Are you waiting for your VOICE to be heard?

The Voices of Los Angeles (VoLA) project of the Hollywood Master Chorale was designed to identify talented local composers and commission them to write new works for the HMC to perform and record.  Lauren Buckley, Artistic Director and coordinator of the project, hopes to expand the scope of the project to provide educational workshops to students and the community.

Four emerging composers have been selected – Joshua Fishbein (UCLA,) Mark Popeney (USC,) Saad N. Haddad (USC,) and Jordan Nelson (USC.)  They were commissioned to write choral pieces inspired by the poems in William Blake’s Songs of Innocence.  The culmination of the first year of the project is the world premiere of each composer’s piece at the “Songs of Innocence” concert on June 17, 2012.

During the second year of the project, four established composers from the Los Angeles area will join the project as mentors to the emerging composers.  All of the composers will write choral pieces based on Blake’s Songs of Experience, and a wonderful concert will be presented (and recorded) in June, 2013.

Over the course of the 2012-2013 Season, the VoLA project will present workshops to share and explore with students and adults the appreciation of music, artistic inspiration, and the collaboration process.  “The project derives its strength from its relationship building,” claims Jeffrey Bernstein, composer and originator of the project.

You are invited to become involved in this innovative project!
Composers who are interested in being a mentor may contact Lauren Buckley -
via e-mail:  mlb.songbird@gmail.com, -  or write to the Hollywood Master Chorale at
PO Box 461135, West Hollywood, CA 90046.

Search your heart and soul… it’s within!  Don’t wait to join the project!