San Francisco Opera Featured in OUT OF THE SHADOWS Choral Concert, Today

Earlier today, San Francisco Opera added a new attraction to its fall 2016 Season with Out of The Shadows, a special, one-night-only choral concert featuring the acclaimed 48-member San Francisco Opera Chorus on Saturday, November 19. Company Chorus Director Ian Robertson conducts the uplifting program of a cappella and accompanied choral works by Brahms, Debussy, Pärt, Whitacre and a set of spirituals, in the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera's Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater.

Acclaimed for their performances in multiple languages and musical styles, the San Francisco Opera Chorus will be featured in this rare opportunity to experience the ensemble outside of staged opera. The November 19 concert presents this distinguished assemblage of singers in an engaging repertory of sacred and secular choral works. Robertson said, "It's a delight for me and the Opera Chorus to have the opportunity to perform music outside of their regular on-stage repertoire and to explore and enjoy the acoustics of the new performance space in the Wilsey Center."

The concert opens with "Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen," one of the glorious choruses from Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem, featuring the full ensemble directed by Robertson with piano accompaniment by Associate Chorus Master Fabrizio Corona. The approximately 60-minute program includes works by Berlioz, Janá?ek, Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Wagner; later composers Jerome Kern, Franz Biebl, Arvo Pärt and Eric Whitacre; and a selection of spirituals and gospel songs in arrangements by African American composer Moses Hogan and Barbara W. Baker.

Maestro Robertson has been San Francisco Opera's Chorus Director and conductor since joining the Company in 1987 and has prepared the Opera Chorus in more than 300 productions. In recognition of his work and artistic guidance, he was awarded the San Francisco Opera medal, the Company's highest honor, in 2012.

TICKET AND INFORMATION

Tickets for the San Francisco Opera Chorus Concert on November 19 at the Taube Atrium Theater are now on sale. Seating is general admission and tickets are $30. To purchase tickets and to find more information including video clips of the Opera Chorus performing scenes from Donizetti's Don Pasquale and Jake Heggie's Moby-Dick, visit http://sfopera.com/discover-opera/chorus-concert/. Tickets may also be purchased through the San Francisco Opera Box Office at 301 Van Ness Avenue or by phone at (415) 864-3330.

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OUT OF The Shadows

Concert featuring the San Francisco Opera Chorus

November 19 at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 pm)

Taube Atrium Theater, Wilsey Center for Opera

Veterans Building (4th floor), 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA

Approximate running time: 60 minutes (no intermission)

Tickets: $30 general admission

Chorus Director Ian Robertson

Fabrizio Corona, piano

Program (subject to change)

Johannes Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem: IV "Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen"

Claude Debussy: Chansons de Charles d'Orléans

1. "Dieu! Qu'il la fait bon regarder!"
2. "Quand j'ay ouy le tabourin"
3. "Yver, vous n'estes qu'un villain"

Leos Janá?ek: The Wild Duck

Igor Stravinsky: Ave Maria

Arvo Pärt: Bogorditse Dyevo (Ave Maria)

Franz Biebl: Ave Maria

Hector Berlioz: Le Ballet des Ombres H 37

Sergei Rachmaninov: All-Night Vigil, Op. 37, VIII: Praise the name of the Lord,

Traditional: "Ride on King Jesus" (arranged by Moses Hogan)

Traditional: "Deep River" (arranged by Moses Hogan)

Charles Alfred Tindley: The Storm is Passing Over (arranged by Barbara W. Baker)

Eric Whitacre: Water Night

Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser: "Freudig begrüssen wir die edle Halle" ("Entrance of the Guests")

Jerome Kern: Show Boat: "Hey! Fellah!"