CSULB Choir Gets What They Want – On Stage with the Rolling Stones

The CSULB Cole Conservatory Chamber Choir ail sing with Rolling Stones at the opening of their 50 And Counting tour at The Staples Center. (Photo from http://www.rollingstones.com)

The Rolling Stones are in the midst of their 50th Anniversary Tour, and as they roll into Southern California for their Friday, May 3 performance at the Staples Center, they’ll be joined on stage for the iconic “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” by 26 members of the CSULB Cole Conservatory Chamber Choir. Dr. Jonathan Talberg, Director of Choral, Vocal and Opera Studies, is preparing the choir and will conduct them on stage with the Stones.
“If I had a dollar for every time I’ve said, ‘You can’t always get what you want’ to students over my 20-year teaching career I’d be a rich man,” said Talberg. “Now, amazingly, we get to sing it with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the boys. I’ve always wanted to do a rock-n-roll concert with the choirs. I just can’t believe our first one is with one of the greatest bands of all time. It’s too bad we can’t go to the after party; we have to sing the Mozart REQUIEM the next day!” 
This isn’t the first non-traditional appearance the Chamber Choir has made this year. In March, the Choir joined composer Eric Whitacre on the stage along with two other Southern California area choirs to perform with singers from more than 30 other countries via Skype. The performance was part of one of the extremely popular TED Talks, and the two You Tube videos of Whitacre’s talk and the combined live and internet choir performance have received more than 380,000 views.
The CSULB Chamber Choir will be offering more traditional choral fare on Friday, April 26 at 8pm during its concert of “Choral Chestnuts” in the Gerald Daniel Recital Hall, and on Saturday, May 4 at 8pm, as they join the Cole Conservatory Orchestra and combined choirs for a performance of Mozart’s Requiem as part of the Celebrating Music concert in the Carpenter Center. For tickets and information regarding the CSULB concerts, please call (562) 985-7000 or visit www.csulb.edu/coleconservatory