San Francisco Girls Chorus Are In Demand This Spring, Presenting NOYE'S FLUDDE and More

The five-time Grammy Award-winning San Francisco Girls Chorus-Lisa Bielawa, Artistic Director, and Valérie Sainte-Agathe, Music Director and Principal Conductor-are in demand as one of the Bay Area's top vocal ensembles with upcoming guest performances this spring with the San Francisco Symphony, award-winning visual arts organization Creativity Explored, Stephen Petronio Dance Company presented by San Francisco Performances and in Opera Parallèle's productions of Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tiresias and Weill's Mahagonny. In addition, the Girls Chorus will stage Benjamin Britten's Noye's Fludde, based on the biblical deluge story, with décor and set pieces by artists from Creativity Explored on Saturday, March 29. A complete list of Spring performances is listed below. For more information, visit www.sfgirlschorus.org .

SF Girls Chorus with San Francisco Symphony in Mahler's 8th
Feb. 27-March 2

The San Francisco Girls Chorus returns to San Francisco Symphony under the baton of Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas to continue the ongoing performance and recording cycle of the complete Mahler symphonic canon Thurs. Feb 27, 8pm; Sat. March 1, 8pm; Sun. March 2, 2pm at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco

http://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2013-2014/MTT-conducts-Mahler%E2%80%99s-Third-Symphony.aspx

SF Girls Chorus As Guest Performers at Opening of Creativity Explored Exhibition: A Curious MenagerieMarch 6

Thursday, March 6, 7-9 pm San Francisco Girls Chorus will perform music by Claude Arrieu, Francisc Poulenc and Tania Leon at the opening reception for Creativity Explored's Spring exhibition, A Curious Menagerie at their home gallery, located at 3245 Sixteenth Street in San Francisco.

This group exhibition of artworks depicts various members of the animal kingdom, factual as well as fanciful, as viewed through the eyes of more than two dozen Creativity Explored artists, many of whom are collaborating with the Girls Chorus to create set pieces and more than 50 original artworks for the staging of Britten's Noye's Fludde March 29 at Temple Emanu-El.
The exhibition runs March 6 through April 27 and Encompasses everything from the domesticated (dogs, cats and rabbits) to the wild and exotic (giraffes, buffalo and iguanas), plus a few imaginary creatures (a strawberry-piercing serpent by Jason Monzon, for example), the artworks also include a range of media: watercolor, pastel, acrylic, pen and ink, wire, wood, paper, clay, fabric, and cardboard.

http://www.creativityexplored.org/events/exhibitions?date=2014-04

SF Girls Chorus Performs in Stephen Petronio Dance Company's Like Lazarus Did March 14-15 at YBCA

The Girls Chorus will perform live as part of Son Lux's musical score for New York Choreographer Stephen Petronio's Like Lazarus Did - Friday and Saturday, March 14 and 15, 7:30pm, At LAM Research Theatre at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, presented by San Francisco Performanceshttp://sfperformances.org/performances/1314/StephenPetronioCompany.html

Guest Performers in Opera Parallèle's Les Mamelles de Tiresias and Mahagonny April 25-27 at YBCA

SF Girls Chorus returns to Opera Parallèle to perform with Opera in productions of Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tiresias and Weill's Mahagonny Songspiel at YBCA's Lam Research Theater April 25 to 27. http://operaparallele.org/opera-paralleles-2013-2014-season-announcement/

35th Home Season Continues March 29 with Staging of Britten's Noye's Fludde and Benefit Gala

In addition to its busy roster of guest performances, the San Francisco Girls Chorus continues its own 35thanniversary season with a fully staged production of Benjamin Britten's 1957 opera Noye's Fludde, based on the biblical deluge story, in one performance only, Saturday, March 29, 2014, at 8 pm at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco. Conducted by Ms. Sainte-Agathe, the cast will feature guest artists Carey Perloff as The Voice of God, bass-baritone Joe Chappell as Noah, mezzo-soprano Silvie Jensen as Mrs. Noah and other soloist roles performed by members of the San Francisco Girls Chorus, to be announced. The production will be staged by Ariel Craft and will feature original art, costumes and set pieces created by members of San Francisco's acclaimed Creativity Explored, supported by a grant from the Creative Work Fund. The evening features the performance and includes a cocktail party and dinner to benefit the San Francisco Girls Chorus. For information and tickets, visit www.sfgirlschorus.org .

Benjamin Britten's inventive re-telling of the biblical story of Noah and the flood is based on a 15thcentury miracle play from an English source. The Voice of God tells Noah to build a ship, and the cast comprises Noah's scoffing, slacking wife and family and the host of animals to be carried on the ark once the prophesied flood arrives, its commencement heralded by the sound of clinking teacups representing the first rain drops.

Tickets are priced $30 and $18(students) and are available for purchase through City Box Office; by phone at 415-392-4400; online at www.cityboxoffice.com; or in person at City Box Office, 180 Redwood Street, Suite 100, San Francisco (Monday -Friday, 9:30am-5pm). Tickets for the gala benefit evening include the special performance of Noye's Fluddefollowing the dinner and live auction. Concert-only tickets are priced $18-$30 and may be purchased atwww.sfgirlschorus.org. Tickets for the complete gala evening start at $300 and may be purchased by contacting Cathy Lewis at (415) 863-1752, x 306 or clewis@sfgirlschorus.org.

About the San Francisco Girls Chorus

For 35 years, the thrilling sounds of the extraordinarily gifted young women of the San Francisco Girls Chorus have captured the attention and fired the imaginations of audiences worldwide. Following a phenomenal 30th anniversary season that included featured performances at the Inauguration of President Barack Obama, a New York debut at Lincoln Center and unprecedented ticket sales, the San Francisco Girls Chorus has furthered its status as an internationally celebrated professional choral ensemble. In 2010, the ensemble won its fourth and fifth Grammy Awards for Mahler's Eighth Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony. In 2013 it toured to Berlin, Germany, to participate in new Artistic Director Lisa Bielawa's large-scale sound installation, Tempelhof Broadcast, and will perform as part of the San Francisco iteration of the ambitious piece, Crissy Broadcast, in October 2013.

The 30-40 members of the professional-level ensemble are 12-16 years old and come from all over the Bay Area. Each singer represents as much as a decade of musical training and performance experience. Audience members and critics have come to expect a soaring, exquisite sound, remarkable versatility and concerts of great beauty and depth.

Each year, dedicated young artists present season concerts, tour nationally or internationally, and appear with respected sponsoring organizations, including San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Opera. The Chorus has been honored to sing at many prestigious national and international venues, including the World Choral Symposium in Kyoto, Japan, in 2005. In March 2006 the Chorus was featured at the American Choral Directors Association Western Division Convention in Salt Lake City, and in 2007 the Chorus toured to China and South Korea.

Known as a leader in its field, the San Francisco Girls Chorus was honored in 2001 as the first youth chorus to win the prestigious "Margaret Hillis Award" given annually by Chorus America to a chorus that demonstrates artistic excellence, a strong organizational structure, and a commitment to education. Other awards include three ASCAP awards for Adventurous Programming in 2001, 2004 and 2011.

The San Francisco Girls Chorus has produced CD recordings including Heaven and Earth, a two-disc set that represents some of the greatest sacred and secular repertoire ever written for treble voices; Voices of Hope and Peace, which includes many SFGC commissions; Christmas, a collection of diverse holiday selections; Crossroads, a compilation of world folk music; andMusic from the Venetian Ospedali, a disc of Italian Baroque music. The San Francisco Girls Chorus can also be heard on several San Francisco Symphony recordings. Highly regarded for collaboration, the Girls Chorus has participated in joint projects with composers Luciana Souza, Rollo Dilworth and others, and choreographers and directors including Brenda Way, Joe Goode and Stephen Petronio.

For more information about the San Francisco Girls Chorus, its School, programs and performances, visitwww.sfgirlschorus.org .

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