Celebrating its fifth anniversary season, the Vocal Art Ensemble of Davis summons a musical invocation of the Japanese Godai -- the “Five Great” elements that create our world:  Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Void. Transcendent a capella singing, instrumentals and dance unleash one by one the solid and the fluid, the passionate and the wise, and the intangible energy that connects us all. Welcoming back a rich roster of past guest artists, VAE forges powerhouse favorites with enticing new discoveries in a program shaped by characteristic depth of emotion and attention to detail. Experience the tide of elemental forces expressed in music, dance, and poetry!  Friday, May 24, 2013 7:30pm Tr

It’s a wonderful feeling when doing something you love also helps someone else. The Sacramento Women’s Chorus has found a way to combine their passion for singing with their commitment to improving the lives of women. And Maryhouse, a daytime hospitality shelter for homeless women and children operated as part of the Loaves and Fishes organization serves plenty of women in need of a little help. Each December, the Chorus hosts a holiday concert, featuring a variety of holiday music from many cultural traditions, a community singalong and reception, and an opportunity for audience members to donate items for Maryhouse. “This year, the Maryhouse staff let us know that they had a seri

Nobody celebrates Christmas like the Sacramento Master Singers. The Master Singers, under the direction of Dr. Ralph Hughes, have produced a holiday concert of beauty, musical excellence, and joy each season for the past 26 years. This year’s offering, the first Celtic-themed event in the history of the Master Singers’ Christmas concerts, was delightfully different, and stood up well to the standard of excellence set in years past. An unusual collaboration between the Master Singers and Men of Worth, a Celtic performance duo, set the tone and stirred in the flavor for this lively and charming concert. The Saturday evening performance at St. Francis of Assisi church in midtown Sacr

The Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra “Home for the Holidays” concerts are always delightful. This year, SCSO returned to the Memorial Auditorium on Saturday for a festive evening of beautiful music, a rousing audience singalong, and even a visit from Santa. Each year, the SCSO opens the holiday program with a processional. The singers ringed the walkway around the first balcony and each held a luminous glowstick in blue, green, rose, or lavender. The darkened auditorium was very still as Sacramento Children’s Chorus sang a haunting a capella Hodie, Cristus Natus Est, followed by the adult voices singing Lara Hoggard’s Personent Hodie. The combined choirs, over 200 singers, then fi

The Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus lights up the holiday season with their 28th annual seasonal show, Light Your World. SGMC delivered a beautiful performance on Friday night at the First Methodist Church in Midtown. There was a little something for everyone, from solemn sacred music sung in Latin to lighthearted musical skits and an audience singalong. The chorus has grown to include some 60 voices, and their sound is richer and more rounded for the expansion. Whether showcasing their trademark lyrical harmonies in songs like “Ding Dong Merrily On High” and “Silent Night”, or camping it up on the premiere of Eric Lane Barnes’ “Social Network Christmas”, the men sing with precision and styl

The Sacramento Choral Society opened its 2012-13 season with an exquisite sold-out program Sunday. The Stained Glass Concert One, “Portals of Heaven,” brought back to Sacramento the wonderful sacred music that has thrilled and captivated Sacramento Choral Society & Orchestra audiences for the past 16 seasons. The 17th season promises to be an unqualified success as well. The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament was filled to capacity with SCSO’s faithful fans. Music lovers eager to experience the glorious music of this renowned choral organization ringed the block, standing three and four abreast in line for nearly an hour. The singers themselves, clad in their tuxedos and long black gow

“We Love To Sing!” That’s the tagline and the underlying motivation of the Sacramento Women’s Chorus. This diverse group of enthusiastic women is gearing up for their spring concert, “Sing Out, Sisters!” which will be presented this Saturday, May 12—just in time for Mothers’ Day. At a recent rehearsal, the thirty women on the risers were relaxed and focused as artistic director Robin Richie ran through the concert selections, offering an occasional comment, correction, or joke. Various members of the chorus stepped forward for a solo, or to take up a drum or violin to add depth to Jane Stave-Viemeister’s piano accompaniment. One lighthearted comedy number dissolved into laughter.

The Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus delighted their audience with “Glitter”, their 27th annual spring show on Friday evening. The men delivered a generous helping of glitz and glamour from Hollywood to Broadway and beyond in their surprising new performance venue at the California Automobile Museum in Sacramento. Artistic Director Paul Jones, in his final season on the podium, led the men through a solid repertoire featuring the music of gay composers, and the selection meandered from the tender to the raucous to the hilariously campy. Jones will rejoin his chorus on the risers for the coming season. Opening with a medley of show tunes, from “Let Me Entertain You” to the “Broadway Ladies

A remarkable choral collaboration occurred Friday evening. The very talented singers of the Reconciliation Singers Voices of Peace presented an evening of beautiful music in support of Music Partners in Healthcare. They were joined by the Cantus choir of the Sacramento Children’s Chorus. The program was varied and carefully chosen, and the recently restored sanctuary of St. John’s Lutheran Church was a splendid venue for the tonal clarity and delicate harmonies of the beautiful music. Throughout the program, the audience sat spellbound as the healing and uplifting power of music was revealed. Artistic director Lynn Stevens led her chorus of fifth- through ninth-grade singers through a

The Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra returned in triumph to their original home at the Community Center Theater on Saturday night with the third concert of their 16th season, “English Grandeur”. The program was carefully selected by conductor and artistic director Donald Kendrick to showcase the lush and passionate works of two exemplary English composers, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Sir William Walton. Both men wrote in the lyrical Romantic tradition brought forth into the twentieth century; their work includes operatic, orchestral, and choral music as well as music for the movies. “A Song of Thanksgiving” (originally Thanksgiving for Victory) for narrator, soprano solo, children

People will go through a lot to hear beautiful music. Each December, the line of people snaking around St. Francis Church grows. People arrive up to 90 minutes before curtain for the annual holiday performance of the Sacramento Master Singers. Many clutch their seat cushions as they chat with friends and friendly strangers waiting to enter the chilly church. They have braved rain, wind, and cold in years past; this year the autumnal weather lingering on into mid-December was a blessing. Sunday’s matinee performance of “Glory to the Newborn King” once again hosted a near-capacity crowd. People came in groups and alone; multigenerational families crowded into the hard wooden pews. There we

The holiday choral music season is in full swing. On Saturday night, the Mondavi Center in Davis was host to the 15th annual “Home for the Holidays” concert presented by the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra. This festive event demonstrates the close community connection between SCSO and its many faithful friends, sponsors, and fans. It is eagerly anticipated by the throngs who come from as far away as Modesto, the San Francisco Bay area, and even neighboring states. They come to hear one of the largest choral groups in the United States, the only one to employ its own orchestra.They come to thrill at the harmony and majesty of the season’s most beautiful music performed with joy a

For 27 years, the first weekend in December has been marked by the Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus singing in the season with their signature brand of holiday glee. On Friday night, the tradition continued, bringing a substantial and happy audience to Midtown's First Methodist Church for another evening of high spirits, close harmony and popular musical entertainment. This year’s event was just as jolly and campy as SGMC’s audiences would expect, opening with some of the most outrageous holiday headgear to adorn a stage this side of Beach Blanket Babylon, as choristers waltzed, pranced and swayed to a lively rendition of the classic “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” “Christmas Ang

Solstice: Dance of Light  -- Vocal Art Ensemble with Econesis Friday, December 9, 2011, 7:30pm at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (2620 Capitol Ave, Sacramento) Saturday, December 10, 7:30pm at the United Methodist Church of Davis (1620 Anderson Road, Davis) Sunday, December 11, 4:00pm at the Brunelle Performance Hall (Davis High School, 315 W. 14th Street, Davis) Suggested donation:  $6-20. This December the Davis a cappella group Vocal Art Ensemble will present three performances of Solstice: Dance of Light. This concert provides an alternative to traditional Christmas music and focuses on one of director Tracia Barbieri’s favorite themes: emerging out of darkness. Equally rooted in t

  The American River College Theater was sold out Friday evening as the Sacramento Master Singers presented a wonderful ensemble concert to begin their 26th season. “From Sand to Pearls: A Choral Tribute to Perla Warren” honored the longtime music instructor with an ambitious program involving four choral groups, several supporting instrumentalists and a solo jazz pianist. Many of the musicians were former students of Warren and credited her with the transformation of young voices into accomplished musicians. Dr. Ralph Hughes, artistic director of the Master Singers and a colleague of Warren, is also the director of the 26-voice American River College Chamber Orchestra. He led his youn

The chic clubs and restaurants along the K Street Mall were swamped Saturday evening with young adult revelers in extravagant costumes. Yet amid the high spirited chatter of zombies and ghouls, witches and vixens, a more sedate group of celebrants slowly gathered in front of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacramento, intent on a different sort of transformation. Classical music lovers had been eagerly awaiting the first Stained Glass Concert, “Canticles of Praise,” which opened the Sacramento Choral Society season. The beautiful cathedral, built in 1889 and renovated in 2005, was packed with a diverse audience. It was a setting worthy of the magnificent sacred music to be performed. Some

This was a serious challenge. Not everyone would pay good money to sing music they’ve never heard — in a language they don’t speak — in public. Sounds insane, right? Apparently not. Some 250 Sacramento singers showed up at St. John’s Lutheran Church on Thursday night to join the Sacramento Choral Society in singing Johannes Brahms’ German Requiem. After a little stretching, vocal warmup and pronunciation practice, Choral Society director Donald Kendrick conducted members of the Choral Society and audience members in an on-the-spot performance of the 19th century work. The “instant concert” was the Choral Society’s annual summer fundraiser. To be fair, only a few of the singers were ab

A brilliant rainbow directed fans of the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra to their season end party on Saturday night. Reflected in the puddles lingering from the rainy day, the rainbow lent a hopeful sparkle to the gala at the Temporary Contemporary Gallery at 1616 Del Paso Blvd. Inside, aficionados of choral music enjoyed the company of singers, musicians and fellow music lovers. Partygoers strolled amid the captivating art installations and helped themselves to imaginative refreshments and an assortment of wines. A pianist played softly near the speaker’s podium, and the hum of happy conversation rose above the clink of stemware. Recordings were available for sale, including SC

The final concert in the Sacramento Master Singers’ season was presented last Saturday and again on Sunday at the First United Methodist Church with guest conductor Vance George.   The program was built around the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré, composed in the 1880’s. SMS performed this durable work beautifully, aided by the Sacramento Children’s Chorus singing the Pie Jesu with angelic purity.   The concert opened with three hopeful selections, energetic and bright: the traditional Appalachian tune “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah,” Finzi’s “My Spirit Sang All Day,” and another Fauré selection. A Mendelssohn motet from “Elijah,” sung in German, followed.   Still, after all of this beautif

Sunday's spring concert  from Chanteuses, “Love … and Other Maladies,” explored the idea of love as both rapturous ecstasy and terrible pain. About 60 people gathered in a Carmichael church to hear these talented women sing. This offering from one of the area’s few female choral groups featured a selection of sacred and secular works loosely connected by the theme of “sublime love.” The concert offered a suitable showcase for the precise harmonies of the 18-member choral ensemble. Jovial director Chris Alford introduced each song, often adding translations of the Latin, French and German texts. His enthusiastic conducting drew from the singers the beautiful music we have come to expect