Getting back into the "sing" of things as rehearsals are underway!
Sacred and Profane, A Chamber Chorus is excited to announce our 2020–21 Season: Connections. We’re going digital this season to keep choral music thriving in the age of teleconferencing and social distancing. While we can’t rehearse together physically, we’re embracing new musical opportunities that the challenges of distance present. Our repertoire combines both canonic choral works with brand-new pieces that utilize technology with timely themes—music that allows us to stay connected with one another through our artistic expression, to collaborate in new ways, to build bridges in times of social upheaval, to raise our voices for those that are not always heard, and to provide that human comfort during times of stress.
We're planning a creative season of live broadcasts, special productions, and more. We’re looking forward to sharing music and connecting with you in a new way! We hope you'll join us for a different kind of choral music experience. Keep reading for a taste of what we have in store, and keep an eye on our website for more details.
COMPOSER CONNECTIONS:
the creative voice beyond the score
We’re delighted to launch Composer Connections this season, a new series that connects audiences with the composers behind the music we perform. Enjoy intimate conversations with our director and composers near and far to explore their creative inspirations, processes, and lives as composers in the strange new landscape outside the concert hall. This series provides a unique look past the score to connect through our shared language of music—to illuminate the people and stories in between the notes on the page that give the choral music deeper meaning.
Our first artist in the Composer Connections series is Swedish composer Karin Rehnqvist, whose work we frequently perform under the direction of Aritistic Director Rebecca Seeman. If you’re familiar with Sacred and Profane, you’ll recognize her impactful work from many of our performances. The ensemble has premiered several of her works in the US, and commissioned the composer to write Songs from the North for our 40th anniversary concert. The companion piece to that work, Day is here! was planned as a US premiere in March 2020, but was cancelled due to coronavirus.
Join us for an intimate conversation with Rebecca and Karin about her inspiration and compositional process, her history with Sacred and Profane, the role of the creative voice out in the community, and how COVID-19 has impacted her life as a composer. Alongside her interview, we’ll also be sharing recent performances of her work to provide a context to her compositional style and celebrate her beautiful repertoire.
Watch the broadcast on our Youtube channel SATURDAY OCTOBER 17 at 6 PM and chat with our director in the comments live. Because Karin is based in Sweden, the interview will be prerecorded due to the time difference and broadcast live as a watch party (and available to watch on-demand after the premiere).
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CONNECTIONS
upcoming BROADCASTS:
I Hope You're Doing Well: Health and Harmony
Saturday, December 19, 2020 at 6PM
As a global pandemic continues to shape our world, we’re exploring facets of public health through music, from physical health to emotional wellness with musical texts of sickness, healing, and the power of reaching out to loved ones. We’re excited to share music by composers from the medieval period (Hildegard von Bingen) to contemporary works written during COVID-induced social isolation, like American composer Dale Trumbore’s I Hope You’re Doing Well for online choir, which echo the sentiments of communicating and connecting in our brave new world. We’re raising a prayer for healing with Karen Siegel’s Justice Choir Songbook work Ana El Na and Estonian minimalist Arvo Pärt’s Beatitudes. We’ll perform American spirituals and choral traditions by Stacey Gibbs and Morten Lauridsen, and Fre O, an arrangement of a Hatian traditional Voudou chant with percussion by guest artist Chief Yagbe Awolowo Onilu.
Make our World Anew: Black Voices Matter
March 2021
We’re proud to amplify underrepresented voices and bring composers of color to the forefront in solidarity with the Black Voices Matter pledge, an initiative to celebrate the culture and experiences of Black Americans and commit ourselves as choral artists and organizations to anti-racist work. We’ll be perfoming works by Rosephanye Powell and, Moira Smiley; Mortensson/Sommerroand’s Norwegian anthem against violence, injustice, oppression, and a brand-new commission for teleconferenced choir by composer Trevor Weston. We’re also excited to perform Ysaÿe Barnwell’s uplifting We Are in collaboration with Oakland Youth Chorus Chamber Singers.
Nearness of You: Staying Connected
May 2021
Reach out an connect with us! Connection is more important than ever these days, and we rely on both our technological connections to keep working, but more importantly the human connection of family and community. Our spring repertoire explore these concepts of connection with Dale Trumbore’s A Way to be with You for online choir, A Kirby Shaw arrangement of the standard Nearness of You for men’s voices, and Brian Tate’s Connected. Sacred and Profane is also presenting a premiere of a consortium commission composed by Karen Siegel, a choral meditation to help us through these unprecedented times, and Natt över jorden by Swedish composer Karin Rehnqvist.
We appreciate your flexibility with final release dates and times of later concerts, as we navigate such an unorthodox season. Stay tuned for more details to be announced!