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Story By: AMANDA PALACIOS, ABC7 EYEWITNESS NEWSLONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- From a young age, Jacob Boland says he has had a passion for music. After being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, Boland says music was a way to express himself. "I started singing in my school choirs when I was eight in elementary school. Through high school, I was in the beginning men's ensemble and worked my way up into the advanced mix ensembles," Boland said. Now at 22 years old, Boland is

By Jan Hower, President. It’s a good thing that Peanut wasn’t GF Handel’s dog — he never would have put up for being ignored during that 3-week period when the master composed Messiah!...

By Jan Hower, President. GF Handel, like most composers of his era, borrowed and recycled musical themes on a routine basis. Today, we would consider the practice at best, distasteful, and at worst, plagiarism...

By Jan Hower, President. We all know that GF Handel is famous for his iconic chorus from the oratorio, Messiah, the Hallelujah Chorus. He’s so famous, it turns out, that even Homer Simpson likes his music...

By Jan Hower, President. Long Beach Camerata Singers will perform Handel’s Messiah on December 21, 2023, with Tesserae Baroque Orchestra. There are many reasons to attend what promises to be a beautiful performance...

By Jan Hower, President. One of the most extraordinary aspects of Handel’s music is the use of “word-painting,” the musical technique of composing music that reflects the literal meaning of a song’s lyrics...

By Jan Hower, President. It’s a good thing that Peanut wasn’t G.F. Handel’s dog — he never would have put up for being ignored during that 3-week period when the master composed Messiah! ....

To learn more about what Peace4Youth and Camerata Children's Music Academy have been up to recently, click Read More!

By Amy Luskey-Barth, General Manager. Imagine a world without music. Without artistic expression. As an arts advocate and educator for over thirty-five years I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to best articulate the value of arts programs in schools....

By incorporating a variety of creative techniques, Andria and her teaching assistants, Anne Gholson and Anastasia Gastelum captivate the children whose voices fill the classroom as they sing “The World is Like a Rainbow.”

By Guest Blogger, Michael Waks It’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t have a strong connection to music. For some, it’s an all-consuming part of their identity, reflected in band monikers printed on a stable of hard-worn T-shirts and a record collection that seems to grow larger and larger every week. For others, it’s a … Continue reading Listen up! How Music Could Save Your Life →

The year 2020 has been a wild ride, and it’s not over yet. As we watched the cascade of announcements from most major professional music groups that they were cancelling their entire 2020-21 seasons, our hearts broke. We saw not just the financial ramifications which will affect these organizations for years to come, but our … Continue reading You Want to be on the Lawn where it happens! →

For anyone who has attended a Camerata concert, you know that the choir members don’t just loiter around the lobby and concert hall waiting for Dr. Bass to beckon them to their places. Nary a tuxedo nor black dress should be seen anywhere before the concert begins. So, where are those invisible singers lurking as … Continue reading Camerata Behind the Scenes: In the Green Room →

It’s a good thing that Peanut wasn’t G.F. Handel’s dog — he never would have put up for being ignored during that 3-week period when the master composed Messiah! Considering that the oratorio comprises almost 3 hours in its entirety, that is quite an accomplishment. You can see that Mr. Peanut is ready for the holidays … Continue reading Handel With Care: A Baroque Trivia Quiz →

Long Beach Camerata Singers will perform Handel’s Messiah on December 21 and 22, 2019, with Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra. There are many reasons to attend what promises to be a beautiful performance; today we will focus on the use of the Baroque violin and why that is important and interesting. Handel composed his famous oratorio … Continue reading Handel’s Messiah and the Baroque Violin →

What do you get when you introduce a world-famous TV Director to a world-famous choral conductor? That’s what happened recently at a lunch in Westwood near the UCLA campus when Long Beach Camerata Singers Artistic Director, James K. Bass, met Michael Lange, Film and TV Director since 1981 with over 250 TV shows to his … Continue reading Evening of Song — Evening of Fun →

Peanut never lacks for an audience because he expects everyone he encounters to pay attention to him. Perhaps we singers need to take a lesson from him and have higher expectations of our friends and family to attend our choral performances. Choirs understand that they have great built-in audience potential living in their singers’ address books. How many friends and close family does each choir member have? 10? 20? Our goal is to make sure that when we perform, all of t

One of the most extraordinary aspects of Handel’s music is the use of “word-painting,” the musical technique of composing music that reflects the literal meaning of a song’s lyrics. For example, ascending scales would accompany lyrics about going up; slow, dark music would accompany lyrics about death. This technique is employed throughout Handel’s most famous work, “Messiah.” Today we will examine the use of word painting in two arias, “Ev’ry Valley,” for Tenor and “But Who

We all know that GF Handel is famous for his iconic chorus from the oratorio, Messish, the Hallelujah Chorus. He’s so famous, it turns out, that even Homer Simpson likes his music. This is evidenced by the fact that the Hallelujah Chorus has appeared in the soundtrack of The Simpsons not once, not twice, but FIVE times! “Bart Gets An F” (1990) — Bart is about to flunk out of 4th grade. A snowstorm saves him, to the accompaniment of the Hallelujah Chorus. Other music in

GF Handel, like most composers of his era, borrowed and recycled musical themes on a routine basis. Today, we would consider the practice at best, distasteful, and at worst, plagiarism. But in Handel’s time it was a sign of respect. As we know, “Messiah” was composed in just 24 days. Part of the reason Handel was able to accomplish this remarkable feat is that four of the major choruses in the oratorio were “repurposed” from earlier work that the composer had done. In th