Performing to an audience of hundreds to thousands of people is an invigorating experience for our young singers. SDCC has a long history of weaving unique performance experiences to its Ensemble Program since its founding in 1990. These opportunities were limited during the COVID-19 pandemic and we are thrilled to be able to safely return to offer one of the most exciting and transformative elements of our program.
Our Spring semester is well underway, with performances having started mid March. The semester began late January and it takes several months to prepare for a performance, including meeting once/week, home study, and several ‘practice rehearsals’ with the entire choir level (internally called “all-togethers”). While choristers are learning songs together, they are also being taught music literacy, vocal health, cultural and historical context, and how to sing in multiple languages. Each semester the choristers start “fresh” and learn new songs to be performed.
Since March our choirs have publicly performed at UTC, the San Diego Repertory Theater, at the new Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center for The Choral Consortium of San Diego’s San Diego Sings!, at various settings in Seaport Village, in Encinitas with the North Coast Singers, and most recently at Petco Park to sing the National Anthem at a Padres vs. Marlins game. Of that experience, choristers said they loved walking out on the grass with “all those people in the stadium” to hear them sing, and one singer felt proud that her whole class was at the ball game and got to see her perform.
Coming up this weekend on May 22 is a collaborative performance with San Diego’s own civic organist, Raúl Prieto Ramírez. Our training ensembles, Preparatory and Apprentice Choirs, will be performing several songs with the effervescent Prieto Ramirez during his weekly free Sunday afternoon concert from 2-3PM in Balboa Park at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, the largest outdoor organ in the world! Collaborations like these are important because it exposes our young singers to a world of music that exists beyond choir and will no doubt be a special memory for our 100+ elementary-aged singers. Plus, SDCC’s very own Lu Liu (Programs Coordinator, Logistics) will be a guest performer, showcasing her outstanding talents playing a traditional Chinese string instrument, the pipa, for the song, Mo Li Hua. That same afternoon, our most advanced ensemble, Chamber Choir (grades 10-12) will be recording a music and memory concert for the residents of Vi at La Jolla Village to view on demand. Chamber Choir is continuing its partnership with national organization Music and Memory to provide a musical experience designed specifically to engage the brains of those living with dementia. These are just some of the formative performance opportunities our choristers experience annually.
Whether it be this weekend or at another upcoming performance, we hope to see you in the audience soon!
Upcoming performances:
Sunday, May 22 at 2PM
Preparatory & Apprentice Choirs
Collaboration with Raul Prieto Ramirez
Spreckels Organ Pavilion
Free to the public
Saturday, June 4 at 1PM & 3:30PM
All Ensembles
32nd Annual Spring Concert
1:00PM (features Apprentice Choir)
3:30PM (features Preparatory Choir)
Poway Center for the Performing Arts
15498 Espola Road, Poway, CA 92064
Buy tickets
Thursday, June 30 at 7PM
New Orleans Touring Group, Premier Choir
St Marks United Methodist Church, San Diego
3502 Clairemont Dr, San Diego, CA 92117
Free to the public. Donations welcomed.