San Francisco Boys Chorus
Encyclopedia
The San Francisco Boys Chorus (SFBC) is a choir
for boy
s consisting of 230 members based in San Francisco
with additional campuses in Oakland
and San Rafael
. It is known officially as "San Francisco's Singing Ambassadors to the World".
The group was founded in 1948 by Madi Bacon
and Gaetano Merola
to provide singers for the San Francisco Opera
. It has been directed by Ian Robertson since 1996, prior to which it was directed by Laura Kakis Serper from 1993. Past directors also include Edwin Flath, William Ballard and Louis Magor with support from training group directors Juell Gainey (Juelle Hinman) Judy Breneman (Dodge), Sarah Keene, Donald Osborne...
at the U.S. Capitol, along with members of the San Francisco Girls Chorus
(a separate organization). They sang for 20 minutes in front of an audience of millions.
Boys from the SFBC have regularly performed in productions of the San Francisco Opera
and San Francisco Symphony
.
Among others, the group has performed for Colin Powell
, Tipper Gore
, Pope John Paul II
, Queen Elizabeth II
, Prince Charles
, Arnold Schwarzenegger
, and Mikhail Gorbachev
.
In 1997 the group performed at the wedding of Andre Agassi
and Brooke Shields
in Monterey, California
.
, better known under his pen name
Lemony Snicket
, actor Joshua Jackson
, singer Christopheren Nomura, violinist Donald Weilerstein, cellist Paul Tobias, the late conductor Calvin Simmons, conductors Peter Rubardt, Alan Yamamoto, Joe Illick and Phillip Kelsey, and a cappella
director/singer Deke Sharon
.
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
for boy
Boy
A boy is a young male human , as contrasted to its female counterpart, girl, or an adult male, a man.The term "boy" is primarily used to indicate biological sex distinctions, cultural gender role distinctions or both...
s consisting of 230 members based in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
with additional campuses in Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
and San Rafael
San Rafael, California
San Rafael is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area...
. It is known officially as "San Francisco's Singing Ambassadors to the World".
The group was founded in 1948 by Madi Bacon
Madi Bacon
Maria “Madi” Helen Bacon was the founder of the San Francisco Boys Chorus . The SFBC was the first boys’ repertory chorus in the nation. Bacon served at the conductor and music director of the group until her retirement in 1972....
and Gaetano Merola
Gaetano Merola
Gaetano Merola was an Italian conductor and founder of the San Francisco Opera.-Biography:Merola was born in Naples, the son of a Neapolitan court violinist and studied piano and conducting at the Naples conservatory...
to provide singers for the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
. It has been directed by Ian Robertson since 1996, prior to which it was directed by Laura Kakis Serper from 1993. Past directors also include Edwin Flath, William Ballard and Louis Magor with support from training group directors Juell Gainey (Juelle Hinman) Judy Breneman (Dodge), Sarah Keene, Donald Osborne...
Public appearances
On January 20, 2009, forty-three boys from the SFBC performed at the presidential inauguration ceremony for United States President Barack ObamaInauguration of Barack Obama
The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. The inauguration, which set a record attendance for any event held in Washington, D.C., marked the commencement of the four-year term of Barack Obama as President and Joe...
at the U.S. Capitol, along with members of the San Francisco Girls Chorus
San Francisco Girls Chorus
San Francisco Girls Chorus is a regional center for music education and performance for girls and young women, ages 7–18, based in San Francisco. More than 300 singers from 160 schools in 48 San Francisco Bay Area cities and towns participate in this internationally recognized program...
(a separate organization). They sang for 20 minutes in front of an audience of millions.
Boys from the SFBC have regularly performed in productions of the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
and San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
.
Among others, the group has performed for Colin Powell
Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...
, Tipper Gore
Tipper Gore
Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Gore , née Aitcheson, is an author, photographer, former second lady of the United States, and the estranged wife of Al Gore...
, Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
, Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, Prince Charles
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
, and Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
.
In 1997 the group performed at the wedding of Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi is a retired American professional tennis player and former world no. 1. Generally considered by critics and fellow players to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Agassi has been called the best service returner in the history of the game...
and Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields
Brooke Christa Shields is an American actress and model. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, as well as TV shows such as Suddenly Susan, That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle....
in Monterey, California
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
.
Notable alumni
Alumni of the group include author Daniel HandlerDaniel Handler
Daniel Handler is an American author, screenwriter and accordionist. He is best known for his work under the pen name Lemony Snicket.-Personal life:...
, better known under his pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
Lemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American novelist Daniel Handler . Snicket is the author of several children's books, serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events and appearing as a character within the series. Because of this, the name Lemony Snicket may refer to both a fictional...
, actor Joshua Jackson
Joshua Jackson
Joshua Carter Jackson is a Canadian American actor. He has appeared in primetime television and in over 32 film roles. He is best known for playing Charlie Conway in The Mighty Ducks film series, Pacey Witter in the television series Dawson's Creek and Peter Bishop in the television series...
, singer Christopheren Nomura, violinist Donald Weilerstein, cellist Paul Tobias, the late conductor Calvin Simmons, conductors Peter Rubardt, Alan Yamamoto, Joe Illick and Phillip Kelsey, and a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
director/singer Deke Sharon
Deke Sharon
Deke Sharon is an American singer, arranger, composer, director, producer and teacher of a cappella music, and is one of the leaders of the contemporary a cappella community and a pioneer of the contemporary a cappella style, referred to as "the father of contemporary a cappella" by some...
.
Discography
- Vince GuaraldiVince GuaraldiVincent Anthony "Vince" Guaraldi was an Italian American jazz musician and pianist noted for his innovative compositions and arrangements and for composing music for animated adaptations of the Peanuts comic strip...
– Vince Guaraldi with the San Francisco Boys Chorus (1968) - Neil YoungNeil YoungNeil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
– Landing on WaterLanding on WaterLanding on Water is the fifthteenth studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, released on July 28, 1986 .-History:Several of the songs on the album were resurrected from Neil Young and Crazy Horse's failed 1984 sessions - a set of sessions where, according to longtime producer David Briggs, the...
(1986) - San Francisco SymphonySan Francisco SymphonyThe San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
& ChorusSan Francisco Symphony ChorusThe San Francisco Symphony Chorus is the resident chorus of the San Francisco Symphony .-Background:Established in 1972 at the request of Seiji Ozawa, then the San Francisco Symphony's music director, the chorus first performed in the 1973-74 Symphony season. the SFS Chorus today gives a minimum of...
/ Herbert BlomstedtHerbert BlomstedtHerbert Blomstedt is a Swedish conductor.Herbert Blomstedt was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and two years after his birth, his Swedish parents moved the family back to their country of origin...
– Carl OrffCarl OrffCarl Orff was a 20th-century German composer, best known for his cantata Carmina Burana . In addition to his career as a composer, Orff developed an influential method of music education for children.-Early life:...
: Carmina BuranaCarmina Burana (Orff)Carmina Burana is a scenic cantata composed by Carl Orff in 1935 and 1936. It is based on 24 of the poems found in the medieval collection Carmina Burana...
(1991), winner of 1992 Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Choral PerformanceGrammy Award for Best Choral PerformanceThe Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance has been awarded since 1961. There have been several minor changes to the name of the award over this time:*In 1961 the award was known as Best Classical Performance - Choral ... - We're On Our Way (2000)
- Moving On (2003)
- It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (2009)
- The San Francisco Boys Chorus Sings Vivaldi (2009)
- The San Francisco Boys Chorus Sings Fauré and Messager (2010)