San Francisco Opera Chorus Holds Concert On November 22

San Francisco Opera showcases the vocal might of the San Francisco Opera Chorus in concert on Friday, November 22, at 7:30 p.m.

Held in the intimate Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater, with its high-quality acoustic system from Meyer Sound, the Chorus Concert features the work of Chorus Director Ian Robertson, who celebrates 33 years with the Company in 2019. Also performing are members of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, along with Associate Chorus Master Fabrizio Corona on the piano.

An annual event since 2016, the Chorus Concert features an array of music, from a cappella pieces to accompanied works from both operatic and choral repertories.

Reflecting on this year's program, Chorus Director Robertson remarked, "The acclaimed San Francisco Opera Chorus will present some rarely heard opera choruses including excerpts from Rossini's William Tell [Guillaume Tell] and Moïse et Pharaon, alongside Puccini's Suor Angelica and Rimsky-Korsakov's Mlada. Berlioz is represented by a fast and furious chorus from his Benvenuto Cellini. Women composers are well featured, as are traditional choral nuggets such as [Hubert] Parry's 'Jerusalem,' heard every year at the Last Night of the Proms in London."

Those female composers include American music pioneer Amy Beach, German Romantic Clara Schumann and contemporary British musician Judith Weir.

Also featured in the concert program are Tchaikovsky's "Chorus of the Peasant Girls" from Eugene Onegin, Johann Sebastian Bach's "Erschallet, Ihr Lieder" from his Cantata 172 and Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Morning Hymn" from The Sound of Music.

Members of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra will perform with the chorus for select pieces including Samuel Barber's "Sure on This Shining Night," Ola Gjeilo's "The Rose" and Dan Forrest's "Alway Something Sings."

After the concert, light refreshments will be offered in the Diane B. Wilsey Center's John M. Bryan Education Studio.

In addition to the November 22 Chorus Concert, the San Francisco Opera Chorus will also hold its second collaboration with Noontime Concerts, a nonprofit dedicated to offering free, live classical music to Bay Area residents. This collaboration will take place at 12:30 p.m. on December 3 at the historic Old Saint Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco's Chinatown. Tickets are not required for the event, but donations at the door are appreciated. The Noontime Concert will include an abridged version of the Chorus Concert program.

Comprised of 43 regular choristers - 21 men and 22 women - the San Francisco Opera Chorus is a consistent presence on the War Memorial Opera House stage, delivering acclaimed performances in such recent mainstage productions as Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd and Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet. The San Francisco Chronicle has praised the chorus for its "knockout performances," served up with "delicacy and verve."

The San Francisco Opera Chorus has a history as long as the Company itself, stretching back to the 1920s. Back then, the San Francisco Opera Association even maintained its own chorus school, a "source of pride" to the Company where members could receive paid training under the supervision of Company founder Gaetano Merola.

With the addition of extra chorus members, the group can swell to 100 choristers or more to fulfill the needs of large-scale operas. A 1991 film, In the Shadow of the Stars, profiled the lives of San Francisco Opera chorus members, ultimately winning Best Documentary Feature at the 64th Academy Awards.