Season Announcement 2026-2027
SAN FRANCISCO GIRLS CHORUS ANNOUNCES 49TH SEASON
The 2026–27 season brings together more than 400 singers, world premieres, an international tour to Spain, and collaborations with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, SFJAZZ, Stanford Live and San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — September 2026 — The San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC) announces its 49th season, an ambitious year of performances, premieres, music educationand artistic collaborations that will bring SFGC singers to some of the Bay Area’s leading stages and set the stage for the organization’s milestone 50th anniversary.
Led by Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe, SFGC combines rigorous music education with innovative professional performance. More than 400 girls and young women are singing with SFGC this season, following a progressive pathway of vocal and musicianship training while working directly with leading composers, conductors, instrumentalists and cultural institutions.
Under Sainte-Agathe’s artistic leadership, SFGC’s musical goals, repertoire and curriculum form a unified pathway from a singer’s earliest training through advanced professional performance. Director of Choral Studies Monica Baruch guides the implementation of this vision across SFGC’s training ensembles, working with the organization’s experienced artistic faculty.
Throughout the season, SFGC singers will collaborate with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, SFJAZZ, Stanford Live, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, appearing at Davies Symphony Hall, SFJAZZ, Bing Concert Hall, Herbst Theatre, Brava Theater, and other venues across the Bay Area.
“At SFGC, education and artistic performance are inseparable,” said Valérie Sainte-Agathe, Artistic Director. “Our singers learn from an extraordinary faculty, but they also grow through direct contact with professional artists, composers and institutions. We do not ask them to wait until later to become artists. We trust them now, as young artists with their own ideas, creative instincts and presence. By working alongside professionals and participating fully in San Francisco’s artistic community, they learn that their contribution matters.”
SEASON OPENING AND FALL PERFORMANCES
The season opens on October 24 with INCANTATIONS, conducted by Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe and featuring organist Joy-Leilani Garbutt. Moving from invocation through darkness, ritual and light, the program spans music by Hildegard von Bingen, Tarik O’Regan, Philip Glass, Lili Boulanger and others. A highlight will be a rare U.S.performance of motets by pioneering French composer and organist Joséphine Boulay, presented in a new SFGC edition prepared by Victoria Fraser.
On October 30, Premier Ensemble under the direction of Sainte-Agathe appears at Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall in Let the Poets Speak: A Celebration of Philip Glass and Allen Ginsberg, with Timo Andres and Taylor Mac, presented by Stanford Live in collaboration with Pomegranate Arts.
SFGC’s younger singers take the stage on November 14 for the Fall Level I and Level II Concerts at St. Luke’s in San Francisco. Level I Director Ariel Estebez and Level II Director Dion Nickelson will lead their ensembles in sharing the remarkable progress the singers have made in just four months of training.
December brings two major performances. On December 12, Premier Ensemble joins the Adam Shulman Trio at SFJAZZ.
On December 21, all SFGC ensembles come together at Davies Symphony Hall for the SFGC Winter Concert, a musical journey across cultures featuring renowned erhu artist Jiebing Chen and the world premiere of a new work by Haeon Lee. Repertoire from East, Southeast and South Asia meets American spirituals, European art song and holiday traditions, revealing how the erhu and the human voice can travel through many musical languages while remaining rooted in their own identities.
CHAMPIONING THE NEXT GENERATION OF COMPOSERS
SFGC will present two world premieres during the season through its participation in Luna Lab@10, a two-season celebration marking the tenth anniversary of Luna Composition Lab. Founded in 2016 by composers Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid, Luna Composition Lab is the nation’s only mentorship program dedicated to supporting young female, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming composers.
The SFGC Winter Concert will feature a world premiere by Haeon Lee, a 2024 Luna Lab composer. The May 20 SFGC Spring Concert will include a world premiere by Joanna Moutouama, a 2019 Luna Lab composer. The two commissions place SFGC among the organizations presenting more than 90 world premieres as part of the Luna Lab@10 celebration.
Through these commissions, SFGC singers do more than perform completed works. They participate in the creation of new music, working with living composers and contributing their musical insight and artistic perspective to the collaborative process.
A SEASON OF COLLABORATION
The new year begins with Vox Lumina, a world-premiere intermedia opera and installation by composer and multidisciplinary artist Theresa Wong, featuring Premier Ensemble on January 23 and 24 at Brava Theater.
On February 13, Premier Ensemble performs in Claude Debussy’s Nocturnes with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra, conducted by Edwin Outwater.
SFGC will hold its Annual Gala on March 19, 2027, at the Green Room at the San Francisco War Memorial.
One of the season’s major orchestral highlights follows on April 11, when SFGC collaborates with the San Francisco Symphony in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.
The spring continues on May 16 with a Premier Ensemble concert at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, conducted by Valérie Sainte-Agathe and featuring composers , commissioned by SFGC such as Nicholas Benavides, Gabriela Lena Frank, Chen Yi On May 20 at Herbst Theatre, the SFGC Spring Concert, conducted by Ariel Estebez, Dion Nickelson, and Monica Baruch, will bring together singers from Level I through Concert Group and feature the world premiere of a new work by Joanna Moutouama.
In June and July, SFGC singers return to the San Francisco Opera for eight performances of Puccini’s Tosca.
The season culminates internationally when Premier Ensemble travels to Spain, July 11–20, 2027, continuing SFGC’s tradition of providing singers with transformative musical and cultural experiences through international performance and exchange.
“As we enter our 49th season and look toward the San Francisco Girls Chorus’s 50th anniversary, there is a tremendous sense of momentum throughout the organization,” said Mary A. Finch, Executive Director. “This season reflects the remarkable range of the SFGC experience—from a young singer beginning her musical journey to advanced artists performing with major cultural institutions, premiering new works and representing SFGC internationally.
We want every girl and young woman who joins SFGC to experience the discipline, confidence,community and possibility that grow from making music at the highest level.”
EDUCATION THROUGH ARTISTIC EXPERIENCE
At SFGC, rigorous training and professional artistic experience are part of the same educational pathway. Guided by an accomplished faculty, singers develop vocal technique and musicianship while working with leading composers and performers, participating in premieres and interdisciplinary projects, and contributing actively to the cultural life of the Bay Area.
ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO GIRLS CHORUS
For nearly five decades, the San Francisco Girls Chorus has been a leader in music education and vocal performance, preparing girls and young women from diverse backgrounds for success on stage and in life through rigorous, empowering musical training and exceptional artistic opportunities.
Under Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe, SFGC integrates comprehensive music education with innovative professional performance. Sainte-Agathe sets the organization’s overarching musical goals, repertoire direction and curriculum vision while leading collaborations with prominent artists, composers and cultural institutions.
More than 400 girls and young women participate in SFGC programs this season. Through progressive vocal and musicianship training, new commissions, opera and orchestral performances, interdisciplinary collaborations and international touring, singers are trusted as young artists and active participants in the cultural life of the Bay Area and beyond.
