San Francisco Girls Chorus Announces 2020 Fall Season
SAN FRANCISCO GIRLS CHORUS ANNOUNCES 2020 FALL SEASON
Virtual Performance Highlights Include Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans in Collaboration with Ars Minerva; World Premiere SFGC Commission by Angélica Negrón; Special Preview of SFGC-Commissioned Opera by Matthew Welch; TED Conference Rebroadcast of Excerpts from DJ Spooky’s Quantopia: The Evolution of the Internet; and Numerous Guest Artist Appearances.
Online Education Initiatives Include Workshops with Virtual Artists in Residence for 2020 The King’s Singers; Masterclasses with Sopranos Michele Kennedy and Rhoslyn Jones; and Expanded Specialized Electives.
San Francisco, CA – September 29, 2020 – The San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC) today announced its fall 2020 offerings including three innovative virtual performances as well as masterclasses and workshops with numerous high-profile guest artists throughout the Bay Area and beyond. SFGC Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe and Ars Minerva Artistic Director Celine Ricci will present a unique music-videography collaboration that highlights excerpts from Antonio Vivaldi’s oratorio Juditha Triumphans alongside a selection of curated arias from the baroque era. Replacing its popular annual tradition at Davies Hall, SFGC will present an evening of rarely-heard vocal works from the Caribbean and other islands, including the world premiere commission of Cosecha by Puerto Rican composer Angélica Negrón and excerpts from Matthew Welch’s Tomorrow’s Memories: A Little Manila Diary, a new SFGC commissioned opera, based on the diary writings of Filipina immigrant Angeles Monrayo. In collaboration with the TED Conference, a special rebroadcast of SFGC’s January 2019 collaboration with DJ Spooky, Quantopia: The Evolution of the Internet, will also be featured. Guest artists joining SFGC for these performances include harpsichordist Corey Jamason, ukulele player Florante Aguilar, organist Robert Huw Morgan, choreographer Fides Enriquez, stage director Sean San José, One to One Box videographer Mike Axinn, video production editor Joan Osato, and New Art Media video production.
Building upon SFGC’s commitment to a curriculum that emphasizes discipline, technique, and artistry during this virtual season, SFGC is expanding its offerings through an array of masterclasses, workshops and elective classes that are designed to explore skills such as vocal anatomy, composition and improvisation, as well as shine a light on facets of the choral arts industry including business, leadership, technology and more. UK based vocal ensemble The King’s Singers will serve as Virtual Artists in Residence for 2020 offering three workshops that explore various aspects of being an artist in today’s world. Additionally, four masterclasses will be given by SFGC alumna soprano Michele Kennedy, SF Conservatory of Music faculty member soprano Rhoslyn Jones, soprano Hope Briggs, and members of early music ensemble TENET.
“Our entire season is built around providing opportunities for every single one of our choristers,” said Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe. “By focusing on the individual aspects of our singers, exposing them to new challenges, and providing them with a complete musical education, we show the greater community that our choristers can thrive and return to the stage next season even stronger. We look forward to collaborating with a variety of high-profile guest artists through our virtual masterclasses, workshops and residencies as well as the many artistic collaborations that we are excited to share online."
The fall season opens on Thursday, October 22 with a re-broadcast of excerpts from the hit production Quantopia: The Evolution of the Internet by composer and multimedia artist DJ Spooky. Premiered in January 2019 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Quantopia featured SFGC alongside DJ Spooky in a musical portrait of network evolution with data visualization and interactive video design directed by Greg Niemayer. This broadcast will be presented in collaboration with the TED Conference with the start time to be announced at a later date.
The fall season continues on Friday, November 20 at 7:00 p.m. with a unique video collaboration between SFGC and Ars Minerva. Excerpts from Vivaldi’s only surviving oratorio Juditha Triumphans will be featured alongside a selection of baroque arias by Barbara Strozzi and Isabella Leonarda that highlight young women, performed by members of SFGC’s Soloist Intensive program. Rather than a virtual approximation of a more traditionally staged performance, this project will use only carefully-curated selections from Juditha Triumphans that can be adapted into a special video project edited by videographer Mike Axinn of One to One Box. Incorporated video clips and artwork will also highlight SFGC choristers as they discover and learn about their roles and how dramatic movement is pivotal at different moments in the story. GRAMMY-nominated harpsichordist and SFCM Chair of Historical Performance Corey Jamason will feature as guest artist for this project. Described by the L.A Times as displaying “the careful, due balance of objective detachment and lofty passion,” Jamason appears with numerous Bay Area ensembles including American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque, and the San Francisco Opera, among many others.
Replacing its popular annual holiday tradition at Davies Symphony Hall, SFGC will present a varied offering of music from the Caribbean and other islands as well as traditional holiday favorites on Sunday, December 20 at 3:00 p.m. The program will highlight a new commission entitled Cosecha by Puerto Rican composer Angélica Negrón. Written as part of her 2019-2020 residency with the Chorus School, Cosecha is a work inspired by the botanic illustrations of fellow Puerto Rican artist and educator Rosaura Rodríguez which showcase plants, fruits, vegetables and herbs native to the island. Angélica Negrón says, “This piece is a celebration of Puerto Rico’s gorgeous and delicious natural resources as well as a celebration of the young people that are advocating for the island’s agricultural sovereignty and building resilience through sustainability.” A special preview of another SFGC commission, choral-opera Tomorrow’s Memories: A Little Manila Diary by American composer Matthew Welch, will also be highlighted on the program. Scheduled for its official world premiere in the 2021-2022 season, Tomorrow’s Memories is based on the 1924-1928 diary writings of Filipina immigrant Angeles Monrayo and highlights the importance of the Filipino diaspora’s cultural impact throughout the United States, particularly in the Bay Area.
Following the culmination of its fall season, SFGC will announce a vibrant spring season that will include workshops by Roomful of Teeth as Virtual Artists in Residence that will focus on the development of an SFGC commission by SFGC alumna and Oakland-based artist Cava Menzies; Susie Ibarra, Filipina-American composer, as composer-in-residence; and collaborations with Bay Area pianist Sarah Cahill and composer Theresa Wong, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Santa Fe Opera. Full details will be announced at a later date.
The 2020-2021 season is made possible, in part, by support from San Francisco Grants for the Arts, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and other institutional, corporate, and individual funders.
CALENDAR EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE:
TED Conference Presents
Quantopia: The Evolution of the Internet
Thursday, October 22, Start Time TBD.
TED Conference Website
Free Event
DJ Spooky: Quantopia: The Evolution of the Internet
San Francisco Girls Chorus
Valérie Sainte-Agathe, Conductor
Greg Niemeyer, Visual Designer
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San Francisco Girls Chorus and Ars Minerva Present
Excerpts from Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans
Friday, November 20, 7:00 p.m.
San Francisco Girls Chorus YouTube Channel
Free event with suggested donation.
Antonin Vivaldi: Juditha Triumphans
Barbara Strozzi: Cosi non la voglio
Barbara Strozzi: Mercé di voi
Isabella Leonarda: O dilecto O amatissime Jesu
Valérie Sainte-Agathe, SFGC Artistic Director
Celine Ricci, Ars Minerva Artistic Director
Corey Jamason, harpsichord
Mike Axinn, videographer
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San Francisco Girls Chorus Presents
Island Holiday
Sunday, December 20, 2020, 3:00 p.m.
San Francisco Girls Chorus YouTube Channel
Free event with suggested donation.
Angélica Negrón: Cosecha (World Premiere SFGC Commission)
Matthew Welch: Scene 4 from Tomorrow’s Memories: A Little Manila Diary
Also featuring a selection of holiday favorites.
Valérie Sainte-Agathe, Artistic Director
Robert Huw Morgan, organ
Florante Aguilar, ukulele
Sean San José, stage director
Joan Osato, video production
New Art Media, video production
About San Francisco Girls Chorus
Stunning range, flexibility, drama, and power are among the hallmarks of the 42-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.
Highlights from the 2019-2020 season include a fully-staged choral music and dance co-production with Berkeley Ballet Theater featuring two world premieres by Angélica Negrón and Aviya Kopelman, commissioned and co-commissioned with the Israel Institute, respectively; a debut appearance at San Francisco’s renowned Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in collaboration with Kronos Quartet; and the ensemble’s first-ever Virtual Festival featuring three unique live-streamed performances. Additional highlights from recent seasons include a July 2019 tour of England and France that featured six performances in London, Windsor, Cambridge, and Paris; debut performances in February 2018 at Carnegie Hall alongside Philip Glass and the Philip Glass Ensemble; and 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 September 2019, SFGC released its most recent album, My Outstretched Hand, on Supertrain Records featuring The Knights and Trinity Youth Chorus. The album includes world premiere recordings of choral-orchestral works by three American composers, Lisa Bielawa, Aaron Jay Kernis and If I Were Not Me by Colin Jacobsen. Further demonstrating its commitment to the music of today, SFGC’s February 2018 album release, Final Answer, includes works by nine living composers, among them Philip Glass, Aleksandra Vrebalov, Lisa Bielawa, John Zorn, and Gabriel Kahane. The Premier Ensemble has been a 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 six-level Chorus School, hailed as “a model in the country for training girls’ voices” by the California Arts Council. Launched in March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, SFGC created an innovative Online Learning Program that utilizes technology to bring choral music education to the homes of choristers across the Bay Area.
For more information, visit http://www.sfgirlschorus.org.
PHOTO CREDITS
San Francisco Girls Chorus / Carlin Ma
DJ Spooky / DJ Spooky
San Francisco Girls Chorus / Carlin Ma
Angélica Negrón / Angélica Negrón
PRESS CONTACT
Brenden Guy, Marketing & PR Consultant
(415) 640-3165
brendenguy@gmail.com
marketing@sfgirlschorus.org