Robert M. Istad – Director of Music

I am so proud to be the director of music at IUCC.  Music holds a very special place in the heart of our congregation.  We seek to build community through song, but more importantly, we use our musical expression to commune with God and with our higher selves.  The congregation at IUCC really sings!  In some churches, hymn singing is stagnant and perfunctory.  At IUCC, Sunday morning hymn singing is a powerful and uplifting experience.  Every person in the congregation is transformed by the music, without trepidation or self-consciousness.

I am also very proud to shepherd the over 40 extraordinary individuals that make up the IUCC Chancel Choir.  This dedicated family of musicians gathers weekly to hone our skills and deeply explore musical compositions by a variety of composers.  We sing new works during weekly worship services, and perform two concerts annually.  Both concerts are well attended by the congregation and the community at-large.  The choir performs a great variety of music, including unaccompanied anthems as well as great choral/orchestral masterworks.  I am proud of our choir’s accomplishments, and the great pieces of music we have performed together.  The choir also performs internationally!  We toured northern Italy in July of 2005 to great acclaim, and look forward to our plans for a French concert tour in June 2009. Our preliminary itinerary  for France can be viewed by opening the PDF file that is located on the top of this page. 

This past year on December 9th, we held  a concert of new and traditional holiday selections, entitled “A Winter’s Solstice.”  On Sunday, May 4th, we performed an evening of exciting and uplifting Gospel Music!  Both of these concerts were free of charge to all members of the community and played to standing room only crowds. 

Our

Robert Istad
Director of Music, IUCC

Chancel Choir

Since its inception in 1984, the Irvine United Congregational Church Chancel Choir continues to strive for new heights of artistic excellence and spiritual inspiration in the performance of music in worship. Members of the Chancel Choir find great pride in their efforts to support one another, the congregation, and the progressive and inclusive mission of Irvine United Congregational Church. Since 1988, IUCC’s Chancel Choir has built a tradition of fine choral singing of superior repertoire in weekly worship services, festive special services, inventive holiday programs, and an annual musical variety show. IUCC’s musical programs have garnered high praise from the outside community and attract a sizeable, supportive audience from all over Los Angeles and Orange County. The choir, an entirely volunteer ensemble, has been guided to musical excellence through the efforts of many extraordinary artists including Bonnie McClain, Paul MacNeff, Ted Reid, and most recently, Robert Istad and pianist Jill Carter. Through the guidance of Mr. Istad, the chorus has developed a community concert series that brings the chorus and community together in support of local and guest artists. The chorus annually produces “A Winter’s Solstice,” an Advent program of lessons and carols, and a program of large choral-orchestral works in the spring. In summer 2005, the Chancel Choir performed to high acclaim for large audiences on a concert tour throughout northern Italy. As part of this tour, the choir was invited to be a featured ensemble in the prestigious sacred music festival that takes place annually in the medieval city of Lucca. The chorus has also performed with members of the University of Southern California’s Thornton Symphony in J.S. Bach’s Cantata BWV 140 Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria, W.A. Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de Confessore, K. 339, Faure’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs. The choir has also performed many other great works including Benjamin Britten’s Festival Te Deum and Rejoice in the Lamb, Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Orartorio, and John Rutter’s Requiem. The choir looks forward to an upcoming concert tour throughout France during the summer of 2009.