Audition now for one of the East Bay premier ensembles WomenSing, recent winners of the Chorus America/ASCAP Alice Parker Award, and the Contra Costa County Arts Commission Award for Artistic Achievement.

In its 46th year, WomenSing’s 2011-12 season Songlines continues to explore the world and its connections through both traditional and unexpected music. In early June we will come Full Circle, featuring Sarah Hopkin’s Past Life Melodies, along with music by Mechem, Brahms, featured Australian composer Sandra Milliken’s Fanfare of Praise, and a world premiere to celebrate Martín Benvenuto’s 10th anniversary as artistic director of WomenSing! Acalanes High School Bella Voce and the Contra Costa Children’s Chorus Honors Ensemble will join us in unveiling our fourth-year Youth Inspiring Youth commissions. Scholarships are available for qualified singers.

WomenSing is holding auditions on January 10, 2012 and by appointment for experienced singers. All voice parts are welcome. Contact us by email at audition@womensing.org, call our voice mail 925.974.9169, or read the Audition page for more information.

Check out our new Singer Spotlight feature to learn more about the women who enjoy singing with WomenSing.

Get to know several of the WomenSing performers through our new Singer Spotlight feature. For the first installment, we interview first soprano Kristan Torres and second sopranos Jules Campbell and Samantha Infeld. Although at different places in their lives, these women share a love of music and enjoy the friendship of our community. Learn more…

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.