SFGC Presents Daring Sisters/Atrevidas Hermanas
SAN FRANCISCO GIRLS CHORUS OPENS 2019-2020 SUBSCRIPTION SEASON WITH DARING SISTERS / ATREVIDAS HERMANAS
OCTOBER 19
San Francisco, CA – September 24, 2019 – The San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC) and Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe open the 2019-2020 subscription season on Saturday, October 19, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in San Francisco with Daring Sisters / Atrevidas Hermanas. In a season that celebrates cultural diversity and the empowerment of women, the carefully curated program will pay homage to Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz, one of the first published feminists of the Americas and a champion of women’s rights to education, with an evening of 17th century Latin American Baroque music. A rare performance of Madre la de los primores, the only surviving work written by Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz, will be featured alongside a selection of Mexican, Bolivian and Peruvian music. SFGC will be joined by a variety of Latin American and Spanish Baroque music specialists including soprano Nell Snaidas, who also serves as the program’s curator; soprano and SFGC alumna Jennifer Ellis Kampani; and Richard Savino’s GRAMMY-nominated chamber ensemble, El Mundo.
Known as an intellectual, scholar, philosopher, poet and composer, Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz stands as a national icon of Mexico for her staunch advocacy of women’s right to study and be recognized as equal to men. As a prolific writer and poet, de la Cruz wrote numerous books on music. Her most significant treatise, El Caracol, was lost along with almost her entire output of music, with the exception of Madre la de los primores, which is included in the program. Highlighted compositions set to her texts include Por celebrar del Infante, attributed to the Peruvian-Bolivian composer Juan de Araujo and A este edificio celebre by Bolivian composer and de Araujo student, Andrés Flores. Representing Sor Juana’s love of theater and mythology, the program will feature a rare performance of the introduction, or Loa, to the first opera ever to be performed in the Americas, La púrpura de la rosa (1701) by Spanish-Peruvian composer Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco.
The evening will also showcase a variety of works by 17th century Latin American composers including Te lucis ante términum by Mexican composer Juan de Lienas arranged for SFGC by Nell Snaidas. Found in the choir books of the convent of Our Lady of the Incarnation in Mexico
City, this work serves as insight into the music that Sor Juana and her sisters might have been singing together during her lifetime. Further works include Convidando está la noche by Juan Garcia de Zéspedes, and Oygan una xacarilla by Rafael Antonio Castellanos.
Additional music is taken from the Codex Trujillo of Peru; a census in the form of a collection of watercolor paintings presented to King Charles IV of Spain by Bishop of Trujillo, Baltazar Jaime Martínez Compañón in the late 1780’s. This collection of images is the result of the bishop’s 32-month journey through the varied landscape of Trujillo in Peru. Alongside these images are twenty musical scores that serve as transcriptions of what was heard by the bishop and his travel companions.
“As a strong advocate for women to explore their intellectual value, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz serves as the perfect inspiration for this collaboration. I can imagine her cheering on everything that Valérie and the young women of the San Francisco Girls Chorus have accomplished together in their remarkable history,” said Nell Snaidas. “By showcasing the music, poetry, and passions of Sor Juana through the music of 17th century Latin America, we will provide audiences with a unique opportunity to step back in time and join us on a tour through the convents, campos and teatros of this era.”
Praised by The New York Times for her “beautiful soprano voice, melting passion” and “vocally ravishing” performances, American-Uruguayan soprano Nell Snaidas has become one of the leading specialists in Latin American and Spanish Baroque music with appearances throughout Europe, North American and Latin American. In addition to performing with Early Music ensembles such as The Boston Early Music Festival, Apollo’s Fire, and The Bishop’s Band, Nell is highly sought-after for her concert curations which have been called “revelatory” (BBC Music Magazine). Joining her for this performance are chamber ensemble El Mundo and soprano Jennifer Ellis Kampani, a former SFGC alumna. Led and created by world-renowned guitarist Richard Savino, El Mundo performs music from 16th – 19th century Italy, Spain and Latin America on period instruments. Snaidas and Ellis Kampani were featured soloists with El Mundo on the acclaimed Sono Luminus recording The Kingdoms of Castille which earned a 2011 GRAMMY nomination for Best Small Ensemble Performance.
Tickets for Daring Sisters / Atrevidas Hermanas are $28 and $38, and can be purchased through http://www.cityboxoffice.com or by phone at (415) 392-4400. $10 student tickets are also available with valid student ID.
CALENDAR EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE:
San Francisco Girls Chorus Presents
Daring Sisters / Atrevidas Hermanas
Saturday, October 19, 2018, 7:30 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco
Valérie Sainte-Agathe, conductor
Nell Snaidas, curator & soprano
Jennifer Ellis Kampani, soprano
El Mundo with Richard Savino, Director
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Madre la de los primores
Anónimo (arr. Juan de Araujo): Por celebrar del Infante on a text by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Andrés Flores: A este edificio celebre on a text by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Juan de Araujo: ¡Ay andar a tocar, a cantar, a baylar!
Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco: LOA from La púrpura de la rosa
Anónimo: Hanacpachap cussicuinin
Juan de Lienas: Te lucis ante términum
Rafael Antonio Castellanos: Oygan una xacarilla
Juan Garcia de Zéspedes: Convidando esta la noche
Also featuring traditional and folk music from the Codex Trujillo of Peru and the Moxos Archives of Bolivia. Bolivia’s Moxos Festival
About San Francisco Girls Chorus
Stunning range, flexibility, drama, and power are among the hallmarks of the 41-year-old San Francisco Girls Chorus’s Premier Ensemble, recognized as one of the world’s leading youth vocal ensembles. Led by Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe, the Premier Ensemble has achieved an incomparable sound that underscores the unique clarity and force of impeccably trained treble voices.
Recent concert highlights include a July 2019 tour to England and France that featured six performances in London, Windsor, Cambridge, and Paris; appearances on all three days of the 2019 KRONOS FESTIVAL; multiple performances of Stravinsky’s Persephone with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony in September 2018; debut performances in February 2018 at Carnegie Hall alongside Philip Glass; June 2018 performances of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with Voices of Music for the Berkeley Festival & Exhibition; an April 2017 debut performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with The Knights for SHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras. SFGC has also traveled the world as a musical ambassador for San Francisco, with tours to the Nordic countries, Germany, Japan, China, South Korea, and Cuba, and performed for the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama.
Praised by Gramophone Magazine as a “remarkable tapestry of teenage voices,” SFGC has been a champion of the music of our time since its founding, having commissioned more than three dozen works by leading composers including Philip Glass, Richard Danielpour, Aaron Jay Kernis, Gabriel Kahane, Augusta Read Thomas, and Chen Yi. In February 2018, SFGC released its most recent album, Final Answer, on Philip Glass’ Orange Mountain Music label. The album features Kronos Quartet, includes works by nine living composers, among them Philip Glass, Aleksandra Vrebalov, Lisa Bielawa, John Zorn, and Gabriel Kahane. The Premier Ensemble has been recipient of numerous music industry awards, including five GRAMMY Awards, four ASCAP/Chorus America Awards for Adventurous Programming, and the Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence from Chorus America.
In addition to its Premier Ensemble, SFGC is renowned as a regional center for choral music education and performance for girls and young women ages 4-18. Hundreds of singers from 46 Bay Area cities participate in this internationally-recognized seven-level Chorus School, hailed as “a model in the country for training girls’ voices” by the California Arts Council.
For more information, visit http://www.sfgirlschorus.org.
PHOTO CREDITS
San Francisco Girls Chorus / Ben Tomlin
Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz / Wikimedia Commons
Nell Snaidas / Gary Payne
Jennifer Ellis Kampani / Jennifer Ellis Kampani
Richard Savino / Richard Savino
PRESS CONTACT
Brenden Guy
Marketing & PR Consultant
brendenguy@gmail.com
marketing@sfgirlschorus.org
(415) 640-3165