2020 FALL NEWSLETTER - Discovering Our Voices

Girls Training 2 vocal warm ups

KINDER AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT SINGING STRONG WITH NEW CURRICULUM.

Our Kinder and Training Department singers have started the 2020-2021 season with a brand-new curriculum, crafted to keep our singers growing through music, staying connected, and having fun! Each week, choristers rotate through a variety of activities including singing games, musicianship and theory activities, repertoire learning, and - to our excitement - individual voice lessons. GT4 parent Amber McClure shares, “In early August, my daughter wasn’t very thrilled about choir being held again over Zoom this year...but when she ended practice, she said, ‘Boy, am I glad I had choir today. It was SO much fun!’ Whatever you’re doing in class, it’s effective even in the virtual environment.” Read more about future virtual concerts and our Training Department Director’s insights.

Our Kinder and Training Department teaching team - Naomi Braun, Anne Daniel, Liz Emigh, and Nancy Linford - have all been working hard to translate the joy and teamwork of the choir experience into the online format. Thanks to a generous anonymous donation, we’ve been able to hire additional support staff to keep class sizes small and offer individual voice lessons to singers in all groups above Training 1. Kinder and Training Department Director Naomi Braun shares: 

“It is thrilling to see how well the virtual format can support singing in a choir. We learned from our first attempt in the spring the most effective way to teach in this format is to separate into smaller groups. We were given a large donation to assist in hiring extra staff so now all the Training and Kinder Department groups have up to 5 staff members per class. That is a very high ratio of teachers to students!  

The Conductor teaches repertoire and gives private vocal instruction. The Accompanist often teaches theory in small groups. The Teaching Assistant engages small groups and teaches simple songs or leads games. We also have a dedicated Zoom host to handle any technical issues that arise who can quickly move students among breakout rooms.  For all levels above Training 1, we have vocal pedagogy coaches who are there for every class.  This means most students get their own private voice lesson just about every week.  

Another trend we have seen is perfect attendance. Of course we look forward to when we will be able to rehearse together again in person, but, in the meantime the students are learning a lot and, from all reports, having fun in the process!”

What’s more, our Kinder and Training Department singers will be featured in two virtual concerts this season: our Kinder and Training recitals on December 5, 2020 and our Winter Concert on January 23, 2021. The choristers will record their parts from home while listening to backing tracks, and our production team will then assemble the audio and video together into a virtual choir performance. Both concerts will be broadcast on YouTube Premiere, so they can be shared with family and friends around the world. Make sure to subscribe to PEBCC’s YouTube channel to receive updates! 

Ensemble Stretching before vocal warmups

PEBCC SINGERS COLLABORATE ACROSS THE GLOBE, TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE WITH AMBITIOUS VIRTUAL 2020-2021 CONCERT SEASON.

PEBCC’s Performing Department groups are not letting COVID-19 get in the way of an ambitious virtual concert season for 2020-2021! Ensemble and Concert Choir will be sharing their voices across the ocean in a virtual collaboration with choral partners Vox Aurea (Jyväskylä, Finland) and the St Catharine's College Girls' Choir (Cambridge, UK). Meanwhile, Ecco will be collaborating with the Stanford University Chamber Chorale to present the world premiere of a new piece by British composer Kerry Andrew setting words by Greta Thunberg, Xiye Bastida, and other young climate activists. Click here to view our full concert season, and click here to read Artistic Director Eric Tuan’s perspective on the year to come.

PEBCC’s commitment to musical exploration and collaboration remains strong during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are honored to be collaborating with renowned choral partners this season, both locally and internationally, to continue sharing and showcasing our music. Artistic Director Eric Tuan shares,

“While I am saddened that we are not able to sing together and share our music in person with audiences, I am delighted to see the ways in which choirs all around the globe are adapting to the circumstances and continuing to make music! It’s a joy to join forces with choral friends old and new, from around the world, to keep the music going during these challenging times.” 

One collaboration that draws on PEBCC’s rich touring relationships is a recording project with two renowned European children’s choirs. The first is Vox Aurea from Jyväskylä, Finland, whom we visited during our 2019 concert tour to Finland and Estonia and who attended our Golden Gate Festival in 2015. The second is the St Catharine’s College Girls’ Choir from Cambridge, UK, whom we first visited during our 2017 tour to England and Wales and who visited us in the Bay Area during the spring of 2019. 

Together, all three choirs will be recording excerpts from the Piae Cantiones songbook - one of the most popular collections of medieval and Renaissance song from northern Europe - in collaboration with a medieval music ensemble from Finland. This will be the first time the music has been recorded in medieval Finnish instead of the well-known Latin versions. (The Christmas carol we know as “Good King Wenceslas,” for example, was originally a springtime song from the Piae Cantiones!) Ensemble and Concert Choir will be taking part, and sharing their collaborative performances at the Candlelight Concert (Dec. 12, 2020) and the Making History Concert (March 20, 2021). 

PEBCC will also be collaborating with the Stanford University Chamber Chorale on the premiere of a new work, Wake Up, addressing the topic of climate change through the eyes of young climate activists from around the world. Commissioned by PEBCC with support from the Robert Geary Fund for Musical Innovation, Wake Up sets texts by climate activists Greta Thunberg, Vic Barratt, Jamie Margolin, Ridhima Pandey, and Xiye Bastida. Composer Kerry Andrew interweaves a choral setting of the text with audio excerpts from speeches and climate demonstrations. The work will be premiered virtually at our Making History concert in March 2021. Tuan shares: 

I am particularly excited to have Ecco join forces with the Stanford Chamber Chorale to present the world premiere of Wake Up. Ecco’s Associate Conductor, Joel Chapman, and I are both alums of the group and are honored to have the chance to work with them once again on this project. Ecco and the Chorale will have a joint Zoom session in November where we’ll work on the piece together and hear a presentation on the climate crisis by Michael Mastandrea, a renowned climate scientist and fellow Chorale alum.

PEBCC’s full 2020-2021 concert season

All programs will be presented virtually via YouTube Premiere until further notice. Save the dates!

Nov. 14, 2020: Benefit Concert and Auction (feat. Ancora and Ensemble)

Dec. 5, 2020: Training Department Recital (feat. Kinder and Training choirs)

Dec. 12, 2020: Candlelight Concert (feat. Ancora, Ensemble, Ecco, Concert Choir) Premiere of Piae Cantiones Collaboration, Part 1

Jan. 23, 2021: Winter Concert (feat. all choirs except Ecco/Ancora)

March 20, 2021: Making History Concert (feat. Ancora, Ensemble, Ecco, Concert Choir) Premiere of Piae Cantiones Collaboration, Part 2 Premiere of Wake Up

May 8, 2021: Jazz & Beyond (feat. Ancora and Ecco)

May 22, 2021: Spring Sing! (feat. all choirs)