Season Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO GIRLS CHORUS ANNOUNCES 2007-2008 SEASON

Four Bay Area Concerts and Asia Tour Highlight 29th Anniversary Year

San Francisco, May 31, 2007 – A unique collaboration with an internationally regarded dance company, masterworks of English choral music, a tour to Asia and traditional holiday fare highlight the three-time Grammy Award-winning San Francisco Girls Chorus 2007-2008 season. Artistic Director Susan McMane has made public details of the four-program, 29th anniversary season, which runs October 26 2007 through May 31 2008 at venues in San Francisco and the East Bay.

Asia Tour Begins With Free Concert in San Francisco July 13

Prior to the October 26 season opening, the San Francisco Girls Chorus embarks on its first international tour since 2005. The Girls Chorus will represent North America in the prestigious World Vision Children’s Choir Festival in Seoul, Korea, and in the Gateway to Music Festival at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing before returning to San Francisco for the home season. Taking its place among the world’s foremost professional choral organizations of any age group, the San Francisco Girls Chorus is highly regarded around the world for musical excellence, and its tours bring it ever widening attention and acclaim. The tour to China and Korea will be kicked off with a free concert of tour repertory Friday, July 13, at 8 p.m. at Calvary Presbyterian Church, 2515 Fillmore Street, San Francisco.

29th Season Programs

Music Fit For a Queen

The season begins Friday, October 26, at 8 p.m. at Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco with Music Fit for a Queen, a program featuring English choral masterworks written for treble voices. The English Monarchy has been steeped in musical tradition for more than a thousand years, and musical training and performance was an integral part of every Queen’s education and culture. Voices, organ, bells, harp and piano complement the Girls Chorus on a musical trip through time and sound from the heavenly tones of James MacMillan’s Te Deum and Britten’s Missa Brevis to the lighter side of royalty with Gilbert and Sullivan and settings of folksongs by Michael Neaum. A crowning highlight of the evening will be John Tavener’s stunningly beautiful “He Hath Entered the Heaven” for two “echoing” choirs and bells on a triumphal text by Henry VIII’s mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. Tickets are $24 for reserved seating and $18 for General Admission.

Annual Holiday Concert Celebrates 25 Years at Davies Hall

The 25th anniversary of the Girls Chorus’ annual holiday concert at Davies Hall will be celebrated in sound Sunday, December 23, at 7:30 p.m. The soaring voices of the full complement of the Girls Chorus will be joined by festive organ and brass to herald the joyous season of celebration, warmth and renewal. Featured will be Daniel Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata with brass choir and organ and plenty of opportunity for the audience to sing along with favorite holiday music. Chorissima, SFGC's premiere concert ensemble, presents an intimate, solo Holiday Sing-Along in Lafayette on Friday, December 14, 8 p.m. at Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church. Tickets are $14-$50 for Davies and $12-$22 for Lafayette.

Enchanted April

On Friday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m. the Beaux Arts splendor of the Garden Court of the historic Palace Hotel will be the setting for a gala concert and festivities to benefit the San Francisco Girls Chorus. Taking the popular novel Enchanted April as its theme, the Chorus will perform a spirited springtime program of music from England and the Continent. The concert will be framed by cocktails, dinner, and a silent auction all to honor and support the San Francisco Girls Chorus’ scholarships, education and outreach activities. Concert and benefit tickets are available separately or as a package and are priced at $25 for the concert only, or $300 for the full evening.

Dance On, My Heart!

Guest artists from ODC Dance Company join the Girls Chorus to wrap up the season with a unique premiere collaboration, choreographer Brenda Way’s Catch and Release, combining music and movement. Two performances will be given, Friday, May 30, at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley, and Saturday, May 31, at 8 p.m. at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concert Hall, 50 Oak Street. Created in collaboration with the Girls Chorus, the multi-media Catch and Release receives its world premiere at Yerba Buena Center in March. Artistic Director Susan McMane deftly spins the balance of the program on the theme of dancing, including Janika Vandervelde’s Dance Ablaze! for voices and percussion, medieval round dances and dance-themed folksongs including the endearing “Dance On, My Heart!” Tickets are priced $24 for reserved seating and $18 for General Admission.

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 organization comprises five choruses: Chorissima, the concert, recording, and touring ensemble, 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. 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 Chorissima was featured at the American Choral Directors Association Western Division Convention in Salt Lake City.

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 including: Voices of Hope and Peace, a new CD that includes many exciting SFGC commissions; Christmas, featuring diverse holiday selections; Crossroads, a collection of world folk music; and Music from the Venetian Ospedali, a disc of Italian Baroque music, for which The New Yorker proclaimed the Chorus “tremendously accomplished.” The San Francisco Girls Chorus can also be heard on several San Francisco Symphony recordings, including three that earned Grammy® Awards.

SUBSCRIPTION AND TICKET FULFILLMENT

For subscription orders, please contact Naho Yoshida, Communications Manager at 415-863-1752 x 304. Single tickets for non-subscribers go on sale September 17th and will be available for purchase by phone at City Box Office, 415-392-4400; online at www.sfgirlschorus.org; or in person at City Box Office, 180 Redwood Street, Suite 100, San Francisco (Monday – Friday, 9:30a.m.-5p.m.).

SAN FRANCISCO GIRLS CHORUS 2007-2008 SEASON CALENDAR

Music Fit for a Queen
Friday, October 26 at 8 p.m.
Calvary Presbyterian Church
2515 Fillmore Street, San Francisco

Music by Britten, Holst, Purcell, John Tavener James MacMillan, Michael Neaum, Gilbert and Sullivan and others.

Tickets: $18/24

Two Annual Holiday Sing-Along Concerts:
Holiday Sing-Along featuring Chorissima
Friday, December 14, at 8 p.m.
Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church
49 Knox Drive, Lafayette
Tickets: $16/22

25th Annual Holiday Sing-Along Concert
featuring all of the five SF Girls Chorus ensembles
Sunday, December 23, at 7:30 p.m.
Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco
Tickets: $14-$50

Daniel Pinkham: Christmas Cantata, plus favorite holiday music and plenty of audience sing-along.

Enchanted April

Friday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m.
Garden Court of the historic Palace Hotel
Two New Montgomery Street, San Francisco
Full evening: $300
Concert only: $25
Dance On, My Heart!

Guest Artists: Dancers from ODC San Francisco

Friday, May 30, at 8 p.m.
First Congregational Church
2345 Channing Way, Berkeley

Saturday, May 31, at 8 p.m.
San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concert Hall
50 Oak Street, San Francisco

Tickets: $18/24