Chorus Information
University of California, Berkeley. Alumni Chorus
Mark Sumner, Director
Information last updated: 2008-06-01
Status:
Archived
Basic Information
| Description: | This is a community, recreational, special interest chorus, open only to alumni of a U.C. school, or a current U.C. graduate student, or a U.C. faculty/staff member. |
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| Web Address: | http://ucchoral.berkeley.edu/ucchoral/alumni |
| Year Estab: | 1985 |
| Mission: | To be a high-quality performance chorus representing the Cal community; to provide further musical education and singing opportunities for former members of U.C. student groups and those associated with the University; to supply the Cal student musical groups financial and advisory support. Website: The UC Alumni Chorus shall be a high quality performance chorus representing the Cal community, well-known in the Bay Area, which promotes its members' musical growth and enjoyment. - Mission statement adopted at the June, 1991, annual membership meeting |
| Emphasis: | The chorus mostly sings classical works, from Renaissance to modern, but also features music of all styles; concerts have included jazz, folk, gospel, Latin, Broadway musical, and opera pieces. |
| Size: | 70-80 |
| Concerts/Year: | 4 |
| Auditions: | Auditions are required, and are held in August, December/January, on the U.C. Berkeley campus. No prepared piece is required, but auditionees will be tested with some sight-reading, intervals, and tests of tonal memory and range, in a private audition with the director. |
| Dues: | $30 per semester |
| Dress: | Men: tuxedo; women: long black skirt, specific styles of blouse. Colors depend on the concert. |
| Rehearsals: | Monday, 7:30 p.m. to 9:45 p.m., Choral Rehearsal Hall, 51 Golden Bear Center, UC, Berkeley |
Categories
| Type of Music: | Classical Church/Sacred Contemporary Early Music Opera Operetta Musicals/Theater Popular Jazz Gospel Christmas |
Type of Chorus: | Mixed Adult Academic |
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| Rehearse City: | Berkeley | ||
| Region: | Alameda County West | ||
| Audition Req'd: | Y | ||
Chorus Contact Information
| Mailing Address: | University of California Choral Ensembles, 72 Cesar Chavez Center, Berkeley, 94720-4280 |
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| Phone: | (510) 643-9645; (510) 642-3880 |
Other Information
| Related Groups: | Occasional chamber chorus sub-groups, created for single concerts. |
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| History: | n the Spring of 1985 two former members of Treble Clef, Alma Toroian Raymond and Ronni Kordell Gravitz, united with Music Director Carol Young to organize a chorus of alumni of Cal student singing groups. They inspired like-minded others who also wanted to rekindle the musical and social associations they had enjoyed as students. Many of those original thirty members are still singing with the UCAC these many years later. A highlight of our first decade was an appearance at EXPO 88 in Brisbane as part of a concert tour of Australia and New Zealand. We also participated at several AIDS Day of Remembrance " services at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral, and have been a part of several other community outreach programs. UCAC diversified into theater with a 1994 semi-staged production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial by Jury, and in 1995 performed in a concert production of Berlioz' Beatrice and Benedict with the acclaimed Berkeley Opera Company. In recent spring concerts, we have presented staged radio shows using popular music of the 1930's and 1940's. Our Spring 2001 concert, "Raised on Radio ", based on Gerald Nachman's book, played to a sell-out crowd in Zellerbach Playhouse and a reprise to an enthusiastic audience at Rossmoor. But back to "serious " music: In July of 1997, with acting music director William Garca Ganz, we performed Brahms' German Requiem with other choirs in Lichfield Cathedral as part of the Lichfield Festivals. This was the musical highlight of a tour of England, which also included stops in London, York, and Oxford, and a master class with the King's Singers. Present Music Director Mark Sumner joined us in the Fall of 1997, and we began taking a more active role in our support of the student singing groups of the UC Choral Ensembles. The combined talents of our Director and Accompanist William Garca Ganz have improved the quality of our chorus and the breadth of our repertoire. We toured the Czech Republic and Hungary in July 2000, performing Mozart's Requiem in the ballroom of the Grand Pupp Hotel of Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad) and the Dvorak Hall of the Rudolphinium in Prague. We also sang a repertoire of songs by California composers to appreciative audiences in several Hungarian churches. Visiting former Eastern Block countries was a memorable experience. On May 20, 2002, we left Berkeley for a choral tour of the Peoples Republic of China. We performed well-received concerts based on "Music of the Americas " in Beijing, Dalian (Oakland's Sister City), Xian (of the famed terra cotta warriors) and Shanghai, and were feted in Shanghai by the Shanghai chapter of the UC Alumni Club and Haas School of Business Alumni group. A photographic diary of our tour can be found at www.sternerson.com/images/new/china. " |
| Comments: | UCAC is part of the larger University of California Choral Ensembles, which includes manystudent singing groups (Men's and Women's Chorale, Cal Golden Overtones, Men's Octet, Cal Jazz Choir, BareStage), under the guidance and direction of William Garcia Ganz. Look for us all going carolling in the city (Fisherman's Wharf, hotels, hospitals, shelters), in mid-December every year! UCAC is also available for private concerts and public gigs (parties, Christmas carolling in hotels, etc.); contact us for hiring information. UCAC has an amazing diversity, with choristers of all ages, including lawyers, PhD candidates, laboratory researchers, accountants, teachers, housewives, parents, etc., all with a common purpose of singing well and enjoying it. " |