CINEMA FANTASTIQUE™: EPIC CHORAL SOUNDTRACKS featuring the USC Thornton Concert Choir

The Golden State Pops Orchestra, in collaboration with the USC Thornton Concert Choir, presents Cinema Fantastique: Epic Choral Soundtracks on February 11, 2012 at 8:00 pm.

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CINEMA FANTASTIQUE™: EPIC CHORAL SOUNDTRACKS featuring the USC Thornton Concert Choir

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) January 24, 2012 --Be swept out of your chair on a journey through history and fantasy, across exotic lands and to galaxies far, far away as these joined forces fill the historic Warner Grand Theatre with breathtaking music from: Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Avatar, Saving Private Ryan, Edward Scissorhands, Independence Day, First Knight, Empire of the Sun, Agnus Dei (a choral setting of Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber) and The Abyss.

Says Maestro Steven Allen Fox, “It’s rare that any orchestra has the opportunity to present a show of this magnitude, and the GSPO is incredibly honored to be working with the USC Thorton Concert Choir - the acclaimed vocal ensemble of such a renowned film scoring school. Please join us as we demonstrate how the music of such great composers as John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and Danny Elfman bring another dimension of depth to these epic films. Cinema Fantastique has been in development for a number of years and it promises to be an unforgettable, world-premiere GSPO concert experience!”

Tickets are available now at www.gspo.com, by calling 310-433-8774, or in person at Williams Bookstore, 443 West 6th Street, San Pedro, CA 9073, open 7 days a week 10:00am – 6:00pm.
A limited number of VIP tickets (preferred seating, valet parking, and entrance to the post-concert Meet the Artists Reception), are also on sale now.

About the USC Thornton Concert Choir:
Since its founding by Charles Hirt in 1946, the USC Thornton Department of Choral and Sacred Music has been among the world's leaders. The USC Concert Choir is a fully auditioned mixed choir of approximately 40 voices; it is conducted by faculty member Cristian Grases.The department boasts alumni distinguished by the diversity of their contributions to the choral art, including music directors of renowned professional ensembles such as the Los Angeles Master Chorale, directors of choral activities at leading university schools of music, such as the University of Michigan, and composers of choral music published by Oxford University Press, ECS Publishing, Peer International, Faber & Faber, and Walton. The faculty sets the international standard for choral conducting, literature, and composition. Cristian Grases is on the Board of Directors of the International Choral Federation and is a frequent clinician at all-state festivals.

About Cristian Grases:
Cristian Grases was the interim director of choral activities at Central Washington University and associate professor in choral music at California State University in Los Angeles. In 2001, he finished his master’s degree with honors in choral conducting with María Guinand and Alberto Grau in the Simón Bolívar University in Venezuela, and in 2009 obtained his doctoral degree at the University of Miami in Florida. Born in Venezuela in 1973, at age 11 Grases started his musical studies in Caracas. He developed as a chorister and instrumentalist, and then as a composer, assistant conductor, and conductor of choral and instrumental ensembles. He has studied composition, arranging, choral conducting, and orchestral conducting with national and international music masters. After two Bach-academie workshops with Helmuth Rilling in Venezuela, Grases was invited by Rilling under a scholarship to study choral and orchestral conducting at the Sommerakademie in Stutgart, Germany, in 1998.

Grases has participated in numerous festivals, workshops, and events as a guest conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and conducting pedagogue in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Among the most recent ones are workshops and sessions as a guest conductor in France (Europa Cantat Jr.), Denmark (World Symposium on Choral Music), The Netherlands (Europa Cantat), and Caracas, Venezuela (conducting the Simon Bolivar Orchestra); masterclasses and adjudications in Indonesia, and commissions for ensembles in the San Francisco area. During his tenure in Miami, Grases was the founder and artistic director of the Amazonia Vocal Ensemble, which is based in Miami and focuses on Latin American repertoire; was the conductor for the Women’s Chamber Ensemble of the University of Miami; was the assistant conductor of the Miami Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Eduardo Marturet; and the conductor of the Young Musician’s Orchestra. Grases was selected to be part of the Board of Directors of the International Federation for Choral Music in 2008. He is currently assistant professor in the department of choral and sacred music and the conductor of the USC Thornton Concert Choir at the University of Southern California.

About the GSPO:
The Golden State Pops Orchestra/Friends of the GSPO was formed in January of 2002 and is currently the only year-round pops orchestra in the Los Angeles area. GSPO's 2011/12 season represents an exciting celebration of our 10th year as an orchestral company and our 8th year as the Orchestra-in-Residence at the historic Warner Grand Theatre. GSPO performances are designed to entertain both the seasoned enthusiast and the casual music lover. Our unique pops repertoire ranges from film soundtrack classics and Broadway music to innovative works for film, television and video games. GSPO has presented over 50 world premieres, often with the original composer in attendance or conducting the orchestra.

More information can be found online at http://www.gspo.com