San Francisco Girls Chorus Announces 2021-2022 Season
Performance Highlights Include Circlesongs Featuring 2021-2022 SFGC Artist-in-Residence Bobby McFerrin; World Premiere Commissioned Choral-Opera Tomorrow’s Memories: A Little Manila Diary by Matthew Welch; World Premiere Commission In Stillness I Sing by Theresa Wong Featuring Pianist Sarah Cahill; Virtual Presentation of Annual Holiday Concert Filmed at Davies Symphony Hall and Mission Dolores Basilica; Video Release of SFGC commission The Line Between; and Numerous Other Guest Artists Including Sean San José, Florante Aguilar, Patti Kilroy, Levy Lorenzo, Edwin Huizinga, Shawnette Sulker, and Dashon Burton
Season Also Includes Album Release of Music for Hard Times with The Living Earth Show and San Francisco Conservatory of Music; KALW Radio Broadcasts of Theresa Wong’s In Stillness I Sing; Special Appearance on Santa Fe Opera Podcast; and Collaborations with Opera Paralléle, Bayview Opera House, and Magic Theatre
San Francisco, CA – September 29, 2021 – The San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC) and Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe today announced a 2021-2022 season that includes two in-person performances, two virtual presentations and numerous collaborations with leading arts organizations and special guest artists throughout the Bay Area and beyond.
Two SFGC commissioned works will receive world premieres this season: Matthew Welch’s four act choral-opera Tomorrow’s Memories: A Little Manila Diary, based on the diary of Filipina-American author Angeles Monrayo that features stage director Sean San José, guitarist Florante Aguilar, violinist Patti Kilroy and percussionist Levy Lorenzo; and Theresa Wong’s In Stillness I Sing, a special collaboration with pianist Sarah Cahill that will also be featured in three KALW radio broadcasts. In collaboration with 2021-2022 Artist-in-Residence Bobby McFerrin, SFGC will present a live performance of excerpts from McFerrin’s 1997 improvisational studio album Circlesongs alongside his arrangement of The 23rd Psalm. Two virtual presentations will also be offered including SFGC’s popular annual holiday tradition featuring hundreds of choristers from across all levels of the Chorus School and Premier Ensemble, and a re-release of SFGC commission The Line Between featuring additional content from guest artists Roomful of Teeth, Cava Menzies, and Dashon Burton.
In addition to its own self-produced productions, SFGC will appear in collaborations with The Living Earth Show and San Francisco Conservatory of Music (album release of Danny Clay’s Music for Hard Times); Santa Fe Opera (The Pigeon Keeper, Scene 1: Blue is Forever by David Hanlon, performed as part of Santa Fe’s Key Change podcast); Opera Parallèle (Marcus Shelby’s Harriet’s Spirit and Lembit Beecher’s Sophia’s Forest); San Francisco Conservatory of Music (Englebert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and 2021 Hoefer Prize Concert with composer Peter Hilliard); and a Juneteenth collaboration with the Bayview Opera House (Kamala's Hope by composer Candace Forest featuring soprano Shawnette Sulker).
Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe says: “Despite the challenges of the past year, SFGC has flourished and found opportunities to expand its horizons and think outside of the box in creative ways while also continuing to bring high quality musical to audiences across the Bay Area and beyond. This stability through turbulent times has provided a platform for our choristers to thrive in their ongoing musical journeys and to express themselves in different ways. With this valuable experience, we now return to the stage stronger and more resilient than ever. We are excited to collaborate with a variety of high-profile guest artists this season, including Artist-in-Residence Bobby McFerrin, through virtual presentations, in-person performances, radio broadcasts, podcasts and more.”
The season opens on Saturday, October 16, 2021 with the virtual release of The Line Between, an SFGC commissioned work by Oakland based multidisciplinary artist and SFGC alum Cava Menzies. This commission was part of a collaboration with SFGC’s Spring 2021 Virtual Artists-in-Residence Roomful of Teeth, a GRAMMY Award-winning contemporary vocal ensemble. The residency included three workshops presented with Cava Menzies that culminated in the world premiere of The Line Between as part of SFGC’s three sold-out performances at the Fort Mason FLIX drive-in theater in June 2021. The work explores the search for identity and the fragility that exists at the intersection of cultures and is inspired by stories provided by SFGC choristers about their own intersectionality and the places that they have also straddled multiple worlds. This virtual stream will also include additional video content compiled by bass baritone Dashon Burton, also a member of Roomful of Teeth, as well as interviews with Valérie Sainte-Agathe, Roomful of Teeth alto Virginia Warnken Kelsey, and composer Cava Menzies. This streamed event will be offered to the public free of charge on SFGC’s YouTube channel.
Continuing its popular annual celebration of the festive season, SFGC will take its holiday concert online Sunday, December 19, 2021 for a virtual presentation of early music choral works featuring hundreds of choristers from all six levels of the Chorus School, the Premier Ensemble and SFGC alums. A staple in the holiday calendar at Davies Symphony Hall, portions of SFGC’s holiday concert will this season be filmed on location at Davies as well as Mission Dolores Basilica. SFGC welcomes violinist Edwin Huizinga as guest artist for this program. Huizinga has performed all over North America, Europe and Asia with the world-renowned baroque orchestra Taffelmusik, Opera Atelier, Wallfisch Band and Theater of Early Music as well as appearing as guest concertmaster with the New Dutch Academy and Kansas City Baroque Orchestra. Repertoire for this program will include works by George Frideric Handel, Jean-Baptiste Lully, William Byrd, Orlando di Lasso, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Gaspar Fernandez, Juan de Lienas, and John Dowland.
The season continues on in March 2022 (Date TBD) with a special guest appearance by SFGC’s 2021-2022 Artist-in-Residence, American folk-jazz vocalist Bobby McFerrin. Presented at the Bayview Opera House in San Francisco, the centerpiece of the program will be a performance of excerpts from McFerrin’s 1997 Sony Classical album Circlesongs. The music featured on the album is performed using an improvisational technique called “circle singing” that McFerrin created in the late 1980s that combines various groups of differing improvised musical parts that evolve through the direction of one lead singer. The program will also feature the world premiere of In Stillness I Sing, an SFGC commission by Theresa Wong featuring collaborator and pianist Sarah Cahill. Set to words written by Premier Ensemble members about their experiences during the pandemic, In Stillness I Sing was excerpted on Sarah Cahill’s KALW radio show “Revolutions Per Minute” in June 2021 and will receive three more broadcasts throughout this season featuring further excerpts as well as interviews from the artists and several Premier Ensemble members. Completing the program is McFerrin’s much loved The 23rd Psalm, an interpretation from the Biblical passage arranged for chorus and dedicated to his mother, and two previous SFGC commissions including Timas tropicales by 2021 Pulitzer Prize winner Tania León and Penpal by 2019-2020 Rome Prize winner Pamela Z.
Concluding the season on June 22-25, 2022 is the world premiere of Tomorrow’s Memories: A Little Manila Diary, a new SFGC-commissioned choral-opera from American composer Matthew Welch to be performed at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre. A collaborative project two years in the making, this semi-staged work 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. Speaking about the work, Matthew Welch says, “This piece really challenges certain notions as to what “opera” is, in that the chorus is the main feature of the work and has such an extended role far beyond the conventional one of providing commentary and interpretation on the solo roles and parts. It is also only one of a few operas for children. Being able to fundamentally shift the basic building blocks of opera, yet maintain focus on storytelling and drawing inspiration from the original diary by Angeles Monrayo upon which the opera is based.” Featured guest artists for this program include stage director Sean San José, guitarist Florante Aguilar, violinist Patti Kilroy and percussionist Levy Lorenzo.
In response to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, SFGC will present a hybrid season that provides audiences with the opportunity to experience virtual and in-person performances. SFGC prioritizes the safety of its choristers, staff and audiences and will adhere to all health and safety protocols mandated by both performance venues and local health officials. Specific details for its spring 2022 in-person performance will be announced closer to the scheduled dates. SFGC will continue to monitor guidelines of local health departments and provide updates to its plans and policies online at http://www.sfgirlschorus.org.
The Line Between will be streamed online for free and is open to the public with suggested donation of $25 to offset the cost of production and guest artist appearances. Tickets to the virtual presentation of [holiday concert] will go on sale November 1, 2021 while tickets to the in-person, live performances of Bobby McFerrin's Circlesongs and Tomorrow’s Memories will both go on sale in January 2022. Further details will be announced at a later date.
The 2021-2022 season is made possible, in part, by support from San Francisco Grants for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Kimball Foundation, Creative Work Fund, MAP Fund, Bernard Osher Foundation, Outside Lands Works, Sam Mazza Foundation, and Sequoia Trust.
CALENDARS EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE:
SAN FRANCISCO GIRLS CHORUS 2021-2022 SEASON
San Francisco Girls Chorus Presents
The Line Between
Saturday, October 16, 2021, 1:00 p.m.
San Francisco Girls Chorus YouTube Channel
Free event with suggested donation
San Francisco Girls Chorus
Valérie Sainte-Agathe, Artistic Director
Roomful of Teeth
Cava Menzies, composer
Randall Squires, audio engineer
Dashon Burton, video design and production
Cava Menzies: The Line Between (SFGC commission)
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San Francisco Girls Chorus Presents
[Annual Holiday Concert]
Sunday, December 19, 2021 at 4:00 p.m.
Free event with suggested donation
San Francisco Girls Chorus
Valérie Sainte-Agathe, Artistic Director & Conductor
Edwin Huizinga, violin
George Frideric Handel: For Unto Us a Child is Born from Messiah
Jean-Baptiste Lully: Au clair de lune
Gaspar Fernandez: Xicochi Conetzintle
William Byrd: Non Nobis Domine
Orlando di Lasso: In Pace in Idipsum / Sicut Rosa Inter Spinas
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Adoramus Te, Christe
John Dowland: Behold a Wonder
Juan de Lienas: Te lucis ante terminum
Isaac Watts: Joy to the World
Franz Gruber: Silent Night
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San Francisco Girls Chorus Presents
Bobby McFerrin’s Circlesongs
Saturday, March 2022 (Date TBD)
Bayview Opera House, San Francisco
San Francisco Girls Chorus
Valérie Sainte-Agathe, Artistic Director & Conductor
Bobby McFerrin, vocalist and SFGC Artist-in-Residence
Theresa Wong, composer
Sarah Cahill, piano
Bobby McFerrin: Excerpts from Circlesongs
Bobby McFerrin: The 23rd Psalm (arrangement)
Theresa Wong: In Stillness I Sing (world premiere SFGC commission)
Pamela Z: Penpal (SFGC commission)
Tania León: Timas tropicales (SFGC commission)
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San Francisco Girls Chorus Presents
Tomorrow’s Memories
June 22-25, 2022
Magic Theatre, San Francisco
San Francisco Girls Chorus
Valérie Sainte-Agathe, Artistic Director & Conductor
Sean San José, stage director
Florante Aguilar, guitar
Patti Kilroy, violin
Levy Lorenzo, percussion
Matthew Welch: Tomorrow’s Memories: A Little Manila Diary (world premiere SFGC commission)
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ADDITIONAL APPEARANCES
Theresa Wong’s In Stillness I Sing Radio Broadcast Part 2
October/November 2021 (TBD)
KALW Radio “Revolutions Per Minute”
David Hanlon’s The Pigeon Keeper
[Date TBD]
Santa Fe Opera “Key Change” Podcast
Marcus Shelby’s Harriet’s Spirit with Opera Parallèle
Saturday, November 13 and Sunday, November 14, 2021
Bayview Opera House
Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel with San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Thursday, November 18 and Friday, November 19, 2021
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Theresa Wong’s In Stillness I Sing Radio Broadcast Part 3
November 2021 (TBD)
KALW Radio “Revolutions Per Minute”
2021 Hoefer Prize with Peter Hilliard and San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Friday, December 3, 2021
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Theresa Wong’s In Stillness I Sing Radio Broadcast Part 4
December 2021 (TBD)
KALW Radio “Revolutions Per Minute”
Lembit Beecher’s Sophia’s Forest with Opera Parallele
February 25-27, 2022
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
Kamala's Hope by Candace Forest with the Bayview Opera House
June 2022 (TBD)
Bayview Opera House, San Francisco
ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO GIRLS CHORUS
Stunning range, flexibility, drama, and power are among the hallmarks of the 43-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.
Over the last year, SFGC has embraced the challenges of distance learning by presenting eight virtual performances, premiering seven new works as well as five commissions, and collaborating with renowned guest artists and ensembles from across the Bay Area, United States and beyond, including Virtual Artists-in-Residence The King’s Singers (Fall 2020), Roomful of Teeth (Spring 2021), and TENET Vocal Artists, among many others. Through its innovative Online Learning Program, SFGC has utilized technology to keep its hundreds of choristers engaged and advancing in their musical activities and performing live together from their own homes. Most recently, SFGC presented three sold-out presentations of The Line Between, a special video production at the Fort Mason FLIX drive-in theater that included world premiere commissions by Cava Menzies, featuring Roomful of Teeth as part of its virtual residency, and Chorus School Composer-in-Residence Susie Ibarra (2020-2021).
This season, SFGC welcomes American folk-jazz singer Bobby McFerrin as Artist-in-Residence and will present a live performance of excerpts from his 1997 improvisational studio album Circlesongs; two SFGC commissioned works including the world premieres of Matthew Welch’s four act choral-opera Tomorrow’s Memories: A Little Manila Diary and Theresa Wong’s In Stillness I Sing, a special collaboration with pianist Sarah Cahill that will also be featured in three KALW radio broadcasts; performances of two previous SFGC commissions by 2021 Pulitzer Prize winner Tania León and 2019-2020 Rome Prize winner Pamela Z; and numerous collaborations with artists, ensembles and organizations from across the Bay Area and beyond.
Additional highlights from the 2020-2021 season include the release of a video collaboration with The King’s Singers as part of its virtual residency featuring an arrangement Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah; the world premiere of Music for Hard Times by former Chorus School Composer-in-Residence Danny Clay (2018-2029) in collaboration with The Living Earth Show and San Francisco Conservatory of Music; the world premiere of Music of the Birds by Sahba Aminikia, a co-commission with Kronos Quartet, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and Turkey’s Sirkane Social Circus School; and a unique video project with Ars Minerva that combined excerpts from Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans alongside arias by women composers of the Baroque era.
In recent seasons, SFGC embarked on a July 2019 debut 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
Cava Menzies / Cava Menzies
San Francisco Girls Chorus Holiday Concert 2019 / Carlin Ma
Bobby McFerrin / Carol Friedman
Matthew Welch / Matthew Welch
PRESS CONTACT
Brenden Guy, Marketing & PR Consultant
(415) 640-3165
brendenguy@gmail.com
marketing@sfgirlschorus.org