Created by legendary conductor Roger Wagner in 1964, the Chorale is a founding resident company of The Music Center and choir-in-residence at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Chorale reaches over 175,000 people a year through its concert series at Walt Disney Concert Hall, its international touring of innovative works, and its performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and others. In 2025 the Chorale was featured on the Academy Awards ceremony, broadcast to over 19 million viewers around the world.

The Chorale’s discography includes the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Deutsche Grammophon recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, for which the Chorale received the Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance. The Chorale is also featured on the recent multi-Grammy Award winning recording of Gabriela Ortiz’s Revolución Diamantina with Gustavo Dudamel and the L.A. Phil. Under the direction of Grant Gershon, the Chorale has released eight commercial recordings, including the national anthems / the little match girl passion by David Lang on Cantaloupe Records. The Chorale released The Sacred Veil by Eric Whitacre (conducted by the composer) on Signum Records, and has been featured on the soundtracks of many major motion pictures, including Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.

Recently, the Chorale toured its productions of Lagrime di San Pietro and Heinrich Schütz’s Music to Accompany a Departure, both directed by Peter Sellars, earning rave reviews across the globe. Süddeutsche Zeitung called the 2019 Salzburg Festival performance of Lagrime di San Pietro “painfully beautiful,” while the Sydney Morning Herald praised Lagrime di San Pietro as “stunning … Their voices soared to the heavens.” After the Chorale performed in London, The Stage called Lagrime a “balm for the soul.” In his review of Music to Accompany a Departure, Mark Swed of the L.A. Times named the Chorale’s performance, “Transcendent” and “Incomparably moving.”

The Chorale has an industry-defining commitment to fostering new music and living composers. The list of major composers commissioned by the Chorale includes Louis Andriessen, Jeff Beal, Eve Beglarian, Reena Esmail, Gabriella Lena Frank, Shawn Kirchner, David Lang, Morten Lauridsen, Tania Leon, Meredith Monk, Steve Reich, Ellen Reid, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Derrick Skye, Moira Smiley, Dale Trumbore, Chinary Ung, and Eric Whitacre. In 2023 the Chorale launched 25 in 5, an initiative to commission 25 new works over the course of 5 seasons. Composers featured in this series to date include Doug Aitken, Billy Childs, Saunder Choi, Jason Max Ferdinand, Ernesto Herrera, Marques L. A. Garrett, Zanaida Stewart Robles, Carlos Simon, Rufus Wainwright, and Hyowon Woo

The Chorale’s education programs include Voices Within residencies, where students find their creative voices to write and perform their own songs, and an expansive Oratorio Project for high school students. The Chorale also presents an annual High School Choir Festival, a yearlong program which culminates with bringing teenagers from around the Southland to perform in Walt Disney Concert Hall. In May 2025, the High School Choir Festival celebrated 36 years as one of the longest-running and widest-reaching arts education programs in Southern California. The Chorale’s newest education program, Youth Chorus LA, launched in the 2024-25 season bringing free music and choral lessons to students from grades 3 to 6.

In July 2018, the Chorale presented Big Sing California, part of the Chorale’s LA Sings! initiative, the largest group singing event in state history, encompassing a concert in Disney Hall that was broadcast live to venues in five other cities in California and livestreamed online. The Chorale has presented five large group singing events since 2017, helping make LA a city of singers!

2025-2026