San Francisco Renaissance Voices Tenth Anniversary Season
by Katherine McKee, Music Director, SFRV
San Francisco Renaissance Voices is turning 10 this year, and we are spoiling ourselves and our audiences with a year-long celebration of our raison d’etre—the stunningly beautiful, diverse, inspiring, and enduring music of the Renaissance. Our stellar choristers will be joined by the San Francisco Renaissance Dancers and some of our very favorite instrumentalists and others to present a glorious season of music honoring the accomplishments of the San Francisco Renaissance Voices over last the 10 years, and paving the way for our next decade—and beyond—of presenting the very best vocal and dramatic music from the heart of the Renaissance.
On Friday night, October 31, 2004 (yes, Hallowe’en night!) the very first San Francisco Renaissance Voices concert was presented at Seventh Avenue Presbyterian Church. Ten years to the day, we’ll celebrate our birthday in that church which has become our artistic home by performing the same work that started it all and began our group’s tradition of performing the Office of the Dead at this time of year—Tomás Luis de Victoria’s magnificent Officium Defunctorum, written for the funeral of his royal patron the Dowager Empress Maria. The program, entitled “In Memoriam: The Best of the Dead” will also include elegies written by Ockeghem, Josquin, Byrd and Morley for composers who inspired and nurtured them.
Winter is a season of abundance! Begun just 2 years ago, our December free family concert of Christmas Lessons and Carols is a joyous way to get into the holiday spirit. Our annual Boar’s Head Festival and Mid-Winter Gala, a tradition begun in January of 2011, delights audiences young and old alike, and will take place this season on January 3 and 4 of 2015 and we are particularly delighted to have the internationally-renowned counter tenor Brian Asawa join this year’s cast. Join us for an evening of feasting, libations, music and dramatic surprises at the court of Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth I. We never know what exotic guest performers might show up to enliven the festivities, but we’re certain it will be a spectacle not to be missed! And we’ll chase the last of winter’s doldrums away with A Prelude to Valentine’s Day on February 7, featuring the versatile duo Jarring Sounds.
2012 marked the beginning of our dance troupe, the San Francisco Renaissance Dancers. Under the guidance of Dance Director Jennifer Meller, the Dancers have flourished and become an integral part of each season’s concert offerings. In our March 2015 program they’ll delight us with popular dances from Merrie Olde England, accompanied by elegant instrumental music played on period instruments and madrigals composed by some our favorite British composers exquisitely sung by a quintet of our singers including selections from our 2007 madrigals concert, “The Regina Monologues.” And later in March, for a brief sojourn into the 18th century, we welcome Philippa Waite for a workshop and performance of baroque dance.
To cap off this celebratory season, our final concerts of the season, Our Favorite Things will be an a cappella tour de force, with music from the heart of the Renaissance by Allegri, Banchieri, Byrd, Esquivel, Gesualdo, Janequin, Josquin, Lassus, Monteverdi, Obrecht, Palestrina, Rossi, and more—do join us!
