An 85-voice choir that gives away all its concerts is asking you to pay to sing karaoke with it.
The Pasadena Chorale — which received the American Prize in Choral Performance in 2024 and has mounted more than 100 free public concerts since its 2009 founding — holds its first-ever karaoke fundraiser on Wednesday, April 22, at the Woman’s Club of South Pasadena. The event, called Chorale-oke Night, pairs Chorale and Choral Society singers performing crowd-favorite hits with supporters who sponsor them song by song. A limited number of guest karaoke spots are also available, according to the Chorale, for anyone willing to step to the mic with an additional donation.
The concerts stay free. The fundraising events pay for that.
The Chorale is a Pasadena institution — headquartered at 1443 E. Washington Blvd., supported by the City of Pasadena and the Pasadena Community Foundation, led since its founding by Founding Artistic & Executive Director Jeffrey Bernstein. Bernstein lives in Altadena, and that is where the organization’s recent history took a hard turn. In January 2025, the Eaton Fire destroyed the Altadena Community Church, the Chorale’s rehearsal home for 16 years. Bernstein’s own house went with it. The fire displaced what Bernstein has described as 10 families across the Chorale’s ensembles.
The organization did not stop. After losing the church, it rehearsed at a congregation in La Verne, then the historic First United Methodist Church in Pasadena, then the Pasadena Playhouse. The 2025-2026 season has logged six free concerts so far, with four still ahead, including a May 13 presentation of Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony.
At the Chorale’s first rehearsal after the fire, with smoke still hanging over much of Los Angeles, Bernstein told the assembled singers: “Churches aren’t buildings… and choirs aren’t buildings. They’re groups of people. Being here today is a very tangible way of remembering that.”
Chorale-oke Night is, in one sense, a revenue event. As of this week, the Givebutter fundraising campaign had collected $2,700 from 36 supporters, according to the campaign page. But the model it serves is the same one that has sustained the ensemble through the loss of its home: asking the community to show up, and to bring something with it.
The Chorale’s four ensembles — the flagship Pasadena Chorale, the 45-voice Pasadena Choral Society, the High Notes middle school treble choir for students in grades 6 through 10, and a 16-voice select ensemble — serve 160 singers and thousands of audience members each year. The High Notes program is supported by the Tournament of Roses and the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts.
The event is Wednesday, April 22. Doors open at 6 p.m.; karaoke begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Woman’s Club of South Pasadena, 1424 Fremont Ave., South Pasadena. Tickets are $125 for two supporters, available at givebutter.com/choraleoke-night-2026. Rideshare is recommended; residential street parking is available nearby. For information: (626) 208-0009 or pasadenachorale.org.
Four more free concerts remain in the season. None of them requires a ticket.
PASADENA CHORALE-OKE NIGHT FUNDRAISER Date & Time: Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. | Venue: Women’s Club of South Pasadena 1424 Fremont Ave. South Pasadena, CA 91030 | Phone Number: 626-208-0009 | Website: https://www.pasadenachorale.org/
