Angel City Chorale Presents
Making Spirits Bright
A Holiday Concert and Sing-Along
Wilshire United Methodist Church in Los Angeles
Saturday, December 1 & Sunday, December 2, 2012

LOS ANGELES, CA – November 9, 2012 – Angel City Chorale (ACC), whose annual holiday concert has been a favorite with Los Angeles audiences since 1993, kicks off the season this year with Making Spirits Bright on Saturday, December 1 and Sunday, December 2, 2012.  Both performances start at 7:00pm.  ACC is Making Spirits Bright at Wilshire United Methodist Church with the broadest selection of holiday music offered in the City of Angels.  From traditional carols to rousing gospel numbers, from humorous takes on familiar Christmas songs to music celebrating the joy of Chanukah, ACC offers something for everyone.  This season’s selections range from a beautiful new Christmas work published just this year to the now-classic work of an American master, with selections from Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms.  However you celebrate, Angel City Chorale’s uplifting, jubilant concerts will brighten your spirits and lighten your hearts this holiday season.  Wilshire United Methodist Church is located at 4350 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010.  General admission tickets purchased in advance are $30 for adults, $27 for seniors, and $22 for children; preferred seating may be reserved online for an additional fee.  For tickets or more information, please call 310-943-9231 or visit www.angelcitychorale.org.

ANGEL CITY CHORALE –
Angel City Chorale reflects the spirit and diversity of Los Angeles in its membership, its music, and its outreach activities.  Equally committed to good music and good deeds, ACC is dedicated to “Building Community One Song at a Time.”  Renowned Artistic Director Sue Fink founded Angel City Chorale at the world-famous McCabe’s Guitar Shop in 1993 with 19 singers; ACC now regularly performs with as many as 160 talented and dedicated singers who are admitted by audition.  ACC presents a broad and eclectic repertoire at exuberant, crowd-pleasing concerts.  The group’s mastery of a wide range of musical genres – including classical, gospel, jazz, pop, and world music – has become its hallmark.

Angel City Chorale has performed at venues throughout Los Angeles, including the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Kodak Theater, and the Nokia Theater at LA Live.  In February 2012, ACC joined Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, and other local choirs for a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, “The Symphony of a Thousand,” at the Shrine Auditorium.  The choir has also appeared on national and local television, and worked with artists such as Stevie Wonder, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Luther Vandross, and Natasha Bedingfeld.

ACC has also taken its music and outreach program to international audiences.  Most recently, ACC traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, in August 2011 to perform concerts benefiting the Amy Biehl Foundation, an organization working to bring sports, arts, music, and education programs to the children of South Africa’s townships.

ACC is also proud of its ongoing commitment to the Los Angeles community.  Through the gift of song, donations, and volunteerism, ACC supports several Los Angeles non-profit organizations serving those in the community who need it most.  Central to ACC’s mission is its annual Holiday Tour of Hope program.  Since 1997, ACC has taken its holiday concert repertoire directly to more than 30 service organizations in Los Angeles.  In addition to the gift of music, ACC donates food, personal items, clothing, and supplies to these organizations.  This year, ACC’s Tour of Hope will take place on December 8, 2012.

A sampling of ACC’s work can be found on the group’s four commercially released CDs, which include Why Walk When You Can Fly, Gift of the Angels, A Chanukah Celebration, and The Road Home.  ACC donated a share of the net proceeds of its most recent CD, The Road Home, to Ocean Park Community Center (OPCC), an organization serving homeless individuals, battered women and their children, and people living with mental illness.  In 2009 ACC partnered with the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank to provide both food and a portion of the proceeds from the Spring 2009 concert.  From collecting linens and toiletries for social service agencies to hosting music seminars at inner-city schools, ACC is always looking for more ways to reach out to the community.

Angel City Chorale is a California Non-Profit Public Benefit Corporation and 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

SUE FINK –
Sue Fink is Angel City Chorale’s founder, artistic director, and conductor.  Her dynamic energy can be seen and felt in the unique spirit and spontaneity that distinguish this choir from other choral groups.  Fink graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she studied conducting with Roger Wagner.  She toured internationally as a member of the Roger Wagner Chorale, and went on to establish the Oriana Renaissance Ensemble and the Los Angeles Women’s Community Chorus, serving as conductor for both groups prior to founding Angel City Chorale.  In addition to maintaining a private voice studio in Los Angeles, Fink composes and arranges for choral organizations and writes songs for television and movie soundtracks.  As a singer-songwriter, Sue Fink has released two critically acclaimed albums, one of which received an award of excellence from the National Association of Independent Record Distributors (NAIRD).

#            #           #

For more information, photos or to schedule an interview, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.