Name: Handel's Messiah
Start: 2025-12-21T19:00:00
Location: Walt Disney Concert Hall

The Los Angeles Master Chorale and Philharmonic are set to enchant audiences with a series of captivating events filled with harmony, innovation, and cultural exploration. From timeless classical compositions to inclusive sing-alongs, the 2025-2026 season promises a rich tapestry of musical experiences. Highlights include the illustrious 'New Renaissance' season finale, Gustavo Dudamel's invigorating interpretations, and beloved holiday traditions. Each event captures the spirit of artistic excellence that both honors tradition and embraces modern creativity, inviting music lovers on a journey through sound and emotion.

Celebrating Harmony: A Season of Musical Wonders in Los Angeles

The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles is set to host a spectacular series of events that promise to enchant music lovers. From Dudamel's final season with the LA Philharmonic, featuring Strauss's 'An Alpine Symphony' and Mahler's 'Resurrection', to the Los Angeles Master Chorale's powerful renditions of Beethoven and Verdi, this season offers a rich tapestry of orchestral and choral music. Add to that holiday favorites like 'Festival of Carols' and 'Handel's Messiah', and this promises to be an unforgettable musical journey.

A Season of Musical Mastery in Los Angeles: Dudamel, Beethoven, and More

Grant Gershon

Los Angeles Master Chorale

The Master Chorale’s beloved holiday concerts return, including English Cathedral Christmas. Imagine that you’re in the majesty of Canterbury Cathedral, experiencing the great, unbroken tradition of British choral works from the 16th century to the present. The English holiday tradition includes centuries-old pilgrimages to cathedrals and churches for community celebrations of hope and joy.

English Cathedral Christmas

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Joining these cherished traditions is the inaugural family-friendly Carols for Kids, which is specially designed for kids under 6, welcoming seat wiggles and giggles, and featuring favorite childhood carols. Holiday-themed activities, including photos with Santa, will take place in the lobby of Walt Disney Concert Hall prior to the concert.

Carols for Kids

The Master Chorale brings back perennial holiday favorites Festival of Carols, featuring spectacular arrangements of traditional carols from around the world. Hear some of your favorite carols and explore new songs sung by the incomparable voices of the LA Master Chorale, in the world-class acoustics of Walt Disney Concert Hall. Festival of Carols has become one of L.A.’s most beloved family holiday traditions.

Festival Of Carols

Experience the Grammy Award-winning voices of the Master Chorale in the iconic holiday masterpiece— Handel’s Messiah.

Handel's Messiah

Don’t be shy! You are the artist! Sing along with the world-class Master Chorale vocalists in this beloved holiday work. This year marks the 45th year for this annual celebration of music and community. Two thousand voices lifted together in the Walt Disney Concert Hall! There’s no experience quite like the Master Chorale’s Messiah Sing- Along.

Messiah Sing-along

The first of the Master Chorale's commissioned world premieres this season is by five-time Emmy®-winning composer Jeff Beal, known for his scores for TV shows like House of Cards, Monk, and Rome, as well as films such as Pollock and Blackfish. Part of Common Ground: The Music of Górecki and Jeff Beal, Beal’s new work, The Beatitudes, will be paired with Henryk Górecki’s Miserere, a deeply moving piece inspired by the Polish Solidarity movement of the 1980s. Composed in 1981 as a protest against Soviet-backed government intervention, Miserere was not premiered until 1987 due to martial law. With just five words in its text—“Domine Deus noster, Miserere nobis” (“Lord our God, have mercy on us”)—Górecki creates an oasis of peace and compassion. The Chorale first performed Miserere in 2002 during Grant Gershon’s inaugural season as Artistic Director and recorded Miserere in 2013 for Decca.

Common Ground: The Music Of Górecki And Jeff Beal

The Master Chorale most recently performed a movement from Mozart's Requiem live during the 97th OSCARS® 2025 In Memoriam segment, showcasing the power and enduring relevance of one of the most iconic and emotionally charged choral works ever composed. Written in 1791, just months before Mozart’s death at the age of 35, Requiem remains one of the composer’s greatest masterpieces, both a profound reflection on mortality and a stunning display of his compositional genius.

Mozart’s Requiem

Sound Waves: The Music of Esmail, Garrett, and Woo offers three powerful meditations on water including Malhaar: A Requiem for Water by Swan Family Artist-in-Residence Reena Esmail, alongside new works by composers Marques L. A. Garrett and Hyowon Woo. With Malhaar, Reena explores the universal theme of water through a cross-cultural lens, emphasizing that we are all citizens of the earth connected by a huge ecosystem in which water is a life force. Reena was inspired by William O’Daly’s book “Water Ways,” a poetic exploration of the disappearance of water. O'Daly is known for his English translations of the poetry of Pablo Neruda, and is also a Research Writer at the California Department of Water Resources and is the Lead Writer for the California Water Plan. Reena uses O’Daly’s text throughout the piece, intermingled with movements from the traditional requiem text. Overlaid on this texture are passages in Sanskrit and Hindi. The work moves through the various forms of Raag Malhaar (monsoon raags), to convey the importance and power of water, which holds a sacred place in Indian classical music. The work features Hindustani vocalist Saili Oak.

Handel's Messiah

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