A 100-voice choir, a handbell ensemble and a 7,000-pipe organ will fill Lake Avenue Church's sanctuary this Sunday as the Pasadena congregation marks 250 years of American song with a free concert called “America Sings!” The program runs from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the church's Worship Center, 393 N. Lake Ave., just north of the Foothill Freeway, and organizers are urging early arrival since the parking lot may fill quickly.
According to Pasadena Now, the event is presented by Lake Avenue Church's Worship & the Arts ministry and will blend choral and instrumental music spanning show tunes, hymns, orchestral works and gospel songs. The outlet reports the concert has free admission, with the Worship Center itself described as a space that blends features of a concert hall and a church sanctuary.
A Program Built on American Musical History
The setlist leans heavily on mid-century American songbook staples alongside sacred and folk material. Per the same report, the program includes an Irving Berlin medley of six songs — There's No Business Like Show Business, Alexander's Ragtime Band, Puttin' on the Ritz, Blue Skies, Always and God Bless America.
Also on the bill are Aaron Copland's arrangement of At the River and Hoe-Down from Rodeo, along with Alice Parker's Hark I Hear the Harps Eternal and America the Beautiful, both cited per choir director Bob Sloat. The gospel segment features a medley of Old Time Religion, Down by the Riverside, Standin' in the Need of Prayer and Do Lord, the outlet notes. The program rounds out with a handbell choir, orchestra selections, soloists and an audience sing-along, per the church's newsletter as relayed in the article.
A 7,000-Pipe Organ Built Into the Room
The acoustics of the space itself are part of the story. Lake Avenue Church has a 7,000-pipe Casavant organ that sits above the curved chancel, and the instrument was a focus of the sanctuary's acoustic design, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy as cited in the same report.
City planning records offer a sense of the hall's scale. The City of Pasadena Planning and Community Development Department describes a new sanctuary seating 3,000 worshippers at Lake Avenue Congregational Church, located on the northwest corner of Lake Avenue and Corson. The department's records also note a three-level parking structure built to provide approximately 400 parking spaces on site.
Getting There as Spaces Fill Fast
Even with hundreds of spaces available, Pasadena Now reports that Lake Avenue Church has limited on-campus parking, and attendees should arrive early because the lot may fill quickly, per the organizer. The Gateway Plaza structure at 300 N. Lake Ave. is listed for Sunday services and large events as an overflow option, the outlet notes, though the church's Sunday shuttle schedule ends at 1 p.m., well before the 4 p.m. concert start.
Transit riders have another route in: the Metro A Line serves the nearby Lake Station, according to the same report. Those with questions about the concert can contact Lake Avenue Church at (626) 844-4700 for more information, per the outlet's reporting.
