LOS ANGELES — When close to 200 voices sing together, they need to be pitch perfect. It’s a concept Mickey Rapkin is quite familiar with. He literally wrote the book on competitive a cappella singing groups.
“I wrote this book called ‘Pitch Perfect’ … that somehow became this franchise of movies,” he said. “Believe me, no one is more surprised than me.”
He himself had sung in an all-male acappella group while at Cornell University, so he knew this world inside and out. But that was more than two decades and a global pandemic ago. It was actually during the pandemic that he found himself really struggling and his therapist made a suggestion.
“She knew I had sang in the past and noticed this kind of lightness when I talked about singing and she said, go do that,” Rapkin explained. “I googled adult choir, which sounds dirty but isn’t, and found the Angel City Chorale.”
And so much more. In a very real way, he found his way home.
So it’s appropriate that the theme of this season’s winter concert, which will take place this weekend at UCLA’s Royce Hall, is called Holiday Homecoming.
Sue Fink founded Angel City Chorale 30 years ago and has been at the helm ever since. From her podium, she’s watched the group grow tenfold — from 18 singers to now 180.
Choral singing has always been special to her, but now more than ever.
“The Surgeon General said that we have an epidemic of loneliness,” she said, and in a sense, singing in a choir may be just the dose of togetherness some people need. “You have to be in a room and laugh with people and feel that community.”
And that’s what Angel City Chorale is, she says. A tightknit community made up of a diverse group of people that truly represent LA — all ages and demographics.
“We have a worldwide presence, we have a global presence. But our heart is in the Los Angeles and trying to represent Los Angeles and making people proud of where they come from here,” Fink explained. “I think a lot of people are working during the day and they come here and they shed pounds of trouble so they can walk away and have something completely different in their lives.”
She hopes audiences will feel that way too as they will get to sing along for parts of the concert which will feature traditional carols, international selections and a stunning acappella gospel piece. It’s the holiday concert, after all, and for three decades, this has been her gift to LA.
“Every night when I go to sleep, I say a little prayer and I say I want to be the best form of myself I can be. And I want to leave the world a little bit better than I came,” Fink said. “And my vehicle is Angel City Chorale.”
Having been in the group for two years now, the holiday concert is Rapkin’s favorite.
“No one loves Christmas music more than a Jew,” he joked.
But it wasn’t until the group’s three city tour in Italy last summer that he realized just how full circle he’d come.
“I was looking around to kind of joking with them like, ‘it’s kind of ‘Pitch Perfect’ for old people,’” he said. “So maybe there’s another book. Who knows?”
All jokes aside, Rapkin credits the Angel City Chorale with saving his life.
While he admits he isn’t a religious person, he describes the feeling of lifting his voice with all those other voices as a spiritual experience.
“You can get choked up,” he explained. “Like there are times in rehearsal where I get emotional at the sound of the voices and I just feel so lucky to be here.”
He found what he calls an unlikely family here made up of “180 weirdos” and it’s exactly what he needed.
“Whether you like going to bars to throw axes, or you’re in a book club, or whatever it is, everyone is looking for some place to belong.” Rapkin said. “I have always found that in music and I’m lucky enough to find it again here.”