San Francisco Girls Chorus
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Since its founding in 1978, the San Francisco Girls Chorus has been a pioneer in the field of choral music for young women's voices. The non-profit organization has shown the world that a chorus of young women is capable of remarkable beauty, flexibility, tonal warmth, and expressive power. The Chorus is a regional center for music education and performance for girls and young women, ages 7-18. More than 300 singers from 160 schools in 48 Bay Area cities and towns participate in this internationally recognized program, deemed "a model in the country for training girls' voices" by the California Arts Council.
SFGC was founded by Elizabeth Appling, who served as the organization's Artistic Director until her retirement in 1992. She was succeeded by Sharon J. Paul, who led the chorus until just after its 21st Anniversary in 2000. The chorus underwent an interim year under the leadership of Magen Solomon, after which the helm was passed on to the current artistic director, Susan McMane.
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[edit] The Chorus School
The Chorus School of SFGC comprises four training stages that are specifically designed to increase technical skills, stamina and discipline in accordance with the chorister's age and physical development. The Chorus School has been supervised since its inception by Elizabeth Avakian, who also directs Level IV.
- Level I provides the foundation for the singers' training in the Chorus School. Singers learn the basics of music theory and how to sing together as a group.
- Level II requires singers delve into slightly more challenging theory and music. Girls may begin to learn basic choreography to accompany some of their pieces. This chorus generally sings two-part music, occasionally three.
- Level III singers continue to learn music and theory at an increased difficulty. The concept of adjusting the voice for blending with the voices around it becomes more prominent. This chorus generally sings three-part music, occasionally four.
- Level IV In the final level of the Chorus School, singers continue their study of theory and generally sing in four parts, sometimes more. Level IV has a strenuous Christmas performance season and then go on to sing many more concerts than the previous three levels throughout the rest of the school year. Singers may also be selected from Level IV to appear in performances with the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Symphony.
The Level IV Ensemble is a smaller, select group of girls within Level IV. Girls who wish to join must audition during the chorus' Summer Music camp. The Ensemble has occasional extra practices, and more before their performances. Most of their performances are around Christmas and in the Spring. They memorize a few more songs, and sometimes extra verses to songs the rest of the chorus learns.
At the end of the season, Level IV choristers must pass a theory-based qualifying exam before being considered for graduation from the Chorus School. Once graduated, choristers may either choose to audition for Chorissima, return to level IV, or leave the Chorus.
More detail about the curriculum can be found here: SFGC: Curriculum
[edit] Chorissima and Virtuose
[edit] Chorissima
Chorissima, generally directed by current Artistic Director, is the San Francisco Girls Chorus' acclaimed concert and touring ensemble. Typically numbering from around forty to forty-five singers, these dedicated young artists present season concerts, tour nationally and internationally, cultivate a solo discography, and appear with other sponsoring organizations, including the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Symphony. Over the decades, Chorissima has travelled on tours to Germany, England, Italy, Japan, the Baltics, China, and other countries. Once members of Chorissima turn finish their sophomore year in high school, they laureate. Laureation is the process of becoming an alum of the chorus. One must be an alum to be in Virtuose.
Chorissima choristers once wondered at one point where the name "Chorissima" came from, as the name does not actually exist in Italian or any other related Romance language. When they inquired, the chorus's accompanist told a humorous anecdote of the name's origins: a director colleague who frequently asked his singers to sing "with charisma", only his accent made the word sound more like "chorisma" (<khor-eez-ma>). When searching for a name for the chorus, they decided on the feminine version of the mispronounced word, as the chorus was made up of entirely female singers after all.
[edit] Virtuose
Virtuose is a smaller, a capella ensemble made up of about fifteen to twenty singers. Participants must be Chorissima laureates to audition and are often made up of those choristers who enjoyed their work in Chorissima, but cannot keep to larger group's almost zealous time commitment. In addition to touring and performing on Chorissima's season concerts, Virtuose attends private bookings ranging from corporate and community events to outreach concerts.
[edit] Summer Music Camp
Chorus camp is for levels II, III, IV and Chorissima. Level II attendance is not mandatory. The Girls at Chorus camp have fun activities such as Counselor hunt, big sister/little sister night and the Square Dance. The camp has an art room and a 12-foot-deep pool. The girls have free time and the camp is vegetarian. The directors make sure you have a good time and learn as much music as possible. The counselors keep you from getting homesick as well!
[edit] Discography
- Voices of Hope and Peace (2006)
- I Never Saw Another Butterfly; Songs of the Twentieth Century (1996)
- A San Francisco Christmas (1996)
- Music from the Venetian Ospedali (1998)
- Crossroads (2000)
- Christmas (2003)
[edit] Awards and Honors
- First youth chorus to win the Margaret Hillis Achievement Award for Choral Excellence presented by Chorus America (2002).
- Winner of 2 ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music which recognized the Chorus' 20th and 25th Anniversary programming (2000 and 2004), featuring commissions by composers Lisa Bielawa, Jake Heggie, Chen Yi, Linda Tutas Haugen, Alice Parker and Libby Larsen.
- Wayne Brown, Director of Music, National Endowment for the Arts, presented the Chorus with a Chorus America Award recognizing the Girls Chorus' artistic excellence for its performance on San Francisco Symphony's Grammy Award-winning recording, Stravinsky (2000).
- Three Grammy Awards, received for collaborations with the San Francisco Symphony on: Orff: Carmina Burana (1992), Stravinsky: The Firebird, The Rite of Spring, Persephone (1999), and Mahler: Symphony No. 3 and Kindertotenlieder (2004).
- Awarded Selected Performer at the 7th World Symposium on Choral Music, Kyoto, Japan (August 2005).
