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MEDIA CONTACT:
Scott Horton
(510) 735-9200
Bluescott260@hotmail.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SAN FRANCISCO GIRLS CHORUS CELEBRATES HOLIDAYS WITH THREE BAY AREA CONCERTS
“SILVER BELLS AND GOLDEN VOICES” 25TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT AT DAVIES HALL DEC. 23
LAFAYETTE PERFORMANCE DECEMBER 14
DEBUT OF ALUMNAE CHORUS DECEMBER 2
San Francisco, November 9, 2007 – Festive organ, brass, bells, percussion and the internationally acclaimed voices of three-time Grammy Award-winning San Francisco Girls Chorus will ring out as the Girls Chorus continues its 2007-2008, 29th anniversary season by celebrating the holidays with three concerts including its 25th annual, highly popular concert at Davies Symphony Hall. The Davies Hall concert, entitled “Silver Bells and Golden Voices” in San Francisco will be given Sunday, December 23, at 7:30 p.m. An additional holiday performance with different repertoire will be given Friday, December 14, at 8 p.m. at Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church, 49 Knox Drive, Lafayette. Finally, the holiday season will ring in the debut of the new San Francisco Girls Chorus Alumnae Chorus Sunday, December 2, at 7 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 25 Lake Street, San Francisco.
“SILVER BELLS AND GOLDEN VOICES” AT DAVIES HALL DEC. 23
For the Davies Hall concert, Artistic Director Susan McMane will take the podium with an exceptionally joyous program featuring Daniel Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata for voices, organ and brass, plus many holiday favorites and plenty of audience sing-along including “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “God Rest You Merry Gentlemen,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “Deck the Hall ,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and others. The concert features all levels of the internationally beloved San Francisco Girls Chorus and School from age 7 to the professional level advanced ensemble Chorissima, accompanied by Susan Soehner and guest musicians.
Daniel Pinkham (b. 1923) is one of America’s most accomplished and prolific composers. A native of Massachusetts, he has enjoyed an extremely eventful and impressive career. He served as Music Director of Harvard’s prestigious King’s Chapel and was on the faculties of Harvard and the New England Conservatory of Music. A list of his studies is truly a “Who’s Who” of important musical figures of the 20th century. He studied composition with Aaron Copland, Arthur Honegger, Samuel Barber and Nadia Boulanger; organ with Walter Piston and E. Power Biggs and harpsichord with Wanda Landowska. His Christmas Cantata was composed in 1957 when on the faculty of Harvard. Subtitled Sinfonia Sacra, it is a tour-de-force based on traditional nativity texts that tell the story of Christmas with voices, organ and a double-brass choir.
CHORISSIMA PERFORMANCE IN LAFAYETTE DEC. 14
Chorissima, the professional advanced level ensemble of the San Francisco Girls Chorus will be featured in concert at Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church on Friday, December 14. Conducted by Susan McMane, the program includes holiday-themed and other music from the 13th through the 20th centuries. Featured will be Benjamin Britten’s Missa Brevis, selections from Henry Purcell’s Come ye Sons of Art and audience sing-alongs of favorite carols.
ALUMNAE CHORUS DEBUTS IN “HEAVENLY LIGHTS” DECEMBER 2
The new San Francisco Girls Chorus Alumnae Chorus takes the stage for the first time in concert Sunday, December 2 at 7 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, San Francisco. The ensemble is a new women’s community chorus comprising women from the age of 17 to mid-thirties all of whom are graduates of the SFGC School’s professional training program and alumnae of the Chorus. The December 2 program features holiday-themed music by Verdi and Fauré and traditional music from the 14th through the 20th centuries.
About the San Francisco Girls Chorus
Founded in 1978, the San Francisco Girls Chorus is recognized internationally as a center for choral music performances and education for girls and young women ages 7-18 whose reputation for professional training and the highest performance standards are second to none. 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 organization comprises six choruses: Chorissima, the concert, recording, and touring ensembles and Alumnae Chorus, both conducted by Artistic Director Susan McMane; and the four-level Chorus School training program, supervised by Director Elizabeth Avakian.
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. In the summer of 2007 the Girls Chorus performed as one of only six choruses worldwide invited to participate in the World Vision Children’s Choir Festival in Seoul, Korea, in July, and in China in Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall. In March 2006 they were featured at the American Choral Directors Association Western Division Convention in Salt Lake City. In August 2005, they were invited to perform at the 7th World Symposium on Choral Music in Kyoto and also at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan.
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 six solo CD recordings and can also be heard on several San Francisco Symphony recordings, including three that earned Grammy® Awards.
TICKETS
Tickets for the San Francisco Girls Chorus December 23 25th Anniversary holiday concert at Davies Hall are priced $14-50, and tickets for the December 14 Lafayette Holiday concert are priced $12-$22. Tickets for both concerts may be purchased online at www.cityboxoffice.com or by calling City Box Office at 415-392-4499. For more information about the concerts, call (415) 863-1752 or visit www.sfgirlschorus.org.
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CALENDAR EDITOR PLEASE LIST:
“SILVER BELLS AND GOLDEN VOICES”
SAN FRANCISCO GIRLS CHORUS 25th ANNIVERSARY HOLIDAY CONCERT AT DAVIES HALL AND ANNUAL LAFAYETTE CONCERT
SUSAN McMANE, Conducting
WHEN: Friday, December 14, at 8 p.m.
WHERE: Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church, 49 Knox Drive, Lafayette
PROGRAM: PINKHAM: Christmas Cantata for voices organ and brass, TRADITIONAL HOLIDAY MUSIC AND AUDIENCE SING-ALONG
TICKETS: $12-$22
By phone - City Box Office 415-392-4400
Online - www.cityboxoffice.com
In person – City Box Office, 180 Redwood St., Suite 100, San Francisco (Mon-Fri 9:30 am-5pm)
CHORISSIMA IN LAFAYETTE
SUSAN McMANE, Conducting
WHEN: Sunday, December 23, at 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco
PROGRAM: BRITTEN: Missa Brevis; PURCELL: Selections from Come Ye Sons of Art; TRADITIONAL HOLIDAY MUSIC AND AUDIENCE SING-ALONG
TICKETS: $14-$50
By phone - City Box Office 415-392-4400
Online - www.cityboxoffice.com
In person – City Box Office, 180 Redwood St., Suite 100, San Francisco (Mon-Fri 9:30 am-5pm)
DEBUT OF SF GIRLS CHORUS ALUMNAE CHORUS IN “HEAVENLY LIGHTS” DEC. 2
SUSAN McMANE, Conducting
WHEN: Sunday, December 2, at 7 p.m .
WHERE: St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 25 Lake Street, San Francisco
PROGRAM: VERDI: Laudi alla Vergine Maria; FAURE: Cantique de Jean Racine; holiday favorites and traditional music from the 14th-20th centuries
TICKETS : $20 purchased at the door
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