Pasadena, CA – Pasadena Symphony’s annual Holiday Candlelight concert returns to All Saints Church on December 19, 2015. Having sold out the past four years in a row, the concert will offer two performances to meet community demand at 4:00 pm & 7:00 pm. The architecturally exquisite and acoustically sonorous All Saints Church, Pasadena’s equivalent of a European cathedral, provides the perfect setting to hear your holiday favorites – all performed by candlelight. Audiences are going to love each and every moment of this cherished holiday tradition.
Conductor Grant Cooper leads an array of choruses including the Donald Brinegar Singers, the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus and the L.A. Bronze Handbell Ensemble, set against the backdrop of the Pasadena Symphony. Special guest Christina Saffran will accompany the orchestra as vocalist. With countless Broadway credits under her belt including Kathy Seldon in Singin’ in the Rain, Maggie in A Chorus Line, Shoo Shoo in Sophisticated Ladies and Zaneeta in The Music Man, Saffran is sure to bring a thrilling performance.
The program has something for everyone, from holiday classics to popular standards. Hear O Holy Night, Joy to the World, Deck the Halls, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, When You Wish Upon a Star, Hallelujah! and many more. Top off the holiday season with lasting memories for the whole family. The venue will again offer fully individual assigned seating available throughout All Saints’ glorious interior, so that the audience can enjoy their experience with ease and have a well-deserved break from the hustle and bustle of the season.
Tickets to Holiday Candlelight with the Pasadena Symphony are limited. Reservations start at $20 and may be purchased here or by calling the box office at 626.793.7172.
Holiday Candlelight tops off a blockbuster holiday season for the Pasadena Symphony, starting with the the 48th Annual Holiday Look In Home Tour, December 5th and 6th. A showcase of Pasadena’s magnificent architecture, both historical and new, the Holiday Look In offers an intimate tour of four distinctive homes in the Pasadena area, decorated for the holiday season by prominent floral artists. This year’s designers include Drew Domenghini, Margit Holakoui, Ixora Floral Studio and Jacob Maarse. Stroll the gardens, enjoy music and shop to your heart’s content at the Holiday Look In Boutique, located at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, 150 N. Madison Ave in Pasadena.
Organized by the Women’s Committee of the Pasadena Symphony Association, proceeds from the Holiday Look In support the Pasadena Symphony and POPS annual concert series, as well as educational and community outreach programs including the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestras. Holiday Look In Tickets are $35 and may be purchased here or at the Boutique.
IF YOU GO:
- What: Holiday Candlelight with the Pasadena Symphony
- Special Guests: Grant Cooper (conductor), Chrstina Saffran (vocalist), Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, Donald Brinegar Singers (Chorus), L.A. Bronze Handbell Ensemble
- When: Saturday, December 19 at 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
- Where: All Saints Church | 132 N Euclid Ave, Pasadena, CA 91101
- Cost: Tickets start at $20.00
- Parking: Parking structures are nearby at the Westin Hotel (enter on Los Robles, south of Walnut) or 330 E Union. Metered parking is also available on Euclid and nearby streets.
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
About Grant Cooper
Born in New Zealand as the son of a professional opera singer, Cooper sang and acted in his first opera at age four and studied piano and music theory prior to college.
After completing his degree in pure mathematics at the University of Auckland, he traveled to the United States for further studies in music. His initial opportunities as a conductor grew from his colleagues’ invitations to lead them in larger chamber ensemble performances. His many guest conducting engagements have included the Houston Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, The Florida Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, and Syracuse Opera, among many others. This year, he has made successful debut appearances with the Kennedy Center Orchestra and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Prior to accepting his position as artistic director and conductor of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra in 2001, Cooper served as resident conductor of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra for ten seasons. He also serves as artistic director of the annual Bach and Beyond festival in Fredonia, New York and as resident conductor of the Eastern Music Festival.
A commissioned composer, Cooper’s concert works include A Song of Longing, Though…, for soprano and orchestra and his ballet, On the Appalachian Trail, which was premiered in 2010 at Chautauqua. He recently completed a commission to write original film scores for two Charlie Chaplin movies and last year composed a chamber work on commission from the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Cooper is especially passionate about creating works designed to introduce young audiences to the orchestra and has created a substantial body of works for this purpose.
Cooper has recorded for Delos International, Atoll, Ode, Mark, and Kiwi Pacific recordings, and has the unique distinction of having CD recordings of himself as conductor, performer, and composer, all currently available in the catalog.
About Christina Saffran
Christina Saffran’s Broadway career is extensive, having starred as Kathy Seldon in Singin’ in the Rain, (cast recording), Maggie in A Chorus Line, Shoo Shoo in Sophisticated Ladies, Rosa Bud and Edwin Drood in Drood, and Zaneeta in The Music Man.
A true triple threat, audiences throughout the world have been thrilled by her leading performances in My Fair Lady, Showboat, South Pacific, Phantom, White Christmas, Jesus Christ Superstar, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Sunday in the Park with George, Damn Yankees, Sound of Music, Pajama Game, She Loves Me, Street Scene, Grease, Company, My One and Only, Chess, Aspects of Love, Me and My Girl, I Do I Do…the list goes on. Her concert work includes a multitude of styles ranging from engagements as the lead chanteuse for Herbie Hancock, to soloist with national symphony orchestras and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, as well opening for Don Rickles, with her own show in Las Vegas.
She has provided animated voices for Disney’s Aladdin, Mulan, Magic Flute, 102 Dalmatians, A Bug’s Life, Armageddon, Pocahontas II, Hunchback II, and Lady and the Tramp II, and is heard on Enchanted, Cinderella , Galaxy Quest, Polar Express, Christmas with the Kranks, The Lorax and The Santa Clause II. Her solo CD entitled Temporary Insanity is available at LMLMusic.com.
Christina a Founding Board member of Retinoblastoma International, an active member of SGI-USA and the International Committee of Artists for Peace. She is a private vocal teacher/coach/vocal contractor in Los Angeles and the mother of two amazing daughters, Grace and Emma.
About the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus
Under Artistic Director Anne Tomlinson, the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus provides choral music education of the highest quality to young people who represent richly diverse racial, economic, and cultural backgrounds. The program ignites a love of singing and nurtures the full expression of each individual’s potential for artistic and personal excellence through the collaborative experience of choral music performance. Through the beauty of inspired and joyful singing, Los Angeles Children’s Chorus brings the transformative power of music to communities throughout Southern California, the nation and the world. Now in its 29th season—2014|2015: “Celebrating American Song…California and Beyond”—LACC serves more than 400 young singers from more than 50 communities throughout greater Los Angeles, reflecting in its membership the cultural and economic diversity of the region.
About the Donald Brinegar Singers
Donald Brinegar is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at Pasadena City College, Adjunct Professor of Choral Music and Voice at USC, and Associate Director of the Three-Summer Masters in Choral Conducting at CSULA. As Director of Choruses for PSO he works with the JPL Chorus and provides choruses for the summer pops programs. Internationally recognized as a tenor soloist and conductor, Brinegar has sung as soloist and prepared choruses for The LA Philharmonic, LA Chamber Orchestra, LA Microfest, Hollywood Bowl and Disney Concert Hall. His international appearances include 30 countries most recently teaching and performing in Costa Rica. A noted champion of the music of Morten Lauridsen he has two compact discs dedicated to the composers’ music.
About the L.A. Bronze Handbell Ensemble
Under the artistic direction of Alex Guebert, L.A. Bronze is an auditioned handbell concert choir creating performances of the highest caliber for the community. Their music making is exciting and uplifting, and audiences around Southern California have praised their concerts. The group is comprised of accomplished handbell musicians who are seeking challenging opportunities for making music, while providing educational opportunities for the handbell community. Our members come from all over the L. A. basin and include musicians, educators, administrators and other professionals.
ABOUT THE PASADENA SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION
Recent Acclaim for the Pasadena Symphony and POPS:
“The Pasadena Symphony signals a new direction…teeming with vitality…dripping with opulent, sexy emotion.” – Los Angeles Times.
“…full of pulsating energy from first note to last… the strings were lushly resonant, the wind principals were at the top of their games, and the brass rang out with gleaming vigor.” – Pasadena Star News.
Formed in 1928, the Pasadena Symphony and POPS is an ensemble of Hollywood’s most talented, sought after musicians. With extensive credits in the film, television, recording and orchestral industry, the artists of Pasadena Symphony and POPS are the most heard in the world.
The Pasadena Symphony and POPS performs in two of the most extraordinary venues in the United States: Ambassador Auditorium, known as the Carnegie Hall of the West, and the luxuriant Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Internationally recognized, Grammy-nominated conductor, David Lockington, serves as the Pasadena Symphony Association’s Music Director, with performance-practice specialist Nicholas McGegan serving as Principal Guest Conductor. The multi-platinum-selling, two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy Award-nominated entertainer dubbed “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook,” Michael Feinstein, is the Principal Pops Conductor, who succeeded Marvin Hamlisch in the newly created Marvin Hamlisch Chair.
A hallmark of its robust education programs, the Pasadena Symphony Association has served the youth of the region for over five decades through the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestras (PYSO) comprised of five performing ensembles, with over 250 gifted 4th-12th grade students from more than 50 schools all over the Southern California region. The PYSO Symphony often performs on the popular television show GLEE.
The PSA provides people from all walks of life with powerful access points to the world of symphonic music.