Longtime LA Children’s Chorus Artistic Director Announces Retirement

Mandy Brigham, Associate Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, is retiring after a 22-year tenure with the Pasadena-headquartered children’s choral youth organization that has educated more than 2,200 young singers since its founding in 1986.

The Los Angeles Children’s Chorus has also appeared in more than 300 performances with the Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, among others.

The Chorus’s newsletter said Brigham has made the decision to retire at the conclusion of the 2022-2023 season.

Brigham is in her 21st season with the Chorus.

“It is hard, actually impossible, to overstate the importance and significance of Mandy Brigham’s work at Los Angeles Children’s Chorus,” Artistic Director Fernando Malvar-Ruiz said. “Her gentle, kind, and utmost-caring presence is felt throughout the whole organization and across many generations of young singers. Mandy’s artistic legacy will indeed endure for many years to come. Additionally, I am very glad and fortunate to have had the opportunity to work along with her for the last five years.”

According to the LACC statement, the organization will take “multiple opportunities to celebrate and recognize” Brigham’s “extraordinary tenure and unparalleled contributions” to the organization.

“We will look forward to continuing our journey together with her and to finding meaningful ways for her warm spirit and superb talents as an artist/educator to continue positively impacting the chorus and the young people we serve for many years to come,” the statement said.

She conducts the Intermediate and Preparatory Choirs, and is responsible for overseeing the organization’s music literacy and vocal coaching programs. Brigham has prepared choristers for collaborations with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Angeles Chorale, and for the Britten100/LA production of the composer’s “Prodigal Son,” conducted by James Conlon.

She has assisted with the preparation of the children’s chorus for numerous LA Opera productions, including “Hansel and Gretel,”?”Carmen,” “La Bohème,” “Tosca,” “Otello,” “Grendel,” “El gato montés,” “The Magic Flute,” and the current season’s “St. Matthew Passion” under the baton of conductors including James Conlon, Grant Gershon, Kent Nagano, and Alan Gilbert.

Brigham holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the USC Thornton School of Music, where she also did graduate study. Her teachers there include Morten Lauridsen, James Vail, and Charles Hirt. Other significant mentors include Paul Salamunovich and Kyra Humphrey.

In addition to her work at LACC, Brigham presents at workshops and conferences for fellow educators and conductors. She has directed the vocal music at Balboa Boulevard Magnet School in Northridge for over 20 years.