Angel City Chorale is bringing its holiday show back to the Westside this December, with two performances at UCLA's Royce Hall featuring more than 160 singers, a full orchestra, and a toy drive benefiting families served by Homeboy Industries. The concerts, titled Unwrap the Holidays, are set for Saturday, December 5 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, December 6 at 3 p.m., with the Sunday show also streamed live.
The Los Angeles-based choir announced the concerts and the accompanying toy drive in an organization announcement, according to MyNewsLA.com. Concertgoers are encouraged to bring new, unwrapped toys for the collection, which supports Homeboy Industries, the Los Angeles organization that provides job training, support services, and other assistance to people rebuilding their lives. Founded in 1988 by Jesuit priest Father Gregory Boyle in East Los Angeles, Homeboy Industries has grown into what the Holy Cross Magazine describes as the world's largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry organization, offering free wraparound services including job training, therapy, legal aid, and tattoo removal to thousands of former gang members annually.
A Holiday Program Spanning Gospel to Queen
Artistic Director and founder Sue Fink said the concerts bring people together through singing, listening, celebration and laughter, per the same MyNewsLA report. The program blends Christmas and Hanukkah music, gospel, classical works, and contemporary arrangements, including “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Angels We Have Heard on High,” “O Holy Night,” Lauridsen's “O Nata Lux,” Norman Hutchins' gospel work “He Has Come,” “Hine Ma Tov,” “My Christmas Prayer,” and a holiday-themed take on a Queen classic called “Bohemian Chanukah.”
Audiences will get their own moments in the spotlight too, with sing-alongs planned for “Winter Wonderland,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and “Let It Snow.” The Angel City Chorale Orchestra will accompany the singers throughout, and the Angel City Youth Chorale will perform during the concerts and join the adult choir for portions of the program.
Tuition-Free Youth Program Built From School Partnerships
The Angel City Youth Chorale launched in 2018 as a partnership between Angel City Chorale and local non-profits including the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Monica's Mar Vista Gardens branch and Venice, offering tuition-free music education and performance opportunities to Los Angeles youth, according to Angel City Chorale. The youth program combines weekly after-school music education with a Saturday concert choir. Organization program updates published in 2024 show the youth chorale serves over 120 elementary and middle school students annually across its After-School and Concert Choir initiatives, as reported by BroadwayWorld.
From a Santa Monica Guitar Shop to Carnegie Hall
Angel City Chorale's story began modestly: Fink founded the group with just 18 singers at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica in 1993, and it has since grown to more than 180 members, per the MyNewsLA report. The choir now performs music ranging from classical and gospel to Broadway and pop. Beyond its Westside concerts, it has appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York, Cadogan Hall in London, and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and recorded at Abbey Road Studios, according to Jake's Take.
In 2018, the choir reached the semifinals of NBC's America's Got Talent after earning a Golden Buzzer for its performance of “Baba Yetu,” a Swahili rendering of the Lord's Prayer. “Baba Yetu” itself made music history in 2011 as the first composition written for a video game to win a Grammy Award, originally composed by Christopher Tin as the theme for 2005's Civilization IV, according to GoodThingsGuy. Separately, the choir's performance of Toto's “Africa” has accumulated more than 115 million online views, according to the organization, as noted by MyNewsLA.
Royce Hall's History
Royce Hall itself carries its own legacy. Built in 1929 as one of UCLA's four original campus buildings, the 1,800-seat Lombard Romanesque-style auditorium has hosted performers including George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Leonard Bernstein, according to the CAP UCLA overview of the venue. Its twin towers remain one of UCLA's defining landmarks.
Angel City Chorale staged Bling on the Holidays! at Royce Hall in 2024.
Building Community, One Song at a Time
Fink founded the chorale under the guiding motto “Building Community One Song at a Time.” Fink has said the mission is partly about bridging social and political divides in a sprawling metropolis, a theme that carries into the choir's partnership with Homeboy Industries this holiday season. Tickets for Unwrap the Holidays start at $35, with ticket and livestream information available at angelcitychorale.org, per the MyNewsLA report.
