Chorus Information

 

San Francisco Lyric Chorus

Robert Train Adams, Music Director

Information last updated: 2011-10-15
Status: Archived

Basic Information

Description: This is volunteer, auditioned chorus, open to the general public.
Web Address: http://www.sflc.org
Year Estab: 1995
Mission: Formed in 1995, the San Francisco Lyric Chorus is an auditioned volunteer chorus that performs a repertoire representing all periods of choral music, with a special interest in presenting little known, rarely performed works of exceptional merit.


Emphasis: Choral music of all periods.
Size: 40
Concerts/Year: 3
Skills Required : Ability to blend and sing in tune; some sight reading skill expected.
Auditions: Auditions include demonstrations of the above and are scheduled by appointment with Music Director Robert Adams. Call (415) 721-4077 or e-mail radams@sflc.org for further information.
Dues: $100 per trimester; $300 per year.
Dress: MEN: black, long sleeve, dress shirt; black pants; black socks and shoes.

WOMEN: black, long sleeve blouses (NO sheer or low cut blouses or short sleeves); floor length black skirt, or dressy black slacks; black socks or hose; black, closed toe shoes. Dressy is the watchword!

NO watches, necklaces, brooches or other obvious ornamentation.
Rehearsals: Monday, 7:15 p.m. to 9:45 p.m., St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Heritage Hall 1111 O'Farrell Street (between Gough and Franklin), San Francisco.

Categories

Type of Music: Classical
Church/Sacred
Contemporary
Early Music
World Music
Sacred Harp
Christmas
Type of Chorus: Mixed Adult
Rehearse City: San Francisco
Region: San Francisco
Audition Req'd: Y

Chorus Contact Information

Mailing Address: 700 Rolph Street, San Francisco, 94112
Phone: (415) 721-4077
Email: info@sflc.org

Additional Contacts

Contact 2: Helene Whitson, President
510-849-4689 hwhitson@choralarchive.org
Contact 3: Robert Train Adams, Music Director
415-721-4077 radams@sflc.org

Other Information

Discography:

Concert recordings available for every concert, produced for limited sale, mostly to chorus members.  Contact Bill Whitson, bwhitson@sflc.org, if you would like a copy of any particular concert recording.

Bibliography:

Dimmock, Jonathan, Choral review: A loving chorus, a transport, " San Francisco Classical Voice, August 22, 1999.

Zane, Maitland, "11-year-old debuts with Lyric Chorus, " San Francisco Chronicle, August 25, 2000, San Francisco Section, pp. 1-2.

Klaser, Rajna, "Worthy praise," San Francisco Classical Voice, November 26, 2002.

Hampton, Jonathan,"SF Lyric Chorus does well, though lacking lyrics; concert review,"  Bay Choral Music eZine,September 2006.

Zwiebach, Michael, "A Spirited Reading," San Francisco Classical Voice, August 29, 2006.

Thomson, Michelle Dulak, "Joyful Voices Raised," San Francisco Classical Voice, August 27, 2007.

Serinus, Jason Victor, "Reaching for the Godhead," San Francisco Classical Voice,  August 26, 2008.

Peterson, Gary, "Review:  San Francisco Lyric Chorus," Minnesota Mist, August 25, 2008.

Smoliar, Stephen, "That's Amore!", SF Classical Music Examiner, August 24, 2009.  http://www.examiner.com/x-5030-SF-Classical-Music-Examiner~y2009m8d24-Thats-amore

Serena, "San Francisco Lyric Chorus", Good Ideas/San Francisco Bay Area/Travel, May 3, 2011, http://www.grassroutestravel.com/san-francisco-lyric-chorus

History:

Our début performance of French romantic choral music on October 8, 1995--Louis Vierne’s wonderful Solemn Mass, Gabriel Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine  and his serene Requiem.  It was a great success, with enthusiastic audience support!

In August, 1995, members of the San Francisco Lyric Chorus joined members of the Trinity Cathedral (Episcopal), San Jose, in performing the premiere of Brad Osness’ Lamentations, in an ecumenical service of remembrance for the victims of Hiroshima.

In December, 1995, we joined the San Francisco Choral Society in a spectacular Festival of Carols, conducted by our Music Director, Robert Gurney, and accompanied by brass and organ.  First Unitarian Church in San Francisco rang  with the sounds of Michael Praetorius’ In Dulci Jubilo  and Psallite,  Gabrieli’s O Magnum Mysterium  for double chorus, John Rutter’s What Sweeter Music, Franz Biebl’s Ave Maria, an Australian Christmas carol entitled The Three Drovers, a Shaker carol entitled O Shepherds, Aren’t You Happy?, finishing  with Craig Courtney’s Musicological Journey Through The Twelve Days Of Christmas.  The audience joined us in singing along with familiar carols.  Portions of the concert were televised on a local cable station.

At Easter, 1996, members of the San Francisco Lyric Chorus joined the Trinity  Episcopal Church Choir in a performance of Wayne Love’s Choral Introit for Easter  and William Harris’  masterpiece Faire Is The Heaven.   Our Spring, 1996 concert, Songs of Love and Spring, featured a wide variety of choral music:  Johannes Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes, three settings of The Song of Solomon:  Healey Willan’s Rise Up, My Love, Patrick Hadley’s My Beloved Spake, and William Billings’ I Am The Rose of Sharon, as well as Maurice Duruflé’s Ubi Caritas, P.  D. Q. Bach’s Liebeslieder Polkas, Aaron Copland’s The Promise of Living  (from The Tender Land), Leonard Bernstein’s Make Our Garden Grow  (from Candide), madrigals, and other pieces.  On May 19, 1996, members of the San Francisco Lyric Chorus joined with members of the Trinity  Cathedral (Episcopal), San Jose, in a Choral Evensong, featuring the premiere of Brad Osness’  Magnificat  and Nunc Dimittis, as well as a performance of Franz Schubert’s German Mass.  August 1996 brought a performance of Sacred Music of the 20th Century, centering on the Duruflé Requiem, Herbert Howells’ Te Deum  and Magnificat Collegium Regale, Charles Villiers Stanford’s Beati Quorum Via, and Herbert Górecki’s Totus Tuus

In December, 1996,  the San Francisco Lyric Chorus presented A Winter Concert, which featured the Poulenc Gloria, and included performances of Ave Marias by Josquin des Pres, Tómas Luis de Victoria, and Igor Stravinsky, the Magnificat  by Arvo Pärt, as well as the West Coast premiere of Ohio composer Robert Witt’s Four Motets To the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The Victoria, an 8-part motet, and the Witt inaugurated The San Francisco Lyric Chorus Discovery Series  which encompasses compositions or composers who are not well known, but are exceptional and ofspecial interest.

April 1997 brought a performance of The Music of Amy Beach (Mrs. H.H.A.), featuring her Grand Mass in E Flat Major, as well as the Panama Hymn, a work  which she wrote for the opening of the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, and Let This Mind Be In You, a choral anthem.  In Summer 1997, the San Francisco Lyric Chorus performed Mozart’s Requiem  and Ave Verum Corpus, as well as Schubert’s Mass in G.   The Winter Concert 1997 featured the compositions of San Francisco composer Kirke Mechem--Seven Joys of Christmas, Gloria from Three Motets, and the San Francisco premiere of Christmas, the Morn--as well as Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols.

In a program entitled Music Of Our Time, the San Francisco Lyric Chorus performed Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms for its Spring 1998 concert, as well as multiculural music from around the globe, including an Inuit song, the Shona Mass by Lee Kesselman, Stephen Hatfield’s Missa Brevis, the gospel song The Storm Is Passing Over, the spiritual Keep Your Lamps, and the folk song Shenandoah.  In Summer 1998, the San Francisco Lyric Chorus performed Brahms’ Requiem.  Fall, 1998  brought a concert entitled The English Sound, including Thomas Tallis’ Missa Puer Natus Est Nobis, Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols and The Blessed Son of God, Robert Parsons’ Ave Maria, Orlando Gibbons’ Hosanna to the Son of David, and Paul Manz’ E’en So Lord Jesus, Quickly Come.  At the end of December, the chorus also sang with Robert Gurney as he played the magnificent Skinner organ at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor.  Included on the program were a version of Von Himmel Hoch, with variations by Pachelbel, two pieces from the Fall concert, John Fenstermaker’s arrangement of What Child Is This, music for Channukah, several popular Christmas songs, and a rousing rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah.  

Musical Poetry:  20th Century British and American choral settings was the theme of Spring 1999’s concert, and featured Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, San Francisco premieres of Kirke Mechem’s Blessed Are They  and To Music, as well as his Blow Ye The Trumpet from his opera John Brown, Randall Thompson’s Alleluia and The Best of Rooms, and William Harris’ Faire is the Heaven.  In May, members of the chorus joined Music Director Robert Gurney at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor for a spring concert.  In July, the Chorus joined the Trinity Episcopal Church Choir to celebrate the church’s 150th anniversary,  performing William Harris’ Faire is the Heaven, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Antiphon from Five Mystical Songs, and Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 (Land of Hope and Glory.)    Summer 1999  featured Giuseppe Verdi’s Four Sacred Pieces, Columba aspexit  and O ignis spiritus  by Hildegard von Bingen, Gabriel Fauré’s Messe Basse, Francis Poulenc’s Quatre Petites Prières de Saint François d’Assise, and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs.  Fall 1999’s program was entitled Concert Solennelle, a program of modern American and French music based on traditional liturgical texts:  Morten Lauridsen’s recently composed Lux Aeterna, Maurice Duruflé’s Quatre Motets sur des Thèmes Grégoriens, and Louis Vierne’s Messe Solennelle.  In addition, the chorus performed an additional November concert at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Ross, as part of that church’s concert series.  The program included Hildegard von Bingen’s Columba aspexit, Gabriel Fauré’s Messe Basse,  Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Antiphon from Five Mystical Songs, Maurice Duruflé’s Quatre Motets sur des Thèmes Grégoriens, the spiritual Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen, the O Nata Lux from Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna, and the Kyrie from the Vierne Messe Solennelle.

The San Francisco Lyric Chorus rang in the New Year 2000 and the millenium, joining Robert Gurney at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor for a January 2 concert, which included choruses from Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, Ralph Vaughan Williams’  Antiphon from Five MysticalSongs, the Kyrie from the Vierne Messe Solennelle,  and popular songs of the season.  Spring 2000 brought a San Francisco and an Oakland performance of Modern English Masterpieces by three gifted composers:  John Ireland’s Greater Love Hath No Man, Herbert Howells Requiem, Magnificat Collegium Regale, and Te Deum Collegium Regale, and Benjamin Britten’s Hymn to St. Cecilia and Festival Te Deum.    Summer 2000 brought our biggest summer yet--All American Music, including  Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Missa Brevis; Charles Ives Psalm 67, Kirke Mechem’s Blow Ye The Trumpet, Aaron Copland’s Promise of Living and Simple Gifts; and four American hymns arranged by Alice Parker:  Hark, I Hear The Harps Eternal, Wondrous Love, Come Away To The Skies, and Saints Bound for Heaven.

The 2000-2001 season celebrated the chorus’ fifth anniversary.  Fall 2000,  began with Renaissance classics--Tómas Luis de Victoria’s Requiem and eight part Ave Maria, as well as Claudio Monteverdi’s Mass for Four Voices A Cappella.   The San Francisco Lyric Chorus ended the year 2000, joining Robert Gurney at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor for a December 31 concert, which included choruses from Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus and popular songs of the season.  Spring 2001 featured The New Choral Sound--music from the end of the 20th century:  Arvo Pärt’s Cantate Domino and The Beatitudes; William Albright’s Chichester Mass; Javier Busto’s Salve Regina; John Tavener’s Hymn to the Mother of God ; Morten Lauridsen’s Dirait-on from Les Chansons des Roses and O Nata Lux from Lux Aeterna; David Conte’s The Waking; and Kirke Mechem’s Island in Space.   Summer 2001 centered on two  popular favorites:  Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and Bach’s Magnificat.  The San Francisco Lyric Chorus performed with the well-known  Jubilate Baroque Orchestra and outstanding soloists Jennifer Ellis and Catherine Webster, sopranos, Barbara Greeno and Carol Mersey, altos, Scott Whitaker, tenor, and Tom Hart, bass. 

Fall 2001’s concert, entitled The French Choral Tradition, brought Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Messe de minuit pour Noël, Jean Langlais’ Messe Solennelle, Francis Poulenc’s Hodie, Maurice Duruflé’s Ubi Caritas, and Olivier Messiaen’s O Sacrum Convivium.   Spring 2002  presented a concert devoted to the theme of Peace, with the Haydn Mass in Time of War and Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem.  Summer 2002 explored Choral Gems of the Romantic Era, including the Schubert Deutsche Messe, Mendelssohn Ave Maria, Bruckner Ave Maria, second movement of the Brahms Requiem, Bortniansky Cherubic Hymn No. 7, Rachmaninoff Bogoroditse Devo and Cherubic Hymn No. 8, Verdi Te Deum, Laudi alla Vergine Maria, and Sanctus from the Requiem.

Fall 2002 brought Music of Thanksgiving and Harvest, including Bach’s Cantata 192 (Nun danket alle Gott), Bernstein's Choral Suite from Candide, Mechem's Give Thanks Unto the Lord,  Copland's The Promise of Living, Canadian composer Srul Irving Glick’s The Hour Has Come, and Alice Parker’s Wondrous Love, God is Seen, and  Invocation:Peace, an arrangement of an Omaha Indian prayer.  The end of December brought the chorus’ annual holiday pops concert at the Legion of Honor, including choruses from Die Fledermaus, Haro-no-uta, a Japanese New Year’s song, and holiday favorites.  In Spring 2003, the chorus performed Duruflé’s Requiem and the American premiere of a new edition of French Baroque composer André Campra’s Requiem.  Summer 2003 saw the presentation of choruses and arias (some never before presented)  from two operas by San Francisco composer Kirke Mechem--John Brown and The Newport Rivals.

Fall 2003 was another milestone as we explored Music for Chorus and Harp, featuring Benjamin Britten’s popular Ceremony of Carols, along with other works for harp:  two works by Minnesota composers:  Marjorie Ann Hess’ setting of Thomas Hardy’s The Oxen and Steven Heitzeg’s setting of e.e. cummings’ little tree, as well as the San Francisco premiere of William Hawley’s The Snow That Never Drifts, a setting of two poems by Emily Dickinson.  In addition, we performed the medieval carol Nova, Nova, William Walton’s All This Time, Arnold Bax’s difficult I Sing of a Maiden That is Makeless, John Wheeler’s Australian carol, The Three Drovers, and the irrepressible P.D.Q. Bach’s A Consort of Choral Christmas Carols.  The end of December always means the annual New Year’s concert at the Legion of Honor, in which the chorus performs selections from Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, as well as holiday favorites. 

Spring 2004 brought performances of Antonín Dvorák’s Mass in D, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of his death, and Zoltán Kodály’s Laudes Organi, his last published work.  In Summer 2004, we presented a concert of Calm and Passion,  featuring Charles Marie Widor’s Mass, Op. 36, Selections from Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s All Night VigilBlagoslovi, dushé moyá, Ghóspoda; Blazhén Muzh; Svéte Tíhiy  and Bogoróditse Dévo ; Rachmanininoff’s Bogoróditse Dévo and Cherubic Hymn No. 8, as well as Joseph Jongen’s Mass, Op. 130.

Fall 2004  brought a challenging and interesting program of Choral Music of France, including Guillaume Dufay’s Gloria ad modum tubae; Josquin des Pres’ Ave Maria; Marc Antoine Charpentier’s In nativitatem Domini canticum, H314; Gabriel Fauré’s Messe Basse; César Franck’s Psaume 150; Francis Poulenc’s Hodie; Camille Saint-Saëns’ Calme des nuits, Les fleurs et les arbres, Des pas dans l’allée; Hector Berlioz’ L’adieu des bergers; and selections from Arthur Honegger’s Une cantate de Noël.   In Spring 2005, we sang Joseph Haydn’s beautiful Harmoniemesse  and Anton Bruckner’s rare and infrequently performed Mass No. 1 in D Minor.   In honor of our upcoming 10th anniversary year, our Summer 2005 concert featured the Brahms Requiem.

During our 2005-2006 season, we celebrated our 10th anniversary.  Our Fall 2005 season was titled An English Christmas, and featured the Thomas Tallis Missa puer natus est nobis and If ye love me, William Mathias’ Sir Christèmas, Gustav Holst’s Personent hodie, Benjamin Britten’s Hymn to the Virgin, and three works by Ralph Vaughan Williams : The blessed son of God, No sad thought his soul affright and his wonderful Fantasia on Christmas carols.  Our Spring 2006 program was titled American Spiritual Landscapes, and featured Ernest Bloch’s Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service), as well as our first commissioned work--Illinois composer Lee Kesselman’s This Grand Show Is Eternal, settings of texts by naturalist John Muir.  In addition, we performed Charles Ives’ Sixty-Seventh Psalm, and two works by San Francisco composers:  Kirke Mechem’s Give Thanks Unto The Lord and Ludwig Altman’s Choral Meditation.  We concluded our anniversary year in Summer 2006 with performances of Michael Haydn’s rarely performed Requiem and Ralph Vaughan Williams’  profound Dona Nobis Pacem.

In Fall 2006, we performed a marvelous program of little known works by Mozart:  the Missa Solemnis, K. 337, Kyrie in D Minor, K. 341, and the beloved Ave Verum Corpus, K. 618.  We also performed a selection from the rich English anthem tradition:  William Byrd’s Sing Joyfully and Ave Verum Corpus; George Frideric Handel’s The King Shall Rejoice; Charles Villiers Stanford’s Beati Quorum Via; David Willcocks’ rarely performed arrangement of the medieval carol, Angelus Ad Virginem, Charles Wood’s Hail, Gladdening Light, and Gerald Finzi’s God Is Gone Up

Spring 2007 brought our program:  Kaleidoscope:  Different Cultures/Different Voices, in which we performed music from around the world:  Lee R. Kesselman’s Shona Mass and This Grand Show Is Eternal; Juan Pérez Bocanegra’s Hancpachap Cusicuinnin; Gaspar Fernandes’ Xicochi Xicochi Conetzintle and Tleicantimo Choquiliya; J. David Moore’s Annual Gaudia; Chen Yi’s Arirang and Sakura; Zhou Long’s Words of the Sun; Stephen Hatfield’s Nukapianguaq; James Mulholland’s My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose and Highland Mary; Josef Spivak’s Ma Navu, and Se Enkhbayar’s Naiman Sharag (Eight Chestnut Horses).   In Summer 2007, we performed Amy Beach’s Grand Mass in E Flat Major, and two beautiful English Baroque works:  John Blow’s Begin the Song, 1684, his first ode for St. Cecilia’s Day, and  Henry Purcell’s Come Ye Sons of Art (minus the overture).

Our 2007-2008 Season began in Fall 2007 with our joyous program Magnificat!, which featured Francis Poulenc’s Gloria, as well as Magnificats by Francesco Durante, Franz Schubert, Herbert Howells and Arvo Pärt.  We also sang Herbert Howells’ rarely performed Hymn for St. Cecilia

In Spring 2008, we presented An American Sampler, featuring a variety of American music:  Assistant Conductor Robert Adams; It Will Be Summer--Eventually; Samuel Barber’s The Monk And His Cat; Alfred Marcus Cagle’s Soar Away; Sheldon Curry’s arrangement of Down To The River To Pray; Emma Lou Diemer’s Three Madrigals; Daniel Gawthrop’s Close Now Thine Eyes; Irving Fine’s Lobster Quadrille and Father William from Alice in Wonderland; Lukas Foss’ Cool Prayers from The Prairie; Jeremiah Ingalls’ Northfield;  J. David Moore’s How Can I Keep From Singing; Stephen Sametz’s I Have Had Singing, Randall Thompson’s The Last Words of David; Virgil Thomson’s Four Southern Hymns:  My Shepherd Will Supply My Need, Morning Star, Greenfields, Death ‘Tis A Melancholy Day; Eric Whitacre’s Sleep, and the wordless Shaker composition, Mother Ann’s Song

Summer 2008 brought another blockbuster program:  Te Deum!  We featured George Friderick Handel’s Te Deum in A Major, Joseph Haydn’s lovely Te Deum in C, Benjamin Britten’s Festival Te Deum, and Antonin Dvorák’s dramatic Te Deum.

In Fall 2008, we celebrated the restoration of the Trinity Episcopal Church E.M. Skinner organ, performing the Britten Festival Te Deum and selections from the Louis Vierne Messe Solenelle with The Trinity Choir.  Our Fall program included the entire Vierne Messe Solenelle, as well as Heinrich Schutz’ Hodie Christus Natus Est; Michael Praetorius’ In Dulci Jubilo and Psallite, Robert Pearsall’s In Dulci Jubilo; Javier Busto’s Ave Maria and Ave Maria Gratia Plena, Virgil Thomson’s O My Deir Hert, Ned Rorem’s While All Things Were In Quiet Silence, William Bolcom’s Carol, John Rutter’s Shepherd’s Pipe Carol, and Randol Bass’ Gloria.

In Spring 2009, we performed a wonderful program of classical choral music from Brazil and Canada.  Our featured work was the Requiem by the remarkable Afro-Brazilian composer José Maurício Nunes Garcia, 1767-1830.  Grandson of slaves, he is known as the Brazilian Mozart.  his Requiem is reminiscent of Mozart’s great work, but with a Romantic twist.

We also presented modern and contemporary choral music from Canada.  Healey Willan’s Rise Up, My Love and O Sing Unto The Lord A New Song, are beautiful anthems by the father of Canadian choral music.  Stephen Chatman’s Song and Music and Remember are lyrical settings of poems by Dante and Christina Rossetti.  His Gloria is an energetic, rhythmic contrast.  Latvian immigrant Imant Raminsh’s Ave Verum Corpus is an exquisite work in the Eastern Orthodox tradition.  Ruth Watson Henderson’s Sing All Ye Joyful is a delightful setting of text from Tolkien’s The Hobbit.  Srul irving Glick’s What I Have Learned Is This is a movement from his memorial to Leonard Bernstein.  His composition, The Hour Has Come, is the last movement of a six-part work with that title, expressing the urgent need for love in caring for the earth and the environment.

In Summer 2009, the San Francisco Lyric Chorus, under the direction of former Music Director Robert Gurney, presented a concert of choral gems by Mozart, Schubert, and Mendelssohn.  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s beautiful Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, K 339, showcases his ability to compose music of transcendent melody, as well as music of vibrant energy and complexity.  Franz Schubert’s Mass in G is pure lyrical Schubert, quiet and gentle in some places, stirring and majestic in others.

We celebrated Felix Mendelssohn’s 200th birthday with several familiar and beloved selections, as well as two compositions that are rarely performed.  Lift Thine Eyes, written for treble voices, and He Watching Over Israel from the oratorio, Elijah, are flowing and melodic choral classics.  Say Where Is He Born and There Shall A Star From Jacob, from the unfinished oratorio, Christus, also demonstrate Mendelssohn’s wonderful sense of melody.  His five-part Kyrie in D Minor, written when he was 16, is a soaring and somewhat dark work that pays homage to Johann Sebastian Bach.  Beati Mortui (Blessed Are The Dead) is an ethereal work for tenors and basses.

In Fall 2009, we welcomed our new Music Director, Dr. Robert Train Adams.  We celebrated the Christmas season with What Sweeter Music:  Selections from BBC Music Magazine’s 50 most important Christmas carols and works, as chosen by major English and American choral conductors.  The works included the anonymous 15th century carol Ther Is No Rose; John Joubert’s There Is No Rose; Michael Praetorius’ Es Ist Ein Ros Entsprungen; Boris Ord’s  Adam Lay Ybounden;  John Rutter ‘s Il Est Né Le Divin Enfant; Robert Pearsall’s In Dulci Jubilo; Tomás Luis de Victoria’s O Magnum Mysterium; Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck’s  Hodie ; Harold Darke ‘s, In The Bleak Midwinter; John Tavener’s The Lamb; Benjamin Britten’s This Little Babe from the Ceremony of Carols;   Francis Poulenc Quatre Motets Pour le Temps de Noël; John Gardner’s Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day; John Rutter’s What Sweeter Music, and the world premiere of Robert Train Adams’ Christmas Fantasy, incorporating It Came Upon The Midnight Clear; The First Nowell; Hark, The Herald Angels Sing; and Silent Night.

Spring 2010 brought a concert of secular music with the theme Music Expresses, taken from a Victor Hugo quotation.  The works included Music Director Robert Train Adams' setting of        Music Expresses; Ralph Vaughan Williams'  Serenade to Music, Springtime of the Year, and Dark Eyed Sailor; Gerald Finzi's My Spirit Sang All Day, I Praise The Tender Flower, and Haste On, My Joys!; jazz pianist George Shearing's Music to Hear (settings of Shakespeare songs); Matthew Harris's Shakespeare Songs, Book I; Gustav Holst's  I Love My Love; Jonathan Quick's arrangement of  Loch Lomond; Halsey Stevens's Like As The Culver; Robert Pearsall's Lay A Garland, and J. David Moore's Searching for Lambs.

Summer 2010 brought both the beloved and the unfamiliar, as we performed Duruflé’s peaceful and passionate Requiem, as well as 17-year-old Felix Mendelssohn’s exciting double chorus, 12-movement Te Deum.  Young Mendelssohn pays homage to a number of composers and styles in this rarely performed work, including Handel, Mozart, and the Venetian double chorus music of Giovanni Gabrieli.

Fall 2010 was the first time the San Francisco Lyric Chorus worked with brass.  Our Christmas Music for Chorus, Brass, and Organ was a huge success.  Our concert included:  Guillaume Dufay Gloria Ad Modem Tubae, Heinrich Schütz  Hodie Christus Natus Est, SWV 315 and Jauchzet dem Herren, Giovanni Gabrieli  Hodie Christus Natus Est and In Ecclesiis, Joaquin Nin-Culmell La Virgen Lava Pañales, Gerònimo González  Serenissima Una Noche, Juan Vasquez En La Fuente Del Rosel, Tomás Luis de Victoria O Magnum Mysterium and selections from the O Magnum Mysterium Mass: Kyrie, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, Daniel Pinkham Christmas Cantata, and the ever popular Robert Train Adams Christmas Fantasy.  We were accompanied by organ and brass quartet on some of the selections.

Spring 2011 was a very special concert entitled Voices of Immigration: Stories From Our Chorus Members, Expressed Through Music.  In Fall 2010, we asked those choristers who wanted, to submit stories about themselves and/or their families coming to America, whether currently or in the past.  A number of choristers did so, including some whose families came in the 17th century, some whose families had to leave various countries and go to other countries during World War II, and some who are recent immigrants.  We selected music inspired by those stories.  We also printed the stories and poems in our program, and several choristers read from those stories.  The chorus sang: William Byrd  All As A Sea, Antonín Dvorák  Songs of Nature, Gabriel Fauré  Madrigal, Heinrich Isaac Innsbruck, Ich Muss Dich Lassen, Salamone Rossi Al Naharot Bavel, Robert De Cormier, arr. Dortn, Dortn, Stephen Hatfield, arr. Mayn Rue Platz and Take A Step, Ernst Toch Geographical Fugue, J. David Moore, arr. How Can I Keep From Singing, Donald Patriquin, arr.  Ah! Si Mon Moine Voulait Danser and J’Entends le Moulin, Dale Warland, arr. Boyo Balu, and Janika Vandervelde Cançao de Embalar.  A double quartet sang The Leaving of Liverpool, and soloists sang Dr. E.G. Villanueva (text) and Belen Manuel (music) Pilipinas Ang Bayan Ko , Fried de Metz Herman, transl. Wie Gat Er Naar Amerika Varen? and  John F. Poole No Irish Need Apply.  We were accompanied on some selections by piano, percussion, and violin.

Summer 2011 brought American Music.  Our program, entitled An American Summer:  The Old Testament in the New World, included: Aaron Copland In the Beginning, Randall Thompson The Peaceable Kingdom, and a selection of spirituals: William Dawson Ezekiel Saw De Wheel, Stacey V. Gibbs Way Over In Beulah Land, Jester Hairston Elijah Rock, Moses Hogan The Battle of Jericho, Undine Moore Daniel, Daniel, Servant of the Lord, and André Thomas Swing Down, Chariot.

Fall 2011 turned romantic.  Our featured composition was the beautiful Saint-Säens Christmas Oratorio.  We sang the work of the fabulous young contemporary Norwegian composer, Ola Gjeilo, performing three of his works: Prelude, A Spotless Rose, and The Ground.  In addition, we sang American composer Stephen Paulus'  exciting Jesu Carols.  We continued with three very different spirituals:  André Thomas' African Noel, William Dawson's Mary Had A Baby, and Robert De Cormier's arrangement of The Virgin Mary Had A Baby Boy.  The Thomas and De Cormier are very rhythmic, while the Dawson is tender and soulful.  We concluded with our favorite holiday work, composed just for us by our Music Director, Robert Train Adams, the delightful Christmas Fantasy.  We were accompanied by organ, harp, and string quartet.           






 

 

 

 







 

   
 

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