Ragazzi Boys Chorus to Present Spring Concert CREATED FOR JOY! in June

Ragazzi Boys Chorus will present the jubilant spring concert Created for Joy!. Commemorating its 35th anniversary, the acclaimed chorus will perform a stunning new piece commissioned by Ragazzi, I Was Created For Joy by internationally-renowned composer/conductor Dr. Andrea Ramsey with text based on a poem by 14th Century Persian poet Hafiz. This concert features three songs by female composers, including Ramsey, Elaine Hagenberg, and Mary Goetze, in honor of Ragazzi's co-founder Joyce Keil. Led by Artistic and Executive Director Kent Jue, Ragazzi's Concert Group, Choral Scholars, Young Men's Ensemble, and Avanti choruses will celebrate the joy, comradery, and brotherhood built by boys singing together in this afternoon of magnificent music. Created for Joy! will perform 4pm PST Sunday, June 4, 2023 at Aragon High School Theater, 900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo. For tickets ($25-$45) and more information the public may visit Click Here or call (650) 362-4425.

Created for Joy! features a joyous repertoire. Ragazzi's Avanti chorus will perform Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's exquisite Ich harrete des Herrn, Susan Brumfield's stirring spiritual By the Rivers of Babylon, and Peter Robb's resonant Moon, Are You Out There?.

Among the works offered by Ragazzi's Concert Group (CG) and Choral Scholars (CS) is a unique and contemporary a cappella piece Tell Your Story, Child, with text by Ragazzi's Communications, Development, and Recruitment Director Noah Rulison and music by Bay Area composer Kendrick Tri Huynh. CG and CS will also perform Elaine Hagenberg's ethereal setting of a traditional Irish blessing You Do Not Walk Alone and Andrea Ramsey's I Was Created For Joy, which was commissioned by Ragazzi. CG will share Mary Goetze's beautiful When Children Sing.

Young Men's Ensemble (YME) will sing the joyful South African greeting song Hlohonolofatsa arranged by Daniel Jackson, Franz Biebl's breathtaking Ave Maria, and Daniel Elder's evocative Ballade to the Moon, which communicates the wonder of a June evening with a clear night sky dominated by the light of the moon and stars. YME will also perform Eric Lane Barnes' humorous Lambscapes, offering tongue-in-cheek settings of Mary Had a Little Lamb inspired by a Gregorian chant, Handel, and Verdi, as well as singing Shawn Kirchner's soulful I'll Be on My Way. CG, CS, and YME will join to sing Christopher Tin's joyous Swahili setting of the Lord's Prayer Baba Yetu. All four ensembles will close the concert with traditional Zulu song Amavolovolo, in a vibrant arrangement by Rudolf de Beer, former conductor of the Drakensberg Boys Choir of South Africa.

Peninsula-based Ragazzi Boys Chorus is one of the San Francisco Bay Area's premier music and performance organizations for boys. Currently, more than 200 boys from over 100 schools in 30+ Bay Area communities participate in the program. Ragazzi means "boys" in Italian and is the term used in opera to refer to children's voices. Ragazzi has performed with the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, Opera San Jose, West Bay Opera, Symphony Silicon Valley, Masterworks Chorale, and the Stanford University Symphonic Chorus among others. The group has toured throughout the United States and internationally. Ragazzi was honored for its contribution to the San Francisco Symphony's triple Grammy Award-winning recording of Stravinsky's Perséphone, and has five CDs available: A Holiday Collection, Canciones de Alabanza, Magnificat: My Spirit Rejoices, Splendors of the Italian Baroque, and I Dream A World.