San Francisco Girls Chorus closes 2009-2010 season with multi-media world premiere by Chen Yi with Cypress String Quartet
SAN FRANCISCO GIRLS CHORUS CLOSES 2009-2010 SEASON
MEDIA CONTACT:
Scott Horton
(510) 229-9739
Bluescott260@hotmail.com
EDITOR NOTE: Downloadable, High-Resolution photos are available here:
http://photos.shcommunications.org/GalleryThumbnails.aspx?gallery=84631
SAN FRANCISCO GIRLS CHORUS CLOSES 2009-2010 SEASON WITH
What I Learned from Harry Potter
Yes, the name says it – we’re a “girls” chorus, but we are also SO much more than that!
This past winter, I decided to read straight through all 7 books in the Harry Potter series. I had never read them all, certainly not in any order, so my knowledge of the books was largely based on the film version of each story. However, reading them in succession made a big impression, leaving me with much to ponder and many important take-away lessons.
Singing Bread and Other Lost Arts
There’s nothing like finishing a task, whether digging a trench or baking a loaf, to keep you focused, in the moment, and even happy.
My husband’s latest DIY project is baking bread. However, this is not the squishy hippy dippy whole grain loaf of the 70s. This is serious artisan stuff, and it’s also extraordinarily easy to make. The recipe comes from Jim Lahey of the Sullivan Street Baking Company in NYC, who realized that bread was elemental to human history, something that most cultures had developed before recorded history. Baking really good bread just couldn’t be that complicated! I’m not giving away his technique here, but it’s revolutionary in its simplic
Outstanding in the Field
In his remarks, the mayor quoted some powerful words of the late, great Jerry Garcia…
Last Thursday, SFGC’s Artistic Director Susan McMane was invited to join her colleagues Ragnar Bohlin (Director of the SF Symphony Chorus), and Kevin Fox (Director of the Pacific Boychoir Academy) onstage at Davies Symphony Hall with Michael Tilson Thomas, in honor of the three recent Grammy awards we share for the collaborative recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 10 with the SF Symphony.
The First Lizard
We have a wonderful evening planned on March 26, when SFGC presents a concert, and its annual gala fundraiser, titled “Americans in Paris.”
This past weekend I saw the first lizard of spring on a post on our back deck in Lake County. It was a gorgeous day, and the lizard (a specimen of Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis, or Pacific Fence Lizard) was clearly enjoying the radiant heat of the sun. These lizards go dormant during the winter, and it’s certainly been a cold and wet one, so this may have been one of its first outings. In some climates, the first robin of spring is a big deal, but in Lake County, I think the lizard tells the real story.
Signs of Spring
It’s always wonderful to hear music written in our time, but especially when it makes a deep and personal connection
It’s March 1st, and last weekend’s sunshine seems to have further encouraged spring to bloom around us. I could have made a gorgeous bouquet from all the blossoms popping out along the BART path I walk in the morning. The daffodils along my driveway in El Cerrito have been out for a couple of weeks, and those in Lake County began to show last weekend, though no fruit trees have started there yet.
The Triumph of Taste
I am, of course, reminded of the challenges we face as an arts organization whose artists are young women
In last night’s Olympic Ice Dancing finals, taste and talent definitely triumphed over… whatever. (I will forebear from continuing the alliteration with words like tacky, tawdry, tired, trite, etc.) The winning Canadian pair skated, or rather danced, with complete honesty, artistry and skill to the heartrendingly beautiful Adagietto from Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. Of course I wept, and I think my husband may have had a moist eye as well, even though this is not his favorite Olympic sport.
Road Movies
"the music of the road may be even more important than the destination."
Last Tuesday the violinist Midori visited SFGC! She played a little unaccompanied Bach for some of the older girls, and talked to them briefly about the Thornton School of Music at USC, where she is now an instructor. To see and hear a few minutes from this visit, check out http://www.youtube.com/user/sfgirlschorus#p/a/u/0/mQGo1lbY97U.
San Francisco Girls Chorus 2010 Gala March 26 At Herbst Theatre
Grammy-Winning Chorus Performs “Americans In Paris” With Guest Jazz Artists The Hot Club Of San Francisco
MEDIA CONTACT:
Scott Horton
(510) 735-9200
Hello, My Name is Stegosaurus
I attempted to watch the Grammy Awards last night, even though I knew that no awards for serious music – jazz, classical, etc – would be announced on television.
So it’s official. Our recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the SF Symphony, Symphony Chorus, and Pacific Boychoir Academy won three Grammy awards -- for Best Classical Performance, Best Choral Performance, and Best Engineered Classical Album! This makes a total of five Grammy Awards for SFGC!! (We don’t count the one for engineering.)
For those who may need a refresher course on which SFGC recordings with the SF Symphony have been Grammy winners, so far, here’s the list:
