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The Grammy Award-winning Pacific Chorale, led by Artistic Director Robert Istad with special guest Pacific Symphony, launches its 2022-23 Season with a program featuring Jocelyn Hagen’s The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, a stunning multi-media work for choir, orchestra, and film based on the imagery of the drawings, ideas, and writing that the Renaissance artist explored in his extensive collection of personal notebooks, on Saturday, October 15, 2022, 8 pm, at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa. Composed to honor da Vinci’s remarkable legacy on the 500th anniversary of his death in 2019, the nine-movement choral work is set to text from his notebooks, which draw on themes of art, science, nature and technology. The accompanying film, created by experimental filmmakers and video artists Isaac Gale, Joseph Midthun and Justin Schell, is set to the performers to provide flexibility with their musicality, rather than designed with a click-track that singers must follow.
The program is anchored by Duruflé’s eloquent and illuminating Requiem, considered to be his greatest work. Fusing Gregorian chant with 20th century musical concepts, it embraces a rich tapestry of human emotions. Duruflé dedicated his masterpiece, which envisions taking the departed soul to a peaceful eternity, to the memory of his father. The soloists include Pacific Chorale members Jane Hyun-Jung Shim, mezzo-soprano; and Jared Daniel Jones, bass; along with frequent Chorale collaborator Jung-A Lee at the William J. Gillespie Concert Organ.
Regarding the inspiration for her work, Hagen explains, “The liquidity of da Vinci’s mind and the way he connected disparate ideas as a means of understanding them is genuinely inspiring. Additionally, da Vinci was known as much for his failures as his successes, which is inspiring as well. He wasn’t afraid to take ideas out of context or take risks.”
“It’s thrilling to launch Pacific Chorale’s season with Jocelyn Hagen’s remarkable choral work inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, a seminal historical figure with limitless artistry, creativity and curiosity,” says Istad. “The second half of the program builds upon that notion with Pacific Chorale showcasing Duruflé’s Requiem, an enduring masterwork that has moved and uplifted audiences around the globe since its completion 75 years ago.”
Pacific Chorale’s 2022-23 Season is made possible by generous support from Platinum Season Sponsor Phillip N. and Mary A. Lyons, and Silver Season Sponsor Charles and Ling Zhang.
For tickets ($26 – $142) and information, visit www.pacificchorale.org or call 714-662-2345. The Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall is located at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626.
