LACO, Los Angeles Master Chorale to Debut New Works by Ellen Reid

Composer, sound artist and CalArts alum Ellen Reid won a 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Music. | Image: James Matthew Daniel

Spring 2018 is an exciting time for composer, sound artist and CalArts alumna Ellen Reid (Music MFA 11) as two of her works make their debut with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) and Los Angeles Master Chorale.

On Saturday and Sunday (Feb. 24 and 25), Reid’s Petrichor has its world premiere during LACO’s Regal Classics concert highlighting works from “across the pond.” A spatialized concert work, in which the audience will be surrounded by the orchestra, the piece was commissioned by LACO as part of its Sound Investment program to engage audiences in developing new works. The concerts will take place at Glendale’s Alex Theatre and UCLA’s Royce Hall, respectively.

And on Sunday, May 13, the Master Chorale will debut Reid’s dreams of the new world at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown Los Angeles. Commissioned by the Master Chorale, the interview-based choral work was inspired by westward expansions and the forging of new frontiers, drawing inspiration from Memphis, Houston, Los Angeles and beyond. Featuring a libretto by Sarah LaBrie and the acclaimed Los Angeles ensemble wild Up, the composition will be followed by a performance of Terry Riley’s iconic 1964 minimalist masterpiece, In C.

Listen to excerpts from dreams of the new world from a workshop at University of California, Irvine:

Reid’s work–encompassing opera, chamber music, electronic pop, immersive and interactive media, and film and theater scores–has been called “ineffably moving” by the Los Angeles Times and “radiant” by The New Yorker. Originally from Oak Ridge, Tenn., she splits her time between Los Angeles and New York.