Opera Superstar Frederica Von Stade to Sing Street Requiem in Support of Homeless Choir
Famed
mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade will join with a mass chorus of
singers and chamber orchestra in two California premiere performances of
Street Requiem by Australian composers Dr. Kathleen McGuire,
Andy Payne, and Dr. Jonathon Welch AM. Other vocal soloists include
Blake Quin, Ilyas Iliya and Mark Jackson.
This week, it was also announced that Street Requiem has
been selected as a semi-finalist in the professional choral composition
division of The American Prize national non-profit competitions in the
performing arts. (For more information, see
http://theamericanprize.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/composer-semi-finalists-2015-choral.html)
McGuire, who is well known to Bay Area audiences having led the San
Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and others from 2000 to 2013, will return
from Melbourne, Australia, to conduct Street Requiem on Saturday, August
29, at 7:00pm at Old First Presbyterian Church at 1751 Sacramento
Street, San Francisco, and on Sunday, August 30, at 2:00pm at the
Congregational Church of San Mateo, 225 Tilton
Avenue in San Mateo.
The concert is a benefit for Singers of the Street (SOS), which
McGuire founded in 2010. Now led by Ashley Moore and a project of
Welcome, SOS is a choir of San Franciscans who have experienced, or are
at risk of, homelessness. Its mission is to raise their voices for
justice, healing and joy. SOS will open the concert and will also sing
with the mass choir in Street Requiem.
“
Street Requiem
provides a musical opportunity for us to mourn not only the homeless
who have passed away, but also our own frustration that there are still
so many homeless individuals living in streets and shelters,” said the
Rev. Megan Rohrer, Executive Director of Welcome. “Beyond a one of a
kind concert experience, audience members can also celebrate that the
price of admission enables homeless individuals to heal and express
themselves for years to come.”
Composed in 2014, Street Requiem has already received
international acclaim. Music critic Wayne Lee Gay (Dallas Magazine)
said: “A remarkable, unique and beautiful work…an unfailingly engaging
cantata. The religious texts were constantly questioned, but with an
effect that produces transformation rather than blasphemy. The audience
is never let off the hook: in the final movement, the chorus intones, as
if to remind those who observe suffering are as much in need of divine
intervention and guidance as those who suffer directly: ‘Given them
peace. Give us peace.’”
Street Requiem is a 40-minute multi-movement cantata scored
for choirs, soloists, and chamber orchestras. It aims to bring a sense
of peace, remembrance, and hope to communities struggling with
homelessness, poverty, war, hate-crime and street violence. The work is
neither secular nor religious, but is intended to be spiritual and
includes English and African lyrics, as well as traditional Latin texts.
While at times deeply moving, the work is optimistic and uplifting, and
employs Gospel, Celtic, neo-Romantic, neo-Baroque, and contemporary
compositional styles and instrumentation to reflect the multicultural
and multi-faith traditions of modern city living.
McGuire said, “Street Requiem provides an opportunity to
mourn those we’ve lost—often ‘nameless’ on our streets—and to protest
the tragic injustices we witness every day. These are global issues, but
we can each make a difference, one by one. Ms. von Stade’s generous
participation is a testament to the importance of this project and the
wider cause.”
Ms. von Stade will be joined on stage by a mass choir including
singers from The Choral Project (San Jose), the Chancel Choir of the
Congregational Church of San Mateo, singers from CREDO (Dallas, Texas,
who performed the U.S. premiere in January), and Singers of the Street
(San Francisco). Accompaniment will be provided by members of the
Community Women’s Orchestra, and Carl Pantle will play piano.
Rehearsals led by Stephanie Lynne Smith, Grace Renaud, Daniel Hughes,
Dana Sadava, Dr. Jonathan Palant and Carl Pantle are currently underway
in San Francisco and San Mateo; singers wishing to participate should
visit: trybooking.com/IEJK
Tickets for
Street Requiem range from $15–$50 and are available online at http://streetrequiem.blogspot.com/p/tickets.html or by calling
(415) 731-1305. All proceeds benefit Singers of the Street.
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