Artistic Director Martín Benvenuto, composer and mentor Libby Larsen, and YIY composer Joshua Fishbein review Fishbein’s score for Unseen Secrets

The finishing touches are being put on the last WomenSing performance of the season as we prepare to premiere two new pieces, the latest in the Youth Inspiring Youth (YIY) program. As part of their on-going YIY mentoring, reknowned composer Libby Larsen recently visited WomenSing for a day-long workshop with composers Elizabeth Lim and Joshua Fishbein.

Both of our young composers will be speaking to the audience before the concerts begin, so please join us for the pre-concert discussions to hear about their music and their YIY experience. Youth Inspiring Youth compositions are based on the highly inspired children’s poetry from the River of Words project.

Along with the premieres of Unseen Secrets and Elizabeth Lim’s Sisyphean, this month’s concert, “Songs From a New World” will feature music from the Americas including:

~ two pieces by featured composer Stephen Paulus, acclaimed as “…a bright, fluent inventor with a ready lyric gift.” (The New Yorker)

~ a selection from Old American Songs by iconic American composer Aaron Copland

~ a merengue from the Dominican Republic, featuring piano, güira and tambora.

We look forward to seeing you for our final event of the season!

We are thrilled to share the news, just announced in the press, that WomenSing has been awarded the 2010 national CHORUS AMERICA/ASCAP ALICE PARKER AWARD. This award “honors Alice Parker’s career that has spanned almost six decades and has been devoted to the creation of works for the human voice. This award will annually recognize a chorus for programming significant recently composed music that expands the mission of the chorus and challenges the chorus’s audience in a new way. The award is designed to recognize choruses that may not typically emphasize or include the performance of new music but have chosen to stretch themselves to present some of this repertoire.”

This award affirms our contribution to the choral literature for women’s voices through our Youth Inspiring Youth project.

Audition now for the East Bay premier women’s ensemble! Recent winners of the Chorus America/ASCAP Alice Parker Award, WomenSing will celebrate its 45^th anniversary in 2010-11.

Highlights will include a collaboration with the Men of WomenSing, Libby Larsen as our season featured composer, and a possible tour of Washington, D.C, taking our Youth Inspiring Youth works to the Library of Congress.

WomenSing is holding auditions on Tuesday June 8, 2010 and by appointment for experienced singers. Altos are particularly encouraged to audition, but all voice parts are welcome. Take a look at our Audition page for more information.