This December, Musae presents a program of music exploring the darkest season of the year and the hope it stirs in us for the light to come. The Bleak Midwinter includes music from contemporary American composers Eric Barnum and Carson Cooman alongside settings of traditional carols. We hope you will join us for this musical celebration of winter!
Musae is a women's vocal ensemble based in San Francisco. The group takes its name from the original "ladies of song," the classic nine Muses of Greek mythology. Since its founding in 2004, Musae has performed diverse and accessible music throughout the Bay Area, and continues to stretch the boundaries of traditional repertoire for women's voices.
Musae functions as a musical collective in which each singer identifies as a leader and soloist contributing actively to the artistic process. The group's singers are trained in the choral tradition, but not bound by it. Each singer may sing a range of voice parts based on the aesthetic demands of the music, and the group performs largely without conductor.
In 2016, Laney McClain Armstrong became Musae's artistic director. She is a singer and conductor who has made choral music and choral music education her life’s work. As a conductor and educator, Dr. Armstrong strives to cultivate a love of music in each singer through quality programing, building skills and musicianship, and devotion to the music and texts.