SFGC Presents A Ceremony of Carols
SAN FRANCISCO GIRLS CHORUS PRESENTS
A CEREMONY OF CAROLS AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL
DECEMBER 16
San Francisco, CA – November 22, 2019 – The San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC), led by Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe, returns to Davies Symphony Hall for its annual holiday concert, A Ceremony of Carols, on Monday, December 16, 7:00 p.m. This year’s concert will showcase a rare performance of the mixed version of Benjamin Britten’s choral masterwork A Ceremony of Carols featuring Bay Area vocal ensemble Clerestory alongside hundreds of choristers from all seven levels of the Chorus School and Premiere Ensemble. American harpist Bridget Kibbey, Bay Area guitar-percussion duo The Living Earth Show, and organist Robert Huw Morgan also feature in a program that includes significant works by contemporary composers, including Thomas Adès’s The Fayrfax Carol, Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Dona Nobis Pacem, Ēriks Ešenvalds’s Stars, Ysaÿe Maria Barnwell’s Wanting Memories, as well as traditional Christmas carol sing-alongs.
These popular December musical events have become a celebrated and beloved tradition in the San Francisco holiday calendar. Inspired by its summer tour of England and France, SFGC brings together festive masterpieces by two of the most influential British composers of the 20th and 21st century: Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols and Thomas Adès’s The Fayrfax Carol. Written during a return trip from the United States, Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols (1939) consists of 12 movements based on 14th, 15th and 16th century poems about the birth of Christ. Originally scored for women’s choir and harp, SFGC will present the rarely-performed version for mixed voices featuring guest artists Clerestory and Bridget Kibbey. Clerestory will also join SFGC for Thomas Adès’s The Fayrfax Carol (1997), an unaccompanied choral work that looks ahead to Christ’s Passion, first performed on Christmas Eve by the Choir of Kings College in Cambridge.
Further demonstrating the organization’s commitment to contemporary music and the celebration of diverse cultures, SFGC will present a selection of contemporary works including Dona Nobis Pacem by Finnish composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen; Stars by Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds; and Wanting Memories by African-American composer Ysaÿe Maria Barnwell. Completing the program is Gaude Maria Virgo by 16th century Scottish composer Robert Johnson as well as a variety of traditional Christmas carols and sing-alongs such as Silent Night, The First Nowell and O Come, All Ye Faithful.
Tickets range in price from $30 to $62, and can be purchased through City Box Office online at http//www.cityboxoffice.com or by calling (415) 392-4400.
CALENDAR EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE:
San Francisco Girls Chorus Presents
A Ceremony of Carols
Monday, December 16, 2019, at 7:00 p.m. at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco
Valérie Sainte-Agathe, conductor
Clerestory
The Living Earth Show
Bridget Kibbey, harp
Robert Huw Morgan, organ
Benjamin Britten: A Ceremony of Carols
Thomas Adès: The Fayrfax Carol
Ysaÿe Maria Barnwell: Wanting Memories
Ēriks Ešenvalds: Stars
Esa-Pekka Salonen: Dona Nobis Pacem
Robert Johnson: Gaude Maria Virgo
Nicole Lizee: Family Sing-A-Long
Traditional: O Come, All Ye Faithful
Traditional: The First Nowell
Traditional: Silent Night
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 La
PRESS CONTACT
Brenden Guy, Marketing & PR Consultant
(415) 640-3165
brendenguy@gmail.com
marketing@sfgirlschorus.org