Looking Back: Holiday Highlights From SFLC's First 20 Years

Program: Looking Back: Holiday Highlights From SFLC’s First 20 Years

Eric Whitacre: little tree
Steven Heitzeg: little tree
Hector Berlioz: The Shepherd’s Farewell
Igor Stravinsky: Ave Maria
John Rutter: What Sweeter Music
Kirke Mechem: Gloria from Three Motets
Bob Chilcott: The Shepherd’s Carol
William Bolcom: Carol
David Willcocks: Angelus Ad Virginem
Marjorie Hess: The Oxen
Javier Busto: Ave Maria and Salve Regina
Frank Ahrold: The Bells
William James: The Three Drovers
Hal Hopson, arr.: O Shepherds, Aren’t You Happy

Rehearsals began Monday, September 14, 2015

Rehearsals are held on Monday nights from 7:15-9:45 p.m. in:
Trinity+ St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
1668 Bush Street
San Francisco

Our concerts will be held on Saturday, December 5, 2015 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 5 p.m. in St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco.

To arrange for an audition (ability to blend and sing in tune, some sight reading skill expected) or obtain further information, contact Music Director Robert Gurney at 415-721-4077 or [email protected]. For further information about us, check our website at http://www.sflc.org

We have a wonderful Fall 2015 program, continuing our celebration of our 20th anniversary with holiday favorites SFLC choristers picked from our repertoire of the last 20 years. Our program is called: Looking Back: Holiday Highlights From Our First 20 Years. We’ll have poetry settings, from e.e. cummings to Robert Herrick to Edgar Allen Poe. We’ll be singing wonderful choral composers, from Berlioz and Stravinsky to Mechem and Busto, and, of course, Eric Whitacre. You’re not going to want to miss this season!

Super composer Eric Whitacre (1970- ) composes in a variety of styles. little tree is a spirited setting of e.e. cummings’ poem about the wonder of a Christmas tree, as seen through a child’s eyes.

Minnesota composer Steven Heitzeg (1959- ) captures e. e. cummings’ childish innocence in his setting of the same text.

For those of you who sang the Summer 2012 Berlioz Requiem program with us in Davies Hall, we will be revisiting Hector Berlioz’s (1803-1869) tender Shepherd’s Farewell. Only we’ll being doing it the real SFLC way—in French.

Russian composer Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) sets his beautiful Ave Maria with a plaintive, minor feeling. We will sing the Latin version.

One of John Rutter’s (1945- ) most beautiful carols, What Sweeter Music is a setting of 17th century poet Robert Herrick’ gentle text.

We can’t celebrate our 20th anniversary at holiday time without again singing the music of wonderful San Francisco composer Kirke Mechem (1925- ). We will sing the Gloria from his Three Motets.

English composer and former King’s Singer Bob Chilcott (1955- ) creates an ethereal setting for Clive Sansom’s poem, The Shepherd’s Carol.

Seattle-born composer William Bolcom (1938- ) sets the joyous carol, Neighbors On This Frosty Tide, from Kenneth Grahame’s endearing children’s classic, Wind in the Willows.

English conductor/composer/arranger Sir David Willcocks (1919-) has created a charming setting of the 13th century carol, Angelus Ad Virginem.

Minnesota composer Marjorie Hess (1958- ) sets Thomas Hardy’s lyrical poem, The Oxen.

We will sing two contemplative pieces by the Basque composer, Javier Busto (1949- ), his SATB Ave Maria and his five-part Salve Regina for women’s voices.

California composer Frank Ahrold (1949-1992) creates a sparkling setting for Edgar Allen Poe’s poem, The Bells.

20th century Australian composer William Garnett James (1872-1977) describes Christmas in the hot, summer days down under in his lovely carol, The Three Drovers.

American church musician and composer Hal Hopson (1933- ) creates a lively setting for the Shaker hymn, O, Shepherds, Aren’t You Happy?