part as organist for the “T’was the Week Before Christmas” and “Christmas Holiday Sing-a-long” concerts in 2005 and 2006 at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Smith has played many concerts for the American Guild of Organists Chapters in California and was a guest artist with the Price/Smith Duo for the 1991 Region IX Regional Convention of the AGO in Pasadena, CA. Smith continues to be very active in the position as Organ Conservator at Walt Disney Concert Hall, playing demonstrations for groups and organizations, and working for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

    SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2007, at 1PM AND 4PM
    WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL, 111 S. Grand Ave, Los Angeles

    Holiday Sing-Along

    DAVID PRATHER, host
    ANGELES CHORALE
    BRYAN PEZZONE, piano
    PHILLIP ALLEN SMITH, organ

    Tickets ($23-$69) are on sale now at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office, online at LAPhil.com, or via credit card phone order at 323.850.2000. A limited number of $10 rush tickets for seniors and full-time students may be available at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office two hours prior to the performance. Valid identification is required; one ticket per person; cash only. Groups of 10 or more may be eligible for special discounts for selected concerts and seating areas. Tickets make great gifts! For information, please call 323.850.2000.

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  • Contact:

    Adam Crane, 213.972.3422, acrane@laphil.org; Lisa White, 213.972.3408, lwhite@laphil.org; Leah Price, 213972.3406, lprice@laphil.org; For photos: 213.972.3034