Thursday July 21, 2005

[Re]Joining the San Francisco Symphony Chorus

After a hiatus of some years, I am thrilled to be rejoining the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. The Chorus is attached to the San Francisco Symphony, and is ably led by Vance George (to the tune of three Grammy awards!).

This professional chorus has a very demanding rehersal and performance schedule. In the upcoming season the Chorus is performing in 9 separate programs, with each program presented over 3 to 6 evenings - for a total of 34 concerts (so nearly 10% of the time we're performing!). In this upcoming season the Chorus is part of the following programs/performances:

• Carl Orff Carmina burana - November 9-12, 2005 conducted by David Robertson [listen to a sample of Carmina burana, or purchase the Grammy-winning performance by the San Francisco Symphony & Chorus]

• Handel Messiah - November 23 & 25-27, 2005 conducted by Harry Christophers [listen to a sample of the Messiah]

• Stravinsky The Nightingale and Oedipus Rex - December 8-10, 2005 conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas [listen to a sample of the Oedipus Rex]

• A Choral Christmas - December 15-18 conducted by Vance George

• Haydn The Storm & Mozart Mass in C Coronation - March 8-11, 2006 conducted by Martin Haselbock

• Shostakovich Symphony No. 13 Babi Yar as part of an All-Shostakovich event - March 30 & 31 & April 1, 2006 conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich [listen to a sample of Babi Yar]

• Ives New England Holidsays as part of a larger program - April 13-15, 2005 conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas

• Mahler Symphony No. 8 (so called "Symphony of a Thousand") - May 31 & June 1-3, 2006 conducted by conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas [listen to a sample of Mahler 8]

• Verdi Reqiuem - conducted by James Conlon [listen to a sample of the Verdi Reqiuem]

It is going to be a great season, and I'm really looking forward to being back with the Chorus. Some of the pieces have become old friends (Carmina burana, Messiah, Mahler 8, and the Verdi Reqiuem). Others will be new to me. The Russian in the Stravinsky and Shostakovich will be a particularly fun challenge (I fondly remember my in first season with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus in 1990, when we performed Alexander Nevsky by Sergi Prokofiev, conducted by Kurt Masur. He was a guest conductor visiting from the about-to-longer-be-East-Germany Stadtkapelle Orchestra & Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, where he almost single handedly convinced Erich Honecker to call off the police from stopping a pro-democracy march and thereby preventing a lot of bloodshed as the Communist East German government collapsed).

For tickets, contact the San Francisco Symphony Box Office at (415) 864-6000 Monday through Friday 10am to 6pm, and Saturday noon to 6pm. (2005-07-21 15:29:15.0) Permalink