San Francisco Girls Chorus announces 31st Season
Headline:
Highlights Include Four Home Season Concerts, Multi-Media Premiere by Chen Yi, Guest Artists The Cypress String Quartet, Release of a new double CD and more.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Scott Horton
(510) 229-9739
Bluescott260@hotmail.com
EDITOR NOTE: Downloadable, High-Resolution photos are available here:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
San Francisco, August 13, 2009 – Four home season performances, the world premiere of a new multi-media work based on immigrants’ experiences and poetry by Chen Yi, guest artists including the Cypress String Quartet, classic jazz greats The Hot Club of San Francisco and harpist Karen Gottlieb, plus a new double CD recording, a tour to Southern California and SF Opera appearances highlight the 2009-2010 Season of the San Francisco Girls Chorus. Details of the 31st annual season of the nation’s leading young women’s vocal ensemble were announced by Artistic Director Susan McMane. The four-concert, eight-performance Bay Area season runs October 23, 2009-June 5, 2010 at various venues in San Francisco and the East Bay.
For more than thirty years, the thrilling sounds of the extraordinarily gifted young women of the San Francisco Girls Chorus have captured the attention and fired the imaginations of audiences worldwide. Following a phenomenal 30th anniversary season that included featured performances at the Inauguration of President Barack Obama, a New York debut at Lincoln Center and unprecedented ticket sales the San Francisco Girls Chorus has furthered its status as an internationally celebrated professional choral ensemble.
The 41 members of our professional-level ensemble are 12-17 years old and come from all over the Bay Area. Each singer represents as much as a decade of musical training and performance experience. Audience members and critics have come to expect a soaring, exquisite sound, remarkable versatility and concerts of great beauty and depth.
San Francisco Girls Chorus 2009-2010 Season Concerts
Program 1
Transcendent Voices
Friday, October 23, 2009, at 8 p.m.
Calvary Presbyterian Church
2515 Fillmore Street, San Francisco
Sunday, October 25, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.
First Congregational Church
2345 Channing Way, Berkeley
Guest artist Karen Gottlieb, Harp
PROGRAM: BETTINIS: From Behind the Caravan: Songs of Hâfez; HOLST: Choral Hymns from the Rig-Veda, III; TAVENER: Two Hadiths of the Prophet Mohammed.
Prophetic words and mystical visions have been a source of rich inspiration for composers through the ages. American composer Abbie Betinis illuminates the sensual metaphors of medieval Persian poet Hâfez, and John Tavener’s shimmering sonorities animate the words of Mohammed. Gustav Holst’s substantial Rig-Veda Hymns are profound explorations of Indian scripture and the insights of a thousand years of lyric poetry are brought to lustrous sound by composers from Hildegard to Olli Kortekangas.
Program 2
Let Heaven and Earth Sing: A Holiday Concert and Sing-Along
Friday, December 18, 2009, at 8 p.m.
Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church
49 Knox Drive, Lafayette
Tuesday, December 22, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.
Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco
PROGRAM: BRITTEN: A Ceremony of Carols with Karen Gottlieb, harp; holiday music by Rutter, Willcocks, Thompson, Močnik and others plus the popular annual audience carol sing-along.
Benjamin Britten’s festive A Ceremony of Carols is the masterful centerpiece of this year’s annual holiday concert and sing-along—now in its 27th season at Davies Hall. Join the full complement of 300 exquisite young voices of the San Francisco Girls Chorus and Chorus School plus organ, piano and harp at Davies Hall. The December 18 performance in Lafayette is an intimate holiday concert with the 41-voice Chorus and guest artists.
Program 3
Americans in Paris
31st Season Gala
Guest Jazz Artists: Hot Club of San Francisco
Friday, March 26, 2010, at 7 p.m.
Herbst Theatre
401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco
PROGRAM: Music by COPLAND, GERSHWIN, COLE PORTER and DUKE ELLINGTON, STRAVINSKY, IRVING BERLIN and others.
More than any other locale, Paris has inspired American artists, and the City of Light evokes images of rich history and ebullient innovation, especially in the early 20th century. Enjoy the glowing sounds of the Girls Chorus amid the gilded splendor of the Herbst Theatre in a program of music written by composers enamored with this amazing city. Guest instrumental ensemble the Hot Club of San Francisco revs up the classic Parisian jazz spirit.
Tickets are available for the full gala evening or for the concert alone.
Program 4
A New Land, A New Song
Friday and Saturday, June 4 and 5, 2010, at 8 p.m.
San Francisco Conservatory
50 Oak Street, San Francisco
Guest Artists: The Cypress String Quartet
PROGRAM: CHEN YI: World Premiere (title to be announced); STRAVINSKY: Four Russian Peasant Songs; KRENEK: Three Madrigals; and music by DVORAK and BARTOK.
A multi-media world-premiere by Chinese-American composer Chen Yi for chorus and string quartet sets the tone for a program that explores the immigrant experience. Musical journeys by composers from the four corners of the globe explore the experience of finding a welcome home in America. The Cypress String Quartet will partner with the Chorus and perform excerpts from their acclaimed “Inspired by America” program.
New CD, Tour, Alumnae Chorus Concerts and More
The award-winning San Francisco Girls Chorus is in demand as guest artists, on recordings and on tour. Audiences have the following opportunities to experience these extraordinary young artists:
New Recordings
A two-CD set, Heaven and Earth, of music celestial and terrestrial by the Girls Chorus will be released in the fall of 2009, joining the Chorus’ impressive discography of a dozen titles, three of which have won Grammy Awards. Six other CDs of the internationally acclaimed San Francisco Girls Chorus are available. For a list and ordering information, call (415) 863-1752 or visit www.sfgirlschorus.org.
For information and to order, visit www.sfgirlschorus.org.
On Tour
Several prestigious tour dates highlight the 2009-2010 season including performances at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts in November (www.cerritoscenter.com) and St. James By-the-Sea in La Jolla in January 2010 (www.stjamesbythesea.org).
With San Francisco Opera
Members of the Girls Chorus collaborate with San Francisco Opera for their 31st season together in performances of Suor Angelica September 15-October 3 and Otello November 8-December 2. For more information and tickets, visit the San Francisco Opera at www.sfopera.com.
Alumnae Chorus concerts
Ave! Ave!
Saturday, December 5, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.
St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Francisco
Women’s Experiences of War
Sunday, May 23, 2010, at 7:30 p.m.
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco
For details, call (415) 863-1752 or visit www.sfgirlschorus.org
About the San Francisco Girls Chorus
Founded in 1978, the San Francisco Girls Chorus is an internationally acclaimed center for choral music performances and education for girls and young women ages 7-18. More than 300 singers from 160 schools in 48 Bay Area cities participate in what the California Arts Council calls “a model in the country for training girls’ voices”. The 2008-2009 Season represented a watershed year and pinnacle of achievement featuring performance at the swearing in ceremony at the inauguration of US President Barack Obama in Washington DC jointly with the San Francisco Boys Chorus, and a performance at the Library of Congress. In addition the Girls Chorus made its New York debut at Lincoln Center.
The organization comprises a 41-voice the concert, recording, and touring ensemble, conducted by Artistic Director Susan McMane; the four-level San Francisco Girls Chorus School training program and preparatory program, supervised by Director Elizabeth Avakian; and the Alumnae Chorus.
Each year, dedicated young artists present season concerts, tour nationally or internationally, and appear with respected sponsoring organizations, including San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Opera. The Chorus has been honored to sing at many prestigious national and international venues, including the World Choral Symposium in Kyoto, Japan, in 2005. In March 2006 the Chorus was featured at the American Choral Directors Association Western Division Convention in Salt Lake City, and in 2007 the Chorus toured to China and South Korea.
Known as a leader in its field, the San Francisco Girls Chorus was honored in 2001 as the first youth chorus to win the prestigious “Margaret Hillis Award” given annually by Chorus America to a chorus that demonstrates artistic excellence, a strong organizational structure, and a commitment to education. Other awards include two ASCAP awards for Adventurous Programming in 2001 and 2004.
The San Francisco Girls Chorus has produced CD recordings including: Voices of Hope and Peace, which includes many SFGC commissions; Christmas, a collection of diverse holiday selections; Crossroads, a compilation of world folk music; and Music from the Venetian Ospedali, a disc of Italian Baroque music. The San Francisco Girls Chorus can also be heard on several San Francisco Symphony recordings, including three that earned Grammy® Awards winners. Highly regarded for collaboration, the Girls Chorus has participated in joint projects with composers Luciana Souza, Rollo Dilworth and others, and choreographers and directors including Brenda Way, Joe Goode and Stephen Petronio.
2009-2010 ANNIVERSARY SUBSCRIPTIONS AND TICKETS
Season subscriptions are priced $80-$177 for four-concert packages. For subscription orders, at www.cityboxoffice.com, or by calling 415-863-1752 x 303. Single tickets for non-subscribers are priced $18-$58 and are available for purchase by phone at City Box Office, 415-392-4400; online at www.cityboxoffice.com ; or in person at City Box Office, 180 Redwood Street, Suite 100, San Francisco (Monday – Friday, 9:30a.m.-5p.m.).
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