Los Angeles Master Chorale Gala 2023

From the movie screen to the stage of Walt Disney Concert Hall, a spectacular evening of music and songs by GRAMMY Award-winning and Academy Award nominated composer Germaine Franco. From her cumbia rhythms in Encanto, the warmth and colors of traditional Mexican music in Coco, to the eclectic fusion of styles in her other choral works, Germaine Franco, our first female Artistic Honoree, has blazed her own trail of success.

First woman to score a Disney film (Coco). First Latina to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score (Encanto). First Latina invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences music branch and to receive the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature (Coco).

This special night was filled with music uniquely inspired by traditional folklorica, banda, indigenous and African musical sounds of Mexico and South America as it can only be heard in Los Angeles, along with classic choral works, beautifully sung by the stunning voices of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and guest artists. The program opened with the Chorale’s legendary Surround Sing, with radiant voices enveloping the audience from the highest reaches of Disney Hall, an experience that The New Yorker’s Alex Ross described as “shiver-inducing”.

Germaine had a wonderful time performing her works with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and some of her closest collaborators and featured soloists.

You can learn more about event on the official Los Angeles Master Chorale Website.

SURROUND SING

• GERMAINE FRANCO – La Limpia from Vida (sung in Nahuatl)
• OTILIO GALÍNDEZ, arr. ALBERTO GRAU – Caramba
• JUAN GUTIÉRREZ DE PADILLA – Mirabilia testimonia tua