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20 CHOIRS FROM 12 COUNTRIES TO PERFORM AND COMPETE
IN MULTIPLE BAY AREA CONCERTS
PRESENTED BY PIEDMONT EAST BAY CHILDREN’S CHOIR
JULY 9-14
Oakland, CA, April 5, 2012—More than 600 young vocal artists will convene in the East Bay for the ninth triennial Golden Gate International Children and Youth Choral Festival July 8-14 presented by Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, Artistic Director Robert Geary has announced. The young singers--who comprise 20 choirs from 12 countries on four continents—will come together to perform individually, compete and sing in a 640-voice combined mega-chorus in the course of a week of public concerts and workshops in venues throughout the Bay Area. The week opens July 9 with a concert featuring all 20 choruses performing individually to give audiences a taste of their virtuosity and versatility. The balance of that week features daily free public concerts and competitions culminating in a Grand Finale Concert featuring the winners of the competitions and all 20 choruses combined to perform collaborative repertoire learned during the Festival week. (EDITOR NOTE: A complete schedule of 2012 Festival concerts may be found at the end of this news release). For more information, visit www.goldengatefestival.org.
One of America’s most celebrated gatherings of young singers, the Golden Gate International Children’s and Youth Choral Festival attracts choirs from all over the world to perform, compete, and build international friendship. Founded in 1991, the Golden Gate Festival is sponsored every three years by the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir in the San Francisco Bay Area. It remains the only opportunity for children’s and youth choirs to meet and compete on an international field in the United States. Since its founding the event has brought nearly 4,000 young musicians in 70 choirs from 22 countries together performing for more than 50,000 audience members from throughout Northern California.
Artistic Director Robert Geary will oversee the 2012 Festival activities, aided by renowned guest conductors Maria Guinand of Venezuela and Stephen Leek of Australia. The two Festival Massed Choirs, Children’s and Youth, will meet and sing together throughout the week. Competitions will take place for choirs and soloists, and all will perform in community concerts. The jury for the Historical, Folk, and Contemporary Choral Competitions will be comprised of Guinand, Leek, along with Wang Jin of China and Judit Hartyanyi of Hungary.
Says Festival founder Robert Geary, “The Festival week is an amazing experience and an opportunity to hear extraordinary vocal talent from around the world. Beyond the concert experience and going deeper, when we bring children and youth together from distinctly different cultures, they inherently connect as real people to real people. We sidestep social conditioning and create bridges of understanding that make it difficult to harbor ill will.”
Choruses featured this year include:
Amoy Flower Phoenix Youth Group - China
Bach Children's Chorus - Ontario, Canada
Barrington Children's Choir - Illinois, USA
Beijing Rainbow Art Performance Troupe - China
Budi Mulia Dua Choir - Indonesia
Choir of E. Mikelladze Central Music School - Georgia
Columbia Children's Choir - Washington, USA
Columbia Vocal Ensemble - Washington, USA
Discovery Choir - Honduras
Fairfield County Children's Choir - Connecticut, USA
Hamburg Kinderchoir Cantemus - Germany
Junior Amabile Singers - Ontario, Canada
Kinder-&-Jugendsingakademie-Graz - Austria
Kalrup Pigekor - Denmark
Mandaluyong Children’s Choir, Philippines
Marin Girls Chorus - California, USA
Partners in Praise Girls Choir - Minnesota, USA
Young Adelaide Voices - Australia
Youth Choir "Kivi" - Lithuania
Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir
Competitions
Each choir will be adjudicated in folk and historical categories during public performances. Additionally, three optional competitions will be held in contemporary choral, children's vocal solo, and youth vocal Solo categories. An important objective of the Festival is the encouragement of new compositions for children's and youth choirs. Special prizes may be awarded for the best performance of a new composition, within the last two years, as well as for noteworthy conducting. Winners from these competitions will perform in the July 14 Grand Finale Concert.
2012 Golden Gate International Children and Youth Choral Festival Schedule
(Chorus scheduled to perform will be announced shortly)
Monday, July 9
Opening Concert • 3pm
LDS Interstake Center, Oakland
Tuesday, July 10
Vocal Solo Competition • afternoon
Competition Concert - Folk/Historical, Children • 2pm
First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley
Free admission
Competition Concert - Folk/Historical, Youth • 7pm
First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley
Free admission
Spotlight Concert • 7pm
St. Theresa Church, 30 Mandalay Road, Oakland
Free admission
Spotlight Concert • 7pm
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave, Oakland
Free admission
Wednesday, July 11
Vocal Solo Competition • afternoon
Competition Concert - Folk/Historical, Children • 2pm
First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley
Free admission
Competition Concert - Folk/Historical, Youth • 7pm
First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley
Free admission
Spotlight Concert • 7pm
Old First Church, 1751 Sacramento St, San Francisco
Admission $17 General, $14 Seniors, $14 Students
http://www.oldfirstconcerts.org/performances/
Spotlight Concert • 7pm
Christ Episcopal Church, 1700 Santa Clara Ave, Alameda
Free admission
Thursday, July 12
Competition Concert - Contemporary • afternoon
Competition Concert - Folk/Historical, Youth • 7pm
First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley
Free admission
Spotlight Concert • 7pm
First Presbyterian Church, 2407 Dana Street, Berkeley
Free admission
Spotlight Concert • 7pm
Lafayette Orinda Presbyterian Church, 49 Knox Drive, Lafayette
Free admission
Saturday, July 14
Grand Finale Concert • 7pm
Zellerbach Hall, Lower Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/239294
Sunday, July 15
Community Concert at Festival Del Sole • 1pm
Napa Valley Opera House, 1030 Main Street, Napa
Performance at the San Leandro Library • 3pm
San Leandro Library, 300 Estudillo Avenue, San Leandro
For more information about the 2012 Festival, visit http://goldengatefestival.org/
MEDIA CONTACT:
Scott Horton Communications
510-735-9200