Audition now for the award-winning WomenSing, one of the East Bay premier ensembles. Our 2012-13 season All Songs Considered promises to be a memorable one with a performance at the acoustically and architecturally stunning Green Music Center in Sonoma, and participation (by invitation only) in the Missoula International Choral Festival in July 2013. 
This festival features outstanding choirs from around the globe in a stunning location, not far from both Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. The season will also include a Latin-American component to our Youth Inspiring Youth project.
WomenSing is holding auditions on June 11, 2012 and by appointment for experienced singers. All voice parts are welcome. Get a better feel for the chorus by attending one of our upcoming concerts on June 3 and 6. We’re happy to provide complimentary tickets to prospective singers. Contact us by email at audition@womensing.org, call our voice mail at 925-974-9169, or view our Audition web page for more information.
Scholarships are available for qualified singers.
The success of WomenSing’s Youth Inspiring Youth (YIY) program has generated a lot of interest within the choral music world. So much so, that we’ve been invited to present a breakout session at this year’s Chorus America Conference in Minneapolis, MN from June 13-16. The speakers on the panel will include Martín Benvenuto, WomenSing’s artistic director; Charles Bruffy, a prominent choral conductor and member of WomenSing’s advisory board; Rachel Eidbo, YIY’s project manager; Libby Larsen, YIY’s advising composer; and Patty Murray, co-founder of the YIY program and member of the Advisory Council for River of Words.
The panel will share the key components of the YIY model, including resources for identifying gifted young poets and composers, establishing guidelines for the teaching artist-young composer mentoring relationship, and maximizing financial and non-financial resources to ensure the success of the program. Panelists will also reflect on the impact of the program on the organization’s presence locally, nationally, and internationally; the modifications made to the project since its launch; the criteria used to evaluate the program; and the lessons learned.
If you’re lucky enough to attend the conference, please join this fascinating conversation about choral outreach and collaboration.
WomenSing, the award-winning East Bay choir, will delight choral and classical music fans with two performances in early June. The concert, Full Circle, will take the audience on a musical adventure from Alaskan Inuit chants in Daniel Bell’s Spring Fjord, to two traditional settings of the Regina Coeli text by Brahms and Rheinberger. Full Circle will open on Sunday, June 3rd at 4:00 pm at the First Congregational Church in Berkeley at 2345 Channing Way. The concert will be offered a second time on Wednesday, June 6th at 8:00 pm at the Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church 49 Knox Drive, Lafayette.
Fans will be mesmerized by Australian Sarah Hopkins’ Past Life Melodies, a work that has taken the choral world by storm with its indigenous primal drones inspired by aboriginal overtone singing. The concert will include the world premiere of the women’s chorus version of Shawn Kirchner’s Bright Morning Stars are Rising to celebrate Martín Benvenuto’s tenth anniversary as Artistic Director of WomenSing. Acalanes High School’s Bella Voce and the Contra Costa Children’s Chorus Honors Ensemble will join WomenSing in unveiling our fourth-year Youth Inspiring Youth commissions by Anastasia Pahos (Australia) and Dale Trumbore (U.S.), both writing a setting of the beautiful River of Words poem Reflections. The audience is invited to arrive a half hour early to hear our composers at the pre-concert talk.
Tickets may be purchased at the door or up to 24 hours in advance online. Tickets are priced at $25 for premium seats, $20 for general admission, $18 for seniors, and $10 for students/youth 18 and under.
