The East Bay’s award-winning WomenSing kicks off the holiday season with a concert entitled Descends the Snow. Under the direction of conductor Martin Benvenuto, WomenSing will perform a broad range of seasonal favorites and music celebrating the mystery and beauty of the winter landscape. Descends the Snow will open on Sunday, December 11th, 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, December 14th, at 8:00 pm at the Lafayette/Orinda Presbyterian Church at 49 Knox Drive in Lafayette.

Descends the Snow includes two pieces by internationally acclaimed Australian composer Sandra Milliken, the featured composer throughout WomenSing’s 2011-2012 concert season. Ms. Milliken’s composition, Snowflakes, is an evocative and haunting musical interpretation of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem. WomenSing is pleased to be one of the first choruses to perform Ms. Milliken’s lively Hodie Christus Natus Est, just composed and published within the past year. Also on the program is Five Hebrew Love Songs by well-known American composer, Eric Whitacre. Composed while Whitacre was living in the Swiss Alps, the piece is a sentimental setting of several Hebrew love poems written by Whitacre’s wife, Hila Plitmann, and features stunning harmonies for violin and choir. Along with other beautiful pieces depicting a winter landscape, WomenSing will present David Conte’s delightful Christmas Intrada, a festive medley of carols for treble chorus and four-hand piano.

Order your tickets online now! $25 for premium seats, $20 for general admission, $18 for seniors, and $10 for students/youth 18 and under.

Season subscriptions for WomenSing’s 2011-2012 concert season, Songlines, are now on sale. Season ticket holders are entitled to attend both the Holiday and Spring concerts (date and venue of your choice), and a special workshop with composer Libby Larsen. In addition, season ticket holders are guaranteed premium seating, a $25 value.

Tickets are available online, by email, or through the singer of your choice.

Where in the World is WomenSing?

WomenSing’s annual fundraiser is fast approaching on Sunday, October 16. Our theme this year is Where in the World is WomenSing? The event features both live and silent auctions as well as entertainment and, of course, delicious food and drink.

This year WomenSing is very excited to present SoVoSó, a highly visual and imaginative a cappella vocal band that sings a compelling mix of rhythm and blues, world-jazz, pop, gospel, and improvisational music. Culturally diverse, each member of the quintet is a skilled soloist and composer in his or her own right, trained in widely varying musical genres that equally enrich and strengthen the group as a whole.

SoVoSó

Originally assembled in 1986 by renowned vocalist Bobby McFerrin, members of SoVoSó performed with McFerrin in his a cappella group Voicestra until 1993. Two members of SoVoSó sang on the 1997 McFerrin release “Circlesongs” and continue to tour with Mcferrrin as part of this ensemble. The group has evolved and shaped its own musical style since then, renaming themselves SoVoSó (from the “Soul to the Voice to the Song”) in 1994. The ensemble’s foundation is rooted in the art of circle singing, in which ensemble support for improvised solos is created through inter-locking patterns that are spontaneously composed. In addition to its own style of free-form, collective improvisation. In concert, SoVoSó captivates audiences with their natural playfulness, humor, and unpredictability.

Join us for a unique musical evening and help WomenSing raise funds for the 2011-20112 season of Songlines and Youth Inspiring Youth. Get tickets and details now!