Christmas Eve in LA: Choirs, Midnight Mass and a Feast for the Homeless

Christmas Eve in Los Angeles will be marked Thursday by a music and dance program at The Music Center, a celebration at the Los Angeles Mission for the homeless, and traditional Masses and church services celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

The 56th annual Los Angeles County Holiday Celebration will be held from 3-6 p.m. at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Music Center. The celebration features 20 music ensembles, dance companies and choirs representing the varied cultures of the county’s diverse communities.

Returning performers include the Grammy-nominated all-female ensemble Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles, which will perform the gender stereotype- breaking original song, “El Gallo”; the choral music ensemble the Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers; the Invertigo Dance Theatre, which will perform a remixed version of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies”; the 50-member choral group the Colburn Children’s Choir and Young Men’s Ensemble; and the Pacifico Dance Company, performing a folklorico piece from the Chihuahua region of Mexico.

New groups include the contemporary dance company BODYTRAFFIC, which will perform an ensemble piece, “o2joy”; the Korean-American indie folk-rock band Run River North; MoForro, which will perform a medley of holiday songs in the style of Brazilian forro; and Mostly Kosher, which will perform the Hanukkah song “Ma’oz Tzur.”

The celebration will be televised live by KOCE-TV Channel 50 from 3-6 p.m. and replayed from 9 p.m.-midnight.

Approximately 3,000 meals will be served to the homeless by celebrity volunteers at the Los Angeles Mission. The entire menu is devised by Ford’s Filling Station chef Ben Ford, a son of actor Harrison Ford. Thousands of toys will be distributed to children.

A Christmas Eve Family Mass will be celebrated at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles at 4 p.m. Christmas Eve Masses will be celebrated in Spanish at 7 p.m. and in English at 9 p.m.

A Midnight Mass will be celebrated at midnight, preceded by a program of Christmas carols sung by the cathedral choir beginning at 11:30 p.m.

City News Service