Dear Friends:
Welcome back to another year of singing in the critically acclaimed San Jose Symphonic Choir. I hope your summer has been rewarding and fulfilling. I greatly appreciated the opportunity to travel with the SJSC to Washington DC this summer and to sing at the National Cathedral as well as the National Shrine with the Georgetown Chorale. As I experienced The Beatitude Mass again this summer, I had the opportunity to contemplate the journey that I have taken with the SJSC for the past twenty-five years. Now as our choir begins its 85th season this Fall, I am gratified to be associated with a Choir that not only sings great choral literature, but is also making a real difference in the world.
When I started with the choir in January of 1985 with that infamous concert of Salieri and Mozart, we traditionally performed only the masterworks, and we were one of the larger organizations to do so in the south bay. Then, with the world premiere of The Requiem for Lost Children, we began the process of including in our seasons, music that helped to raise awareness of troubles and concerns in our own time, inspiring more than awareness, but action. The concert for MADD also comes to mind. Our choir has followed with the premieres of Henry Mollicone's Beatitude Mass, and for this upcoming season, will debut his work to benefit the immigrants among our communities. As I sat in the cathedral listening to the glorious Mass, I was struck by the reality of how privileged we are, to serve in this way--to be part of the social justice vision of a composer in our own century, and to be the vehicle for over $85,000 being raised to date, simply by showing up and raising our voices. This is a legacy that I am proud to have led over these past several years. And I commend each of you for joining me in this spirited effort. Like anything new, it has required commitment, perseverance, faith and hard work to bring to fruition, but how beautiful the results.
Looking ahead to this season, here is a birds-eye view:
Sept. 22 Outreach concert (optional)
Sept. 23 Outreach concert (optional)
Oct. 9 Outreach concert (optional)
Nov. 28 Fall Season Opener: Sea Symphony
Dec. 7 You Sing it Messiah
March 5, 7 Winter Concert: Misa de los Inmigrantes (World Premiere)
March 26 Arts Express concert at California Theater (optional)
April 24-26 Spring Concerts: Faure and Schubert in Salinas and Carmel
May 2 Final Concert of Faure Requiem in Saratoga
FALL:
All who are interested and available are welcome to sing this month in several outreach performances and fund raising events which include:
---September 22 at 12 noon at Evergreen College,
---September 23 at 8 PM at the IEEE Conference Double tree Inn, San Jose, and
---October 9 at 7:30 in the San Jose Atrium;
all under our outreach name, (formerly Gig Choir) Sotto Voce. Remember, all SJSC members are eligible to sing in this group if desired, including all upcoming outreach performances that are scheduled, under the direction of Don D'Angelo, musician extraordinaire. In fact, our first two rehearsals beginning September 14 and 21 will be primarily devoted to these important outreach concerts, some of which will benefit significantly the choir's financial situation through generous donations and grants!
In addition, on Monday, September 14, we will start working on the November concert repertoire. In November, we will be mounting for the first time in over twenty-five years, (before my time) the Ralph Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony, a ground-breaking work for chorus, orchestra and two soloists. Partnering with the Nova Vista Symphony, who is between conductors right now, it enables me to guest conduct the orchestra with SJSC singing; this concert will be held at Saint Joseph's Cathedral on Saturday, November 28 at 8 PM.
Besides the Vaughan Williams concert, we are continuing a twenty-eight year tradition with the "You Sing It Messiah" at the California Theater on December 7, partnering with Mission Chamber Orchestra this year. Also in December it is my intention to sing some Christmas Music at various venues, again serving the community as best we can.
WINTER:
In the vein of social consciousness, as already mentioned, I'm looking forward to our winter's world premiere production of the Misa de los Inmigrantes at Santa Clara's Mission Church on March 5 at 8 PM which promises to be another significant historical event in the life of the choir's performance history, again by raising the awareness of the hardships within our community, this time with the immigrants and marginalized individuals who live among us and struggle to survive. This concert is being supported by grant money and will be available at no charge to audience members. How often is that possible in the arts community? Much will be said of this project in the weeks and months ahead.
SPRING:
On Friday, March 26, after the Misa de los Inmigrantes performances, we will have several weeks to prepare a concert, joined by brass players from the Monterey Symphony, at the California Theater, performing another outreach concert, this time for school-aged children, again through the generosity of Arts Express, entitled "Music for Brass and Voice" Kids will learn how very similar the two genres of music making really are. The expected capacity-audience concert will begin at 10 AM and conclude by 12 noon. All are welcome to sing this highly visible event under my direction.
Then later, on April 24,25, and 26, we will be joining the Monterey Symphony Orchestra after a few years hiatus, in Carmel and Salinas, to perform the Faure Requiem and the magnificent Schubert Gesang der Geister uber den Wassern, a rarely performed gem for male chorus, under the direction of world celebrity conductor, Max Bragado-Darman. On May 2, we will be joining the Saratoga Symphony to reprise the Faure Requiem in a choral festival setting under my direction, at the Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church in Saratoga.
After reading and reviewing all this season's activity, (merely a summary) you can see how truly exciting and important this season is--a season of service to others. And all of this is being produced with minimal risk financially, in an economic time when every dollar that is budgeted counts. We have been so fortunate to operate in the black with money in the bank, and I don't intend to change that track-record this year when money is even more scarce to produce high-quality concerts.
Therefore, I hope to see you all on Monday, September 14 at 7 PM. We need every one of you to join in solidarity the mission of serving others through singing. Please visit the SJSC booth at the Tapestry event in downtown San Jose this weekend and pick up a brochure to give to a friend.
This is going to be a year of making a difference! See you soon,
Sincerely,
Leroy