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ABOUT THE
PASADENA CHORALE

The mission of the Pasadena Chorale is to create choral music that educates, uplifts and inspires as many people as possible.
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Chorus & the Community

Founded by Jeffrey Bernstein in 2009, the Pasadena Chorale is an auditioned community chorus presenting affordable high-quality choral concerts and educational programs to the greater Pasadena Community.

During its dozen years of service to the community, the Chorale has presented over one hundred performances and enjoyed collaborations with the Pasadena Playhouse, MUSE/IQUE, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Gamble House. In 2017 the Pasadena Chorale was awarded second place in the American Prize in Choral Performance.

The Chorale also offers a robust education program at no cost to participating students. Each year, through its unique Listening To The Future project, the Chorale pairs local high school composers with a professional composer mentor for a year of study. At the end of the year the Chorale presents a concert of the music composed by these students.

The Pasadena Chorale is the proud recipient of support from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, The Pasadena Community Foundation and the City of Pasadena. All of the Chorale's regular concerts are offered on a “Listen First, Then Give” basis, ensuring that all are able to attend, and encouraging the generous support of those who are able.

Cultural Equity & Inclusion Statement

From the strength of our differences, we create beauty through unified choral singing.

We believe everyone deserves equal access to the arts and a rich creative life. The Pasadena Chorale strives to cultivate an appreciation of classical music by presenting affordable high-quality choral performances and free youth educational offerings to the greater Pasadena Community.

Our mission extends to our chorale membership. The Chorale welcomes people of all backgrounds, and we actively seek to assemble a group of excellent singers that reflect the community around us - diverse in race, ethnicity, gender identity, belief, sexual orientation, age and physical ability. And while our singers pay modest dues, no qualified singer will be kept from being a part of the Chorale because of their socio-economic status.

Diversity in our membership, however, would not be meaningful without our commitment to creating an inclusive and welcoming environment. Everyone in our organization prioritizes creating a welcoming and open community among our members and audience - breaking down the artificial barriers that prevent us from connecting meaningfully with one another through music.

With this same commitment to diversity and inclusion in mind, the Chorale offers its existing educational programs at no cost to participating San Gabriel Valley students. As we look to the future, we are actively seeking ways to create access to all our programs for any student with an interest, regardless of their previous access to musical study or economic capacity.

Founding Artistic & Executive Director

Known for his ability to inspire musicians and audiences alike, Jeffrey Bernstein is one of Southern California's pre-eminent choral conductors. He is founding artistic and executive director of the Pasadena Chorale and artistic director of the Los Angeles Daiku. Trained at Harvard, Yale, and UCLA, Bernstein was Director of Choral Music at Occidental College in Los Angeles for eleven years before founding the Pasadena Chorale. 

He has led choirs on fourteen tours of four continents and traveled extensively as a guest conductor, leading choirs and orchestras in Europe, Japan, and throughout the United States. Highlights include conducting the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in Life of Mozart, an concert he created for young people, becoming the first American to lead the annual concert of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Naruto, Japan, the city where the work was first heard in Asia, and conducting over 300 performers in an all-Beethoven program in the Walt Disney Concert Hall. 

An active composer Bernstein was awarded second place in the American Prize in Choral Composition for 21st Century 23rd Psalm and honorable mention for The Human Journey. The symphonic poem Dreams of Japan, composed for the Tokushima Symphony, was premiered by that orchestra and subsequently performed in Los Angeles. Fukushima Requiem, composed in response to the Tohoku tsunami disaster has been performed several times in America and Japan. Bernstein has composed and premiered dozens of other concert works including orchestra pieces, choral-orchestral works, solo songs, chamber music, and over thirty works for chorus. Bernstein has released four albums of improvised piano music, PianoJournals, Clear Mind Calm Water, The Desert House, and Pianoasis. He is the songwriter for the PBSKids show “Let’s Go Luna” starring Judy Greer.


A committed educator and advocate for children, Bernstein makes his home in Altadena, CA.

Jeffrey Bernstein

2024-2025 Season Singers

Cindy Abbott
Rachel Adcock
Thandi Anderson Tolmay
Michael Azevedo
Maggie Bacharach
Kit Bellamy
Monica Benson
Lenard Berglund
Heather Bland
Erika Boychenko 
Suzanne Brookey
Denise Brown
Regelin Castillo
Dan Clouse
Nicholas Cofrancesco
David Cooper
David Coren
C. Dmitri Davidson
Christopher Davidson
Siobhán Dougall
Sarah Egan
Julia Fallon Thomas
Valerie Estle
Jenny Farrell
Sarah Finley
Zach First
Christopher Galasso
Betty Gao
Mary Harmon
Kevin Hartnett
Max Henke

Makenna Herl
Cristina Hernandez
Tara Hill
GariLynn Hiscott
Anna Hjorth
Meredith Hooper
Haley Hughes
Luke Jacobs
Jadrian Johnson
Henry Johnson
Patty Judy
Martha Kahane
Matīss Kārkliņš
Lindsay Kearney
Cathy Kim
Ellen Kirstein
Kim Knight
Becca Koester
Lisa Kohlenberger
Belinda Lau
Paul Lazarus
Margaret Lazzarini
Kellum Lewis
Kevin Locarro
Angel Louise Levine
Denise Lumarda
Ricardo Martinez
Lori McKenna
Anna Morrison
Sydney Moss
Veronica Muller

Brian Oakey
Jean Pallares Leonard

Frances Pang
Jeffrey Parkin
Domingas Person Müller
Sandy Price
Libby Rainey
Jim Rispin
Hannah Robertson
Sarah Schulist
Megan Schulze
Michael Schwartz
Shun Shinozaki
Helen Sokol Okie
Amador Solis
Tobin Sparfeld
Alison Spielmann
Bonny Tennant
Chris Tickner
Stephen Tully
Hailey Turner 
Eric Vesbit
Dianne Waldman
Jen Wang
Eric Werner
Jenny Werner
Brittney S. Wheeler 
Mandi White
Taylor Woodard
Helga Zambrano

Team Members

Pam Forrest.jpeg

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Pam Forrest

Pam brings more than a decade of operations and administrative experience to the Pasadena Chorale. She is, admittedly, new to the world of choral music, but her theatrical and non-profit roots run deep, including life-changing work with the Pasadena Waldorf School, L.A. LGBT Center and the Women Playwright’s Outreach Project. She is also an award-winning playwright, performer, director, Reiki Master, and very proud Mom. Pam is currently working on her first book.

ACCOMPANIST

Tali Tadmoor

Dr. Tali Tadmor is a Los Angeles-based pianist, educator, music director and vocal coach. Her performance career includes collaborations with a wide variety of musicians and appearances at worldwide venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and The Great Hall at the heart of China’s Forbidden City. Though classically trained, Tali is sought after in a wide variety of musical settings, ranging from world music, pop and worship, to her own compositions. Tali received both Master and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees on full scholarship from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California (USC) majoring in Keyboard Collaborative Arts.

MARKETING & DEVELOPMENT

Bernie Fabig

Bernie Fabig is a creative and results-driven marketing & communications professional in Los Angeles, California with over 10 years experience working in marketing, public relations, communications, arts and entertainment. Originally from New York, Bernie moved to Southern California in 2018 to broaden his career. He has worked both  a publicist for a leading public relations firm in LA and as a marketing & communications professional for a preeminent classical theatre venue in Pasadena.Bernie holds two bachelor’s degrees. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Public Relations from LIU and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology from SUNY-ESF.

EDUCATION DIRECTOR

Cynthia Abbott

ORCHESTRA CONTRACTOR

Noah Gladstone

VIDEOGRAPHER

Lenson Productions, LLC

Board of Directors

BOARD CHAIR

Eric Vesbit

SECRETARY

Cynthia Abbott

TREASURER

Ellen Kirstein

BOARD MEMBER

David Cooper

BOARD MEMBER

Jean Pallares-Leonard

BOARD MEMBER

Jeffrey Parkin

BOARD MEMBER

Jeannie Sears

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