S.F. Boys Choir and the Sonos Handbell Ensemble, two notable local organizations that have girded the globe, gathering acclaim, are joining close to home this Saturday in Oakland’s Cathedral of Christ the Light.
The concert is a tribute to SFBC founder, Madi Bacon, who collaborated with San Francisco Opera’s founding director Gaetano Merola in 1948 to establish the chorus. The group remains an important participant in S.F. Opera performances to this day, and has taken part in more than 180 productions. SFBC Director Ian Robertson is also the Opera’s chorus master.
Honoring Madi Bacon is the world premiere performance of Sonos’ founder/director James Meredith’s “An die Musik,” bringing together boys voices, handbells, organ and the solo cello of Emil Miland. Says Meredith:
The San Francisco Boys Chorus and Sonos Handbell Ensemble both come from centuries of shared English choral and handbell traditions. Mixing them together with Madi’s Austrian heritage makes for an evening of musical magic. We are excited about performing with this esteemed boy’s chorus.
The Boys Chorus, which performed at a fundraising gala last week, will leave after the Oakland concert for Denver to participate in the Sing a Mile High Choral Festival. Robertson says of the Madi tribute:
We’ve been trying to join forces with Sonos for some time and finally we are able to get together and showcase the diversity of our musical forces. It’s especially exciting to display our boys’ voices in the company of such an amazing group as Sonos and to hear the results in the glorious acoustics of the Cathedral of Christ the Light. It’s very appropriate too to dedicate the concert to Madi Bacon, who led the way in opening up music to many generations of young men.
To return to the “globe-girding” reference, the San Francisco choristers toured and performed in Australia, Austria, China, Czechoslovakia, England, France, Greece, Hawaii, Hungary, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, and Russia. Choristers have sung for U.S. presidents, the Pope, Queen Elizabeth II, and the president of the Soviet Union — not at the same time.
Sonos has piled on its own frequent flyer mileage, including a wide-ranging tour of Japan. Its participation in A Prairie Home Companion shows brought this comment from show host Garrison Keillor: “Thanks, Sonos, for raising the level of our little family radio show from the comic to the cosmic to the something beyond.”